America's Water Education: second entry

Editor's note:

The second entry of our blog series has been written by Christopher Slaughter, special education teacher and published author. This work has been produced within the context of our NSF grant on the innovative use of water data platforms at the middle and high school level, bringing together Columbia Water Center's researchers Nancy Degnan and Laureline Josset and a team of educators at the Eagle of Academies for the Young Men of Harlem. Their thoughts are collected in a series of blog entries on our project dedicated website.

By
Christopher Slaughter
April 05, 2023

Opening words

In urban areas, people brush their hair and wear durags to make hair texture resemble waves in the ocean. In Brooklyn, and many inner-city areas, we had a very unique relationship with water. During summers, we drank from fire hydrants (that we called Johnny-pumps) where stray dogs and cats drank from. Everyone was fighting against any thirst that would dehydrate our dreams. Even when we made a jump-shot on tilted basketball rims that were all net, we’d scream “WATER”. Water is both metaphor, 2 parts hydrogen 1 part oxygen, and symbolism. However, in reality, the water that poured from faucets in our homes was brown like us. I now wonder how the water we took in affected us. Did it impinge on our energy? Did it alter our moods? Or have we become immune to the impurity? As we embark on this water project, we will learn, discover, and find different streams of thought concerning water and its many issues.

Tags
water education