Writing poetry is not easy, but liviing in Massachusetts without knowing English is more difficult. Therefore, I am challenging myself to write a poem each day in November with the hope of raising $500 toward free English lessons for new residents in western MA from foreign countries.
This is important to me because I know that my ancestors arrived in Chicago in the late 1800's knowing only German, Swedish, or Norwegian. With hard work they survived, but it took a generation for everyone to learn English.