A Princeton Public Library program is filled with the sounds of readings and discussions of short stories — in Spanish.
By: Jennifer Potash
For two hours on recent Thursday nights, the sounds of Spanish have filled the air in the second-floor meeting room of the Princeton Public Library.
Gente y Cuentos, or People and Stories, brings together Spanish-speaking individuals to read and discuss short stories.
At one gathering, more than 20 participants filled the room to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the program at the library as well as the completion of the spring session.
A new session will begin Oct. 11 and run through Dec. 6.
Sarah Hirschman founded the program 30 years ago while she was living in Cambridge, Mass. She learned to speak Spanish while living in Bogota, Colombia.
"Sharing a story is a universal experience," Ms. Hirschman said. Through the stories and the participants’ contributions to the discussion comes a sense of community.
People and Stories programs, which include English sessions as well , take place in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York inside prisons and drug-rehabilitation centers as well as in libraries and senior-citizen centers, she said.
The use of short stories and other literary works is a great platform for participants to express themselves and their ideas, Ms. Hirschman said.
"I think what it demonstrates is it gives people the self-assurance to express themselves in their own voice and not to just accept any cliché that flies at them," she said.
The participants at the library spanned all parts of the Spanish-speaking world and spanned generations which is what makes the program so unique, said Angelica Mariani, who leads the group and selects the stories for discussion.
"It is such a rewarding experience," said Ms. Mariani, who also teaches Spanish literature classes at Princeton University. "I can’t believe it’s been 10 years."
The weekly sessions provide a wonderful fellowship and social opportunity, the participants said.
For Evelin Ucci, 20, who came to New Jersey from Argentina to learn English, Gente y Cuentos is a way to stay connected to her first language and her culture.
"It feels very good to come here," she said.
After a half-hour for the participants to arrive and chat, Ms. Mariani introduces the story and then reads it aloud to the group.
In a break from the usual short story, the group read an essay from the world-renowned Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa about the writer’s reminisces of a now-defunct park in Lima.
In the essay, Mr. Vargas Llosa recalled how the Salazar Park, or El Parque Salazar, functioned as a community center on the weekends. Men would meet there to discuss politics or play chess while children would play games and the teen-agers would engage in illicit kisses.
Also, wrote Mr. Vargos Llosa, the park served as a backdrop for parties that were dry to drink, one had to sneak around the corner.
The group focused on the ambiguity in the text how a man might kiss a white woman differently than a woman of mixed race. For many of the group, the essay evoked vivid memories of pocket parks in far-off neighborhoods.
The descriptions of the Salazar Park reminded Ms. Ucci of a park in her hometown in which she used to take morning strolls with her grandfather.
Mariano Nimo of Hamilton Township said that reading the essay transported him to the Ramblas in Barcelona and a park in his native Cuba.
"It’s where the men smoked cigars, the women walked by, and where the children played," he said.
Mr. Nimo, who attended the program with his wife, Mayra, said he looked forward to going to future sessions.
Ms. Nimo said reading the story "reminded me of when I was a teen-ager and I went to the park (in Cuba)."
Following the discussion, the group broke for a fiesta to celebrate the session’s end as well as the program’s anniversary.
Rosa Magdalena Gelaszus of Hamilton wrote a small essay about what the program meant to her, which she read at a gathering of Gente y Cuentos participants.
The sessions not only allowed her to discover new authors, but provided the chance to interact with people from different counties and different viewpoints.
"Gente y Cuentos was significant for me and I imagine it was an experience so fabulous, so marvelous for you," Ms. Gelazus told her fellow participants.
While individuals who are conversant in Spanish may be more at ease with the program, it is a wonderful opportunity for those learning the language to build their skills, Ms. Mariani said.
Elba Barzelatto, the library’s information services manager, has coordinated the program for its duration. She said she is most amazed at how the program has grown over the years. Some of the first Gente y Cuentos groups had only six or seven people, but today a typical group has 20 to 25 participants, she said.
Library Director Leslie Burger attended the session and said it encouraged her to learn Spanish so she could participate in future sessions.
"It’s a wonderful program that creates a community where community may not have existed," she said.
A story hour in Spanish for children and their parents has recently begun at the library, Ms. Burger added.