Open Mike: Ode to Stone
- Amy's poem is about stone. That's what she wants to be: tough and un-crackable.
- God might have turned people into pillars of salt, but Amy would much rather be rock.
Tyrone
- Amy's poem leaves Tyrone feeling a little cold, but he also gets it—he's wanted to be stone a couple times in his life. Like when his dad died, for example. Not feeling things would have been pretty great on that day.
Sheila Gamberoni
- People in class don't quite get why Sheila wants to change her name to Natalina. It's her "Africana" name, she tells Mr. Ward.
- Amy rolls her eyes, while Judianne asks why she just doesn't keep her name. Porscha tells them to leave her alone; Sheila must have her reasons for the big name change.
- Judianne tells Sheila that she can call herself whatever she wants, but it won't make her black.
- Sheila's fine with being Italian—she's even proud of it—but she just doesn't fit in with the rest of her family. For starters, she has pale skin and blonde hair, plus she's the only one in her family who doesn't think black and Latino people are lazy.
- Her family owns a pizza shop in the neighborhood but they've never gotten to know their non-white neighbors.
- Unsurprisingly, they don't understand why Sheila wants to go into social work.
- Sheila figures she just needs a new name, something that tells a different story about her. Sheila could be anyone, but Natalina is a name with a history.
- This is what she tells Mr. Ward after class, and he's fine with it, agreeing to call her Natalina. Score.
Open Mike: What's in a Name?
- The poet formerly known as Sheila writes all about her new name.
- People judge other folks by their names all the time, so she just needs one that fits her a little better. Natalina sounds good.
Tyrone
- Tyrone is with everyone else—he does not get the name change thing. It's not just that Sheila wants to change her name; it sounds like she wants to change her race. What gives?
- Tyrone also wonders what Mr. Ward is going to do with all the videos he's taking of the kids reading their poems. Show them next year, maybe? Tyrone's cool with that… as long as Mr. Ward shows his poem, too.