Inner City Vacation

(When college let out last summer seven students went to Newark to work for the Presbyterian Church of America, under the overall direction of Bill Iverson, a “church planter.” This is Dan Ritchie’s report of that mission.)

Broken glass is the most successful ground-cover in the Central Ward of Newark, New Jersey. Glass is not a perennial. It is continually reseeded in those streets. Unlike grass it is well-suited to asphalt. It thrives in burned-out buildings and in the shadow of wood, bricks, and discarded appliances. After a while you realize that it’s pointless to steer around pieces of glass: kids walk barefoot over it and rarely get cut. Resilience is the lesson Central Ward teaches.

DR

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Daniel E. Ritchie

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(When college let out last summer seven students went to Newark to work for the Presbyterian Church of America, under the overall direction of Bill Iverson, a “church planter.” This is Dan Ritchie’s report of that mission.)

Broken glass is the most successful ground-cover in the Central Ward of Newark, New Jersey. Glass is not a perennial. It is continually reseeded in those streets. Unlike grass it is well-suited to asphalt. It thrives in burned-out buildings and in the shadow of wood, bricks, and discarded appliances. After a while you realize that it’s pointless to steer around pieces of glass: kids walk barefoot over it and rarely get cut. Resilience is the lesson Central Ward teaches.