The Blue Sweater

Adam has been joking with me regarding the crazy amounts of books I have been reading. I am on a roll. My most recent read was The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz. I had heard about this book long before its publication due a friend who works for Ms. Novogratz's brain child, Acumen Fund. Never a jaded or negative word has come from his mouth regarding his workplace or his boss (Jacqueline), and he touted this book's debut as if it were tantamount to the second coming of Christ. As a doctoral candidate in International Ed Development, a public teacher who has seen schools in Third World America, and a person dedicated to a life of serving those less fortunate than me due to the sick amount of privilege I have, I was intrigued.

I dove into The Blue Sweater head first. Having just heard a tidbit on NPR on how the book's title came to be, I felt an instant connection to this woman. I, too, had seen youth in West Africa wearing the fashions that I wore in middle school when I traveled there with students in 1995. While I didn't see a particular item of MY clothing, I KNEW those clothes, and was thrown that they had somehow sailed across the Atlantic and into the hands of children in a small village on the Burkina Faso/Ghana border.

But I had a hard time investing in this book at first (wow...bad pun there). The chronology was repetitively linear, and while the story of her life and her development enlightenment are fascinating, her writing lacked a certain flow that made it an easily enjoyable read. I kept defending her, though, telling myself that she came from banking for Christ-sake, has an MBA, and knows how to crunch numbers, therefore I could deal with her lack of writing voice. Deal I did, and I am glad.

For in spite of its lack of a writerly je ne sais quoi, she is brilliant. When recounting ideas to Adam, I started using words like micro-finance, drip irrigation, and incremental housing and he was intrigued by my vocabulary. I empathized with her in so many instances--as a solo woman traveler who has had that fearful moment of "what have i gotten myself into?!", as a white educator who has been questioned repeatedly by fellow teachers, students, and parents on if I should/can teach Black/Hispanic kids, as a person who is desperately seeking a path of both efficacy and love in their chosen career....the list goes on.

In the end, the book gave me hope. Not only in that cliched "one person can change the world" mantra, but also in the idea that change can't be all heart or all numbers, it has to be both. Can you please add education to your areas of interest for Acumen Fund, Jacqueline, and can I be an Acumen Fellow?