This Is What It
LOOKS Like
toChange
a
Child’s
Life On the far side of the indoor
basketball court, a line of
wobbly-kneed elementary
school kids stomps through
a sequence of shuf e-step,
shuf e-step with their dance
teacher clapping time. Their
shiny, tiny tap shoes clobber
the gymnasium with sounds,
their faces an endearing mix
of intense concentration and
unadulterated joy.
Out of context, this line of adorable
grade schoolers looks like any other
kids’ dance class, but there is a stark
difference: these children are in the
temporary safety of Metropolitan
Ministries’ shelter, their lives
upended by homelessness, domestic
violence and other horrors beyond
their control and not of their making.