The Middle of Everywhere

by Pipher, Mary Bray

• ISBN13: 9780151006007
• ISBN10: 0151006008
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

Over the past decade, Mary Pipher has helped us understand our family members. Reviving Ophelia did for our teenage daughters what Another Country did for our aging parents. Now, Pipher connects us with our greater family--the human family.In cities and towns all over the country, refugees arrive daily. Lost Boys from Sudan, survivors from Kosovo, families fleeing Afghanistan and Vietnam: they come with nothing but the desire to experience the American dream. Their endurance in the face of tragedy and their ability to hold on to the essential virtues of family, love, and joy are a tonic for Americans who are now facing crises at home. Their stories will make you laugh and weep--and give you a deeper understanding of the wider world in which we live.The Middle of Everywhere moves beyond the headlines, into the hearts and homes of refugees from around the world. Her stories bring to us the complexity of cultures we must come to understand in these times.Harcourt is donating a portion of the proceeds from this book to the Pipher Refugee Relief Fund of the Lincoln Action Project.

Author Biography

Mary Pipher is the author of three bestselling books, including Reviving Ophelia, which was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years. She received a presidential citation from the American Psychological Association, and is considered one of the great wise women of modern psychology. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Prelude: Ellis Island	xxi
PART ONE: HIDDEN in PLAIN SIGHT
Cultural Collisions on the Great Plains	3	(21)
The Beautiful Laughing Sisters-An Arrival Story	24	(40)
Into the Heart of the Heartland	64	(19)
All that Glitters	83	(30)
PART TWO: REFUGEES across the LIFE CYCLE
Children of Hope, Children of Tears	113	(48)
Teenagers-Mohammed Meets Madonna	161	(35)
Young Adults-``Is There a Marriage Broker in Lincoln?''	196	(20)
Family-``A Bundle of Sticks Cannot Be Broken''	216	(31)
PART THREE: The ALCHEMY of HEALING-TURNING PAIN into MEANING
African Stories	247	(28)
Healing in all Times and Places	275	(30)
Home-A Global Positioning System for Identity	305	(20)
Building a Village of Kindness	325	(26)
Coda: We're All Here Now	351	(18)
Appendix
1. Working with People for Whom English Is a New Language	355	(3)
2. Becoming a Cultural Broker	358	(1)
3. Universal Declaration of Human Rights	359	(10)
Bibliography	369	(4)
Acknowledgments	373	(2)
Index	375

Excerpts

MIDDLE OF EVERYWHEREThe World's Refugees Come to Our TownMary PipherCHAPTER 1CULTURAL COLLISIONS on the GREAT PLAINSI AM FROMI am from Avis and Frank, Agnes and Fred, Glessie May and Mark.From the Ozark Mountains and the high plains of Eastern Colorado,From mountain snowmelt and lazy southern creeks filled with water moccasins.I am from oatmeal eaters, gizzard eaters, haggis and raccoon eaters.I'm from craziness, darkness, sensuality, and humor.From intense do-gooders struggling through ranch winters in the 1920s.I'm from "If you can't say anything nice about someone don't say anything" and "Pretty is as pretty does" and "Shit-mucklety brown" and "Damn it all to hell."I'm from no-dancing-or-drinking Methodists, but cards were okay except on Sunday, and from tent-meeting Holy Rollers,From farmers, soldiers, bootleggers, and teachers.I'm from Schwinn girl's bike, 1950 Mercury two-door, and West Side Story.I'm from coyotes, baby field mice, chlorinous swimming pools,Milky Way and harvest moon over Nebraska cornfields.I'm from muddy Platte and Republican,from cottonwood and mulberry, tumbleweed and switchgrassfrom Willa Cather, Walt Whitman, and Janis Joplin,My own sweet dance unfolding against a cast of women in aprons and barefoot men in overalls.As a girl in Beaver City, I played the globe game. Sitting outside in the thick yellow weeds, or at the kitchen table while my father made bean soup, I would shut my eyes, put my finger on the globe, and spin it. Then I would open my eyes and imagine what it was like in whatever spot my finger was touching. What were the streets like, the sounds, the colors, the smells? What were the people doing there right now?I felt isolated in Beaver City, far away from any real action. We were a small town of white Protestants surrounded by cow pastures and wheat fields. I had no contact with people who were different from me. Native Americans had a rich legacy in Nebraska, but I knew nothing of them, not even the names of the tribes who lived in my area. I had never seen a black person or a Latino. Until I read The Diary of Anne Frank, I had never heard of Jewish people.Adults talked mostly about crops, pie, and rainfall. I couldn't wait to grow up and move someplace exotic and faraway, and living where I did, every place appeared faraway and exotic. When I read Tolstoy's book on the little pilgrim who walked all over the world, I vowed to become that pilgrim and to spend my life seeing everything and talking to everyone.As a young adult, I escaped for a while. I lived in San Francisco, Mexico, London, and Madrid. But much to my surprise, I missed the wheat fields, the thunderstorms, and the meadowlarks. I returned to Nebraska in my mid-twenties, married, raised a family, worked as a psychologist, and ate a lot of pie. I've been happy in Nebraska, but until recently I thought I had to choose between loving a particular rural place and experiencing all the beautiful diversity of the worl

---

Excerpted from The Middle of Everywhere: The World's Refugees Come to Our Town by Mary Pipher
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.