Kira Schlesinger: The Reverend Kira Schlesinger is the interim rector of St. Ann's Episcopal Church. She has lived in Nashville since 2008 and received a Masters of Divinity degree from Vanderbilt Divinity School. Below, she shares with us the origins and importance of her name. 

William Shakespeare famously wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” And yet, many of us are fiercely protective of our names; we take offense when people mispronounce or misspell them. Our names are who we are and how we are known in the world. Soon-to-be parents often spend a lot of time and energy deciding on a name for their child, potentially exploring religious or familial connections. Names follow certain trends, going through phases of popularity and switching from traditionally male names to traditionally female ones.

My name is Kira, which is a pretty unusual name. I never could find it printed on keychains or other souvenir paraphernalia alongside the Laurens and the Sarahs. When my parents were expecting my arrival, they wanted a name that started with a ‘K’ since they are Karen and Ken, but they were also looking for something different. A young woman in the neighborhood happened to be named Kira, and it piqued their interest. Ayn Rand’s first novel “We the Living” also features a female protagonist named Kira.

The Anglicized name Kira can be traced back to a number of different languages including Greek, Russian, Gaelic, and Japanese and might also be a feminine version of the Sanskrit name “Kiran” which means “beam of light.” Whatever its origin, as I have grown up, I’ve come to embrace having an unusual name.

While “family” seems like a simple concept to define, it’s just not that easy. There isn’t one definition for family, as it can mean different things to different people.  A family is not necessarily a husband and wife and their 2.5 children. Families differ in economic, social, and cultural backgrounds, and can be made up of moms, dads, grandparents, siblings, step-siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, pets, and much more. That said, one thing that universally defines a family in my opinion are people that are important to you, you can rely on, and you share memories with.

For me, my friends are a significant part of my family. I grew up with a mom, dad, sister, two cats, and a dog – all of whom I was very close with. And while I was close with my grandparents when they were alive, my extended family – aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. – didn’t live close by so we didn’t spend a lot of time together and form relationships. Instead, my family spent many summer vacations, holidays, and birthdays with very close “family friends” as we called it. I referred to them as my aunts, uncles, and cousins, although we were not technically related by blood. 

This idea of “family friends” was an important and common concept from an early age, and it’s why I’ve formed such strong friendships throughout my life that truly mean the world to me. Along with my immediate family, these friends are the people I’ve formed great memories with and who have always been there for me during the happy and tough times, and vice versa.

My definition of family is just one meaning. How do you define family and what does it mean to you? Let us know in the comments below or post on social media and tag ENHE and use the hashtag #LiteracyIsJustice!

ENHE Board Member Kathy Hoover-Dempsey, Ph.D. shares the top three reasons why she supports East Nashville Hope Exchange:

After I retired from Vanderbilt University in 2013 (following 40 years of teaching and research in Psychology and Human Development, which I loved), Amanda Goodwin, a wonderful faculty member in the Department of Teaching and Learning, asked if I’d be interested in joining the Program Committee of the East Nashville Hope Exchange.

My answer? A most definite “Yes!!” I’d heard of this remarkable organization that offers notable support for young children’s literacy development, and I was especially intrigued by its focus on offering many kinds of support for families’ active engagement in their children’s literacy learning. I joined, became a member of the Program Committee, and quickly learned that ENHE was a most remarkable program!

​I have been so impressed with many, many aspects of the program over these years, but three of its remarkable strengths really stand out for me. Each has been strengthened by excellent Executive Directors, excellent teachers and staff, a most thoughtful Board of Directors, and many individuals from the broader Nashville area who are committed to supporting the ENHE program with their talents, energies, and passion for developing literacy among children in the families we serve. These elements include the following:
 
Monthly Saturday Workshops for parents and children throughout the school year
These Saturday sessions include discussions with parents about the many different ways of supporting their young children’s literacy development (or “learning to read and enjoying it!”) In these monthly sessions, parents learn and discuss:

• The importance of their children’s learning to read and the equal importance of parents “being there” for their children as they learn to read—so that their children know that their growing reading skills are supported and valued within their family;
• Time, when possible, for parents to read and enjoy books together with their children (drawing especially from the many books that our children are given to take home from ENHE’s summer program!);
• How to develop consistent and constructive routines with their children at home, so that they can accomplish their children’s learning goals, and focus on activities that are often so helpful in supporting the development of a positive sense of self-esteem, reading skills, and purpose as they learn to read.

 
Bringing adults with remarkable skills and interests from the broader Nashville community to engage with, teach, and offer great encouragement for our students’ reading and learning during our ENHE summer school program
Our guests (usually one for each day of our summer program!) engage very actively with our children in many different ways—and our students respond with great enthusiasm to the different subjects, interests, talents and information our guests share with them! Our ENHE staff and invited guests are very encouraging of our students’ questions, e.g., about their careers, how they decided to do this work, what’s most fun about it. These conversations add so much to our students’ awareness of the many options for the very interesting work to be done in this world! A sample of these include:

• Guests who bring and read and discuss children’s books, welcoming our students’ questions about the stories, encouraging discussion, and being very encouraging of students’ responses, questions, and ideas about the story(ies) they’ve heard;
• Other guests bring music, singing with our students, encouraging and answering questions about the songs, many of which have been written by our guest performers;
• Others bring dance, engaging our students in learning particular dances, and sometimes simply ‘dancing to the music’ as one wants to!
• Still others bring art, engaging our students in drawing and painting pictures—sometimes very large ones, as was the case during our 2017 Summer Program, when students’ remarkable pictures were posted for some time on fencing adjoining a major thoroughfare in East Nashville, for all driving by to see and admire!

 
ENHE’s focus on taking our children into the broader Nashville community to experience events and places that are very interesting, intriguing, and often inspiring! For example:

• Going to the Nashville Zoo to see and learn so much about the animals there—where they come from, what their habits are, what they like to eat, and how the young ones play when they’re not sleeping or just staying close to their Mom;
• Another sweet example: Going to a Nashville printing press company to find out from experts how newspapers are made—and meeting the people who will be printing the newspaper that our students create near the end of the Summer Program every year for our families and all others interested in our summer of work and fun!
• And one of my favorites from the past summer: Our project that engaged our students, teachers, and other wonderful helpers in the development of a Lemonade Stand for a fund-raising event in the East Nashville community. This project engaged our children in thinking about four different recipes for really good lemonade, making and testing each recipe, selecting the one they liked best, creating attractive signs (e.g., “We have Good, Cold Lemonade for sale!”), getting the signs up and posted for the event . . . and being part of the excitement of selling so much of our good, good lemonade!

 
Why do I support ENHE? Because just as I wanted, so many years ago, to engage in teaching and learning activities that make a positive difference for children in this world (and loved doing so!), I continue to love being engaged, supportive, and encouraging of the services and learning opportunities offered by the remarkable East Nashville Hope Exchange Program that are often life-changing for our children and for their families.

​From perseverance to entrepreneurship to catching bugs, East Nashville Hope Exchange board member Emily Pendergrass shares with us the important role books played during her childhood. Emily currently serves as Director of Reading Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Vanderbilt University. She writes:
 
“What was your favorite book to read as a child?” It’s a daunting question for a person that loves to read. As a child that moved often, a shelf of favorite books was a constant in our newest home. I loved Judy Blume’s books; especially The One in Middle is the Green Kangaroo, Blubber, and Are You There God It’s Me Margaret. These books were funny and insightful to my child brain. I also loved the Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mysteries, where the detectives teamed up together to solve mysteries. One of the best was the first Double Crossing in the series involving the detectives trying to figure out who was selling CIA secrets on the cruise ship. Through the adventures in these novels, I was able to explore the world.
 
Another favorite was Kid Power by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This book was inspiring to me because Janie, the main character, decided to complete some odd jobs around her neighborhood in the hopes of bringing in extra money for her family. She advertised, became an entrepreneur, and when her business grew beyond her capabilities, she hired others to help her complete the jobs. To this day I remember how Janie and her friends learned to keep bugs out of the garden — a concoction of fruit juice, water, and sugar that attracts the bugs away from the plants. The bugs fall in the jar and drown in the sugary mix. Currently, I have a sugary mix in a mason jar in my East Nashville backyard… the insects fly in and never get out!
 
Looking back at this list helps me to see that many of the stories were about perseverance and finding solutions to problems—as a child, that knowledge was instrumental to my development. Persistence and creativity for problem solving are important to accomplishing one’s goals in life.

Now, as a parent and as a teacher, my favorite books to read aloud to children are in the same vein. I love picture books like Something Beautiful by Sharon Dennis Wyeth or The Pirate of Kindergarten by George Ella Lyons. For longer read aloud books, I turn to How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor or The Family Under the Bridge by Ann M. Martin.
 
But my very favorite book of all time to read aloud is the one that a child hands me.

​East Nashville Hope Exchange is proud to accept a Dollar General Literacy Grant to help fund our school year tutoring program, which parents, families and teachers have been requesting for a long time.