Still Waters in a Storm

<p><strong>Previously published as <em>Kid Quixotes</em> the unlikely inspiring true story of a one-room school where children of undocumented immigrants and their teacher unlock the revolutionary power of listening.</strong></p><p><strong>Haff paints a picture of what education in America could and perhaps should be. His story is passionately honest profoundly open-minded and suffused with optimism and his writing is crisp and clear and persuasive.</strong></p><p><strong> --Andrew Solomon National Book Award-winning author of <em>The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression</em></strong></p><p>Still Waters in a Storm is an after-school program held in a small room in Bushwick Brooklyn; it is a place for kids to practice reading and writing in English Spanish and Latin. For the students many living in constant fear of deportation Still Waters is a refuge. For Stephen Haff a former public-school teacher it is the sanctuary he built following a breakdown caused by bipolar depression. At Still Waters all agreed that there would only be one rule: Everyone listens to everyone. And this has unlocked spectacular potential.</p><p>Since 2016 the students have been collectively translating <em>Don Quixote</em> into English taking the Spanish tale--a story about a dreamer who never gives up--and adapting it into a bilingual musical. Six-year old Sarah tells of her mother's journey across the desert from Mexico riding on the back of a tiger. Alex a very private teenager sings her coming out song to standing ovations. As the kids perform their work across NYC they learn that they belong in this country--their voices amplifying to deliver a message of diversity love hope and resilience essential to us all.</p><br/>