Mein Harlem - Anna Steegmann
Anna Steegmann emigrated from Germany in 1980. In this essay she relates her first visit to Harlem to visit a friend from the theater. During her childhood in Germany, Ms. Steegmann was moved by the violent images of the civil rights movement from the American south. She developed an empathy with and a fascination for black American culture. On this first visit, she meets and is "adopted" by her friend's mother, referred to as Miss Jackson.
Miss Jackson seems like a wonderful, sensible woman. Independent of men, though thoroughly heterosexual, she lives in a well-kept, well-secured home near 125th. She has words of wisdom for Ms. Steegmann, and over the years she recalls them as she makes her life's decisions.
My personal favorite is a simple platitude that we all could stand to live by, no matter how egregious or complex our circumstances: Ain't nobody holding you back, but yourself.
This essay looks like it is about Harlem, it's beauty and ugliness, it's art and it's trash. But I believe it is about taking chances, risking ourselves. Harlem represents inspiration and fear. It is possibility and barrier all in one.
Ms. Steegmann had the nerve to succeed. It would have been nice to balance this with a couple of failures, details of her setbacks are rolled right over. Maybe that's a good thing.
I felt myself smile more often than not while reading this. This relentlessly sunny outlook can't help but help. I wonder if I should buy a desk now instead of writing at the dining room table?
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