This Side of Home

During Maya’s two-day suspension, Essence, Nikki, and Tony keep her updated on the goings-on at school. Tony calls to tell her that Principal Green has approved her suggestion to invite alumni to the senior block party and wants local businesses there, too. For the first time, everyone on the student council is in agreement. Tony’s birthday is two days away, and Maya sings to Tony to give him a hint that her present for him is a CD.

Mrs. Thelma dies in her sleep, and Maya goes to the coffee shop that used to be the woman’s home to try and feel close to her. There she meets an elderly man named Mr. Washington who teaches her about some of the city’s Black history. He explains that the Sankofa bird on her necklace is a symbol that represents “taking lessons from the past and bringing it into the present in order to make progress” (262). Mr. Washington tells her that the city has tried to break up the Black community under the pretense of urban renewal ever since the 1948 Vanport flood. The flood destroyed the homes of 17,000 people, the majority of whom were Black. The president of the Urban League, Bill Berry, advocated for the Black community and helped them gain housing and employment. Mr. Washington sees some positives to the recent influx of businesses on Jackson Avenue, such as increased property values for local Black homeowners. When Maya and Mr. Washington say their goodbyes, he tells her, “[i]t’s important to know the story. Your story. Keep asking questions” (267). Maya invites the coffee shop’s owner to participate in the school’s block party.

Essence comes over to Maya’s house on Sunday. She mentions that she wants to apply to a local beauty school because she doesn’t have enough money to attend Spelman and wants to style hair. When Maya suggests that she take business classes so that she can open her own salon one day, Essence tells her, “I’m not like you, Maya, with all your big dreams about changing the world” (270). Offended, Essence gathers her things and leaves.

The next day at school, Essence stands up for Maya when Cynthia and Tasha call her a sellout. She gets in a fight with Tasha when Tasha says that Essence doesn’t have “a mother who cares” (273). It takes the combined efforts of two security guards and a teacher to end the fight.

Essence is suspended for the fight, and the school asks her mother to attend a meeting. An intoxicated Darlene staggers into her daughter’s journalism class an hour and a half early. Mrs. Armstrong tries to escort her to the main office, but Darlene refuses to leave. Essence leaves the classroom without acknowledging her mother, and Darlene swears at her. After security takes Ms. Jackson from the classroom, Mrs. Armstrong asks Maya to check on Essence. After searching the school with no success, Maya finds Essence on the porch swing of her old home. Maya explains the situation to her mother, who drives the girls to Essence’s home. Mrs. Younger tells Essence, “[w]hen we go inside, I don’t want you to say a word. Not one word. Just go to your room and start packing” (277).

While Maya helps Essence pack, Mrs. Younger confronts Ms. Jackson about breaking her promise to become sober and attend her support group. She tells her, “[n]o more chances. Essence is moving in with me” (278). Darlene swears that she loves her daughter and that she’ll get better, but Maya knows that these are “the same lyrics she’s been serenading Essence with her whole life” (279).

Mrs. Younger’s New Year resolution is to have her family spend more time together. However, her husband keeps having scheduling conflicts that take him away from family breakfast on Saturday. One Saturday, Principal Green comes to the Youngers’ home to discuss a scholarship that Mr. Younger has procured for a Richmond student with the help of Mrs. Jacobs. Mr. Younger wants the scholarship to go to someone who may not have the highest grades but has “contributed to the community through leadership and service” (284). He also wants to ensure that the scholarship goes to someone who has attended the school for at least two years. However, the principal wants the scholarship to go to a student who isn’t Black because he thinks that this will boost waning enrollment and show “new parents that this isn’t just an urban school” (285). Mr. Younger informs the principal that the scholarship will be awarded by a panel of judges, that neither of them will be on it, and that ethnicity will not be considered. After the principal leaves, Maya thanks her father for saving Essence’s dream.

When Essence and Maya pick up copies of the scholarship application, they see Cynthia exiting the principal’s office with an application. Based on comments Cynthia makes to Tasha, Maya realizes that Principal Green gave her the interview questions that the scholarship judges will ask.

That night, Maya tries to look for the interview questions among her father’s things, but he sees her before she can get into his office.

On Saturday, Mrs. Younger wakes the twins up so that they can open their acceptance letters to Spelman. Maya is excited that her sister has decided to follow through with their plan, but she tears up as she thinks about leaving Tony and Essence behind.

Tony congratulates Maya on getting into her dream school. The moment is bittersweet because she’ll miss him when she moves to Atlanta.

Ronnie, Malachi, Charles, and Cynthia are the scholarship’s finalists. Maya is nervous because she still hasn’t obtained the interview questions, but she helps her friends practice by asking them questions from college applications. Essence wasn’t selected as a finalist, so she’ll be going to beauty school and taking some business classes.

Someone invites the media to attend the block party without Principal Green’s permission, and he accuses Mrs. Armstrong of being involved because she taught her journalism students how to write a press release. He tells her, “[y]ou are here to teach. Not lead political rallies or make a statement” (300). She informs him that she doesn’t know who invited the media but thinks that this is an excellent way to showcase Richmond in a positive light. Maya is present during this conversation, and she spots the interview questions on the principal’s clipboard.

Tony is accepted to Stanford, and he and Maya try to make the most of their remaining time together. One day, she goes to his house, and Mr. Jacobs answers the door and invites her inside. He congratulates her on her acceptance to Spelman and says, “[y]ou and your sister are the only kids I know from around here who got something good going for their lives” (306). Maya feels like a coward for not addressing the prejudice underlying his backhanded compliments.

The senior block party is held at the end of May, and the event receives a good turnout from local businesses. Mark Lewis, a Richmond alumnus who attended Brown and opened a clinic, speaks at the event. He tells his audience, “I am the man I am today not only because of the college I attended, not only because of my parents, but because of this community right here” (308). After Dr. Lewis’s speech, Principal Green gives Maya the honor of announcing that Charles has won the leadership scholarship.

After the party, Maya and her friends go to Last Thursdays and use the coupons the businesses on Jackson Avenue gave out at the school’s event. Essence, Star, Kate, Nikki, and Maya go to Soul Food. Z accidentally bumps into Vince with his shopping cart, and Vince antagonizes him. A crowd forms around them, “arguing about who was in this community first” (312). Chaos breaks loose when someone throws a rock through a business’s window. Maya suspects that Vince is the student who said the n-word that day at Richmond. Soul Food’s owner guides the patrons and staff to hide in the restaurant’s pantry until the police arrive.

The next morning, the local news announces that Richmond High is closed for the day and shows footage of the broken storefronts on Jackson Avenue. Mrs. Younger tells the girls to stay home, but Maya, Nikki, and Essence sneak out to help with the cleanup. A reporter approaches Maya, and she explains that she’s Richmond High’s student body president and invites current and past students to join her. Tony, Kate, Charles, and Star are among the first to answer her call. Within a few hours, Jackson Avenue is filled with volunteers from Richmond working to put their “broken neighborhood back together” (316).

Maya asks the owner of Soul Food if she’d be interested in teaching students at Richmond about healthy eating, and she enthusiastically agrees. She finds that most of the business owners on Jackson Avenue are interested in partnering with the school.

In June, Maya awaits the return of the rain.

On the last day of school, Maya, Essence, Nikki, and Tony clean out their lockers. Nikki jokingly claims that Jackson Avenue is named after her great-great-grandfather, and Maya suggests that they visit Mr. Washington at the coffee shop to learn the name’s real origins.