Midnight Teacher

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:00:17

Midnight teacher

Wick Sloane (top), Tremare James

Community colleges are experiencing record enrollments in the recession. Some have responded by adding classes at all hours of the day. Wick Sloane teaches English at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston - at midnight.

As he tells Dick Gordon, Wick thinks students in community college are among the most energized and inspiring he's ever met. He pointed us to Tremare James, a 19-year-old woman who has made back into the classroom despite debilitating sexual assaults. Wick and Tremare talk with Dick about the 12 a.m. to 3 a.m. class, and what they're liking about the experience.

Keep up with Wick's essays about higher education

An attachment to Ethiopia

Eric Gottesman

Eric Gottesman had a summer internship with the Supreme Court when he found out he'd won a fellowship to spend a year in Ethiopia. The experience set his life on a whole new course, one he's still trying to make sense of. For one thing, Eric gave up his plans to become a lawyer and instead became a professional photographer. But he was never comfortable with simply being a journalist or a documentarian. He wanted his subjects to intimately participate in the process of making portraits. Eric talks with Dick about the young woman he's worked with most closely, Salam, and how that and other relationships keep him tied to Ethiopia.

See some of Eric's photographs
Learn more about Eric
Music heard in this story: Antchi Hoye, by Gigi

- Midnight Teacher

Midnight Teacher

Midnight teacher

An attachment to Ethiopia