Fire in the Ashes

In this chapter, Kozol profiles a boy named Leonardo, whom he met at St. Ann’s when the boy was 7. He took Kozol on a tour of the neighborhood, pointing out dogs he knew and munching on a bag of cookies. He also pointed out a building where, he said, “they’re burning bodies” (148). Though Kozol thought this was a fib, it turned out to be true, as the pastor at St. Ann’s told him that the building was a medical incinerator that sent toxins into the air of a neighborhood of 40,000 people, most of them Latino or Black.

Leonardo’s mother, Anne (nicknamed “Antsy” because of her active personality), protested, along with others, against the incinerator. The rate of hospitalization for asthma in the area of Mott Haven was fourteen times that of the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a wealthy neighborhood. The incinerator was to blame, as were truck and bus depots. As a result, children like Leonardo suffered from asthma, and using his inhaler had become an accepted part of his day, as much as making funny comments.

He and his mother, who was a politically astute and self-educated intellectual, lived in the Diego-Beekman Houses. She had come from the South to New York City when she was 13, and she had lived with her mother, a nurse, in the Bronx. Her father, who was divorced from her mother, took her to Syracuse to attend high school. She decided not to go to college and, in thrall to hippie culture, began to do drugs and fell in love with a drug dealer. She was married to him and had Leonardo when they were still in Syracuse, but she moved to New York City to be near her mother. Her husband was constantly unfaithful, and he was then sent to jail.

Anne was a hustler in that she constantly looked for the best educational opportunities for Leonardo. She sent him to a progressive preschool in the neighborhood, and then to a good public school, where she was consistently in contact with the teachers. She organized a neighborhood baseball team and an outdoor party in a lot used by drug dealers; she even involved the dealers in cleaning it up. When Leonardo was 12, his asthma cleared up when the incinerator shut down, and his mother believed the two events were connected.

Leonardo was accepted into a New England boarding school for his high school years, and he was able, with his comfortable sense of self, to make a good transition there. He was called “the Mayor” for his ability to get others to go along with his plans, and he was captain of the football team. He attended a college in upstate New York, where he did well after a rough transition and graduated with a degree in sociology while working all five years that he was in school.

Anne suffered from deep depression, particularly after she had an accident while working at a home for people with mental impairments. However, she battled her depression by constantly throwing herself into life around her and making her house a welcoming place for young people. Leonardo worked at a clerical job while writing scripts for his stand-up comedian act. He also considered returning to graduate school to form policies to help children, and he also thought about becoming a psychiatrist. Kozol imagined Leonardo would be a very good psychiatrist, but did not share this directly with him.

Kozol met Pineapple when she was in kindergarten and was already a commanding personality. She, for example, told Kozol he needed to buy a better suit. She was full of life, despite the crowded and chaotic nature of her school. The Diego-Beekman complex where she lived with her parents, older sister Lara, younger sister—whom Kozol called Mosquito because she was always darting around—and later her younger brother, was also beset by violence. Kozol met her entire family, including her mother Isabella and father Virgilio, who were from Guatemala, when he was invited to their house on New Year’s Eve in 1999. Kozol usually resisted social invitations, but he was persuaded to attend and danced with Pineapple and her family members and spoke to her parents about the poor quality of her school.

When Pineapple finished elementary school, the pastor at St. Ann’s was able to get her admitted to a private middle school in Manhattan. Even with repeating sixth grade, Pineapple struggled there academically, as she was far below grade level. Most of her teachers worked with her, though there was a very rigid social studies teacher. She also worked on her skills over the summer. When Pineapple finished 8th grade, she earned a scholarship through people who worked with St. Ann’s to attend a boarding school in Rhode Island. There, her reading comprehension skills improved, and she became close to a young female teacher, who was like an older sister to her. Lara emerged from New York City schools with her skills intact and decided to attend college in Rhode Island, with a financial aid package and help from people at the church.

Pineapple’s family also decided to move to Rhode Island, where Isabella found work at a local nursing home, while Virgilio worked at a culinary position at one of the best hotels in Providence. Mosquito and Pineapple’s brother attended her school, from which Pineapple graduated in good standing. She decided to attend Lara’s college. While Lara majored in English Lit and Writing, Pineapple studied to be a social worker. She failed a few classes, but her ebullient spirit never dampened.

In this chapter, Kozol continues to chronicle his friendship with the irrepressible Pineapple. When she and Lara met Kozol for lunch in Providence, Rhode Island, they told him that the immigration service had not renewed the green card for their father, Virgilio. As a result, he had been let go from his work. His wife had also lost her job and was working as a maid at a hotel, scrubbing floors, which exacerbated her arthritis. Virgilio lost his appeal and had to return to Guatemala. He called his wife every day, though some people in Rhode Island criticized his decision to return home and thought he was neglectful.

Mosquito earned a full ride at a college in Connecticut, where she planned to study criminal justice, and Kozol attended Lara’s graduation party. Virgilio had managed to get there by crossing the Mexican border illegally and using his license to fly to New York and then drive to Rhode Island. He carefully considered what choices to make with Isabella and his son, Miguel, who was only 10.

Pineapple and Kozol took a walk, during which she told him that she still struggled to stay on top of her studies and that her mother was going to return to Guatemala with her brother. She said she had struggled so much in New York that she wasn’t going to stop pursuing her goals now. She said she was committed to helping people like her who had struggled and planned to pursue social work in New York City after graduation. She wanted to take down white superiority and be the kind of role model that she had benefited from having during her schooling.

Virgilio and Isabella decided to finally return to Guatemala with Miguel, though Virgilio had another confrontation with someone in Rhode Island who accused him of neglect. When each of his children was born, he bought them a plot of land next to his house in Guatemala, a sign of his protectiveness and concern for them.

Lara, Pineapple, and Mosquito moved into an apartment in Providence. Lara worked at a daycare and planned to go back to graduate school once Pineapple had graduated from college. Mosquito went off to college. Pineapple came to visit Kozol in Cambridge, where she stayed with his assistant, and they went shopping at Target. Pineapple only wound up buying linen table napkins for Kozol’s house. She spoke about how she had once considered being a pediatrician but now wanted to help kids in a different way and to pay forward the help she had received. A little while later, she told Kozol that her brother was returning to Providence to go to school.