swag verse education

Adolescent Emotional Trauma workshop

Non-Fiction - It took a village (Author Rubin Scott) - Wattpad

Non-Fiction - It took a village (Author Rubin Scott) - Wattpad

Emotional trauma workshop part4

Emotional Trauma Workshop

IT Took a Village, Book Author Rubin Scott,Read/Workshop with Retired NF...

It took a Village, Book Author Rubin Scott- Book Read/Workshop on emotional combat

"It Took A Village" Book Author Rubin Scott: Quick Read: Emotional Trama

"It Took A Village" Book Author Rubin Scott: Quick Read: Emotional Trama: The night that my brother went to prison I felt like I was left alone. I was twenty years old and all my life my brother had alw...

"It took a Village" Book Author Rubin Scott is a True man of the "Ages".

Foreword

By: Alma Buenavista

Oakland Public School Teacher

With so much to say about Rubin Scott’s book, It Takes a Village, if I had to choose one word to encapsulate the essence I would say: inspiring. Rubin Scott unpacks the harsh realities of growing up in an impoverished community and presents it to the reader in all its entirety of beauty and strife.  He takes the reader on an emotional and visceral journey with his autobiography. 

Captivating your attention from the first line, “I must admit that I’m truly unsure exactly when the first internal notion of death I had occurred”, It Takes a Village, is a quick read.  To say “quick-read” does not, by any means indicate superficial – like the author, the book has great depth and insight.

I first met Rubin Scott in the mid to late ‘80s as a middle school boy.  Just as he portrays himself in the book, I remember him as kind, vibrant, loyal, shy yet personable in the same moment, and most of all strong.  I emphasize strong because at that time, I wasn’t aware of the hardships he was experiencing; he never let it show.  It wasn’t until decades later, as an adult, that he shared with me the adversities of his childhood and adulthood, still conducting himself with great integrity and strength.

As a public school teacher in Oakland, California, I have shared excerpts of the manuscript with my students.  I have watched young boys, many who dislike and struggle with reading and writing, come to life as they relate to the stories.  They are encouraged that someone from their own community wrote this book and motivated to advance their reading in order to be able to read the book in its entirety.  Like seeds of courage blossoming, they ask about the process of publishing your own book. After listening to or reading parts like “Girls Rule” they laugh and agree; digesting passages from “Valedictorian” they are still and pensive, only to be rekindled with warm emotions as the book talks about the strength of a mother’s love.

 

My students are not the only ones touched by this book.  Scott beautifully renders the world of the impoverished communities he grew up in, with a raw honesty that illustrates tragedy, beauty, hope and strength.  He illuminates how his community was portrayed from an outsider’s point of view versus how it was truly like on the inside.

Beginning with the voice of a young child that grows into a strong, soul-searching man, he lays out his life for you in complete vulnerability and raw honesty, without telling you what to think or how to feel.  The story is provocative and poignant.  Like a friend sitting down with you on the porch to share his life story, Scott opens up his world and allows you to journey with him. 

It is a book that you will find yourself re-reading and discovering new questions within yourself.  Although Scott’s target audience are young men in impoverished communities, as a mother and an educator I found myself connecting to and learning from the stories on multiple levels.  Throughout the book, I cried, laughed and was angered by the stories yet in the end I was struck with a profound sense of inspiration.   Rubin Scott truly sheds light on the meaning behind the phrase “It takes a village”.  

Quick Read: Emotional Trama

The night that my brother went to prison I felt like I was left alone. I was twenty years old and all my life my brother had always been there in some shape or form and now all of a sudden, my superman wasn’t there anymore. I can look back now and understand and appreciate everything he ever said to me. The strong, mental, emotional and physical preparation he instilled prepared me for the sins of the world, adversity and the daily challenges that come up throughout life. He would always say, “If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready”. I used to struggle with not having a father or no male roles models around to follow or lean on for safety and protection. When I would feel lost and abandoned, my brother would normally just tell me to dig deep. Look inside you, your heart already has the answers. He expressed to me that life’s journey doesn’t have one answer or one result. There will never be anyone who can show you the truth that you’re searching for and yearning for because it’s already inside of you.

                                                                                                                                               

         I can still remember when I was a baby fighting to breathe in my brother’s arms while he was holding me in the front seat of my mother’s car. He would hold me so close and tight and rock me back and forth. My mother would be able to call ahead and drive behind the police escorts so they could get me to the hospital as fast as possible. I believe that we had so some many police escorts that we actually moved closer to the hospital.

Years later I remember reaching out and thanking my brother for his comfort and felt terrible for having to put him through such a horrific ordeal at a young age. I still can’t imagine what it must have felt like having to hold a younger sibling in your arms during a life or death situation and grow up with no side effects. All I could do was expres

s my gratitude to my brother, thank him and apologize for emotional trauma that I put him through as a child and to let him know that he would always be my strength.

  

  The response that I received from him was unexpected. He told me that he remembered the situation differently and that he carries around a different thought, feeling and emotion. He told me that the image in his head over these years of me fighting for my life, is what made him stronger. He said, “yes I was sacred but I would pray for you and rock you back and forth. I was scared listening for you to breathe, hearing you gasping for breath. Every time I would look into your eyes, you would always look back like you were saying, “everything is going to be okay.” Ever since then if I was ever in a situation that I couldn’t handle I would just imagine your face and relax thinking everything’s going to be okay.