When I was about 12, big changes happened in my town (Mineola, NY). There had been an influx of Portuguese immigrants over the previous few years and suddenly, there on the Little League fields, way out in left field, were a bunch of Portuguese teenagers kicking a soccer ball. This was in the 70s and most of us had never seen one before. This happened night after night that whole season, usually after the baseball games were over. The next season, the Portugese community asked to use the field for soccer games. I tell ya', it was like a Disney movie the way the town rose in an uproar. The way two cultures clashed and collided. The way we, the original residents, knew that times were a'changin' and nothing was going to stop it.
So it was with particular interest that I read the engrossing story about Coach Luma Mufleh and her soccer team of refugees on the cover (and several interior pages--it was a long article!) of The New York Times this past Sunday, especially since Coach Mufleh's team is in Clarkston, GA, less than 30 minutes from where I live currently. Turns out there was a Hollywood bidding war for rights to the story and to her life. Universal won, and as part of its deal, it is financing a spanking-new soccer field for the team of resettled refugees.
Warren St. John, the writer of this article, deserves kudos for the outstanding job he did capturing the drama of a woman who believed in these displaced children so much that she even started a house cleaning business to employ their parents, the beauty that still shines in children who have seen more ugliness than many of us can begin to imagine, and the understandable panic of a sleepy town upended by change.
St. John, who usually writes for the Style section of the paper, wrote his heart out. He transcended his job and told the story that needed to be told. And that makes him a Stone in the Pond.
To read St. John's work, go to www.nyt.com
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