Thinking Outside the Girl Box: Teaming Up with Resilient Youth in Appalachia

3. Teresa: The Girls Have More to Say Than They Thought They Did

 3 The Girls Have More to SayThan TheyThoughtThey Did THose peopLe WiLL Be deAd When i met her, twelve-year-old Teresa was far from a boisterous, assertive adolescent girl. one of the first and youngest members of the Girls’ resiliency program,Teresa initially came across as quiet, defensive, and withdrawn. she had a short stature and thick, shoulder-length brown hair that she almost seemed to hide behind. My graduate student who first interviewed Teresa in 1999 returned defeated:“she [Teresa] sat in the chair with her arms folded across her chest for the first portion of the interview,” my student wrote in a note attached to the transcript. “she kept trying to answer‘i don’t know,’even on simple questions....i felt like i was a failure at this interview.” The Girls Have More to Say Than They Thought They Did 49 rereading the transcript ten years later, i am struck by the pessimism of a girl in an age category known for being wildly idealistic. (As a qualitative research professor, i am also surprised to see so many closed questions that could be answered with one or two words—but it was one of my student’s first interviews.) A telling moment from their conversation: i n t e rv i e w e r : can you see yourself changing where you live? can you see yourself making a difference? t e r e s a : Huh uh [no]. i n t e rv i e w e r : How come? t e r e s a : people around, i mean, they stay drunk and stuff all the time. i mean, they don’t listen—especially to a little kid. i n t e rv i e w e r : Then you don’t think that you could change it? t e r e s a : no. i n t e rv i e w e r : not even when you get older and you are not a little kid anymore? t e r e s a : Those people will be dead. After she had been in the Grp for three years, we interviewed Teresa again.Bubbly,outgoing,feisty,and confident,it is not an overstatement to say that Teresa was not the same girl. We asked how she would describe herself nowadays. “i’m smart,” she said immediately.“And sometimes i have a good attitude, sometimes i don’t. i always remind people of things. i always put in my ideas.” A few minutes later, she described herself as the “teacher’s pet” and told us confidently that everyone liked her.As to her relationship with other girls in the program,Teresa painted herself as a leader. Many of the other girls, she said, “tell me to tell shelley everything. i’m their messenger. ‘Have any questions?Tell me!’ . . . seems like she [shelley] looks more to us—the second- and third- and fourth-year girls—to be a good role model for the first-year girls. . . . everybody comes to me and asks me stuff.” indeed, for the rest of her time in the program,i rememberTeresa as a positive,reliable presence—and as someone who was quick to crack a joke. 50 Teresa Although some of this is most likely the result of becoming older and more mature, Teresa credits the Grp—especially working as a research intern—with helping her “[find] her voice”: i’ve learned that i’ve changed.A lot.When i first got into the program . . . well actually it was whenever i first became a research intern.That was when i was twelve and everybody else was like sixteen, seventeen—they were all older than me, and i finally found my voice. i was little, sweet, and innocent; nobody would listen to me.And i had to say yes to whatever they said, and one day i just got mad and told them what i thought, and it’s just been ever since then. i n t e rv i e w e r : ever since then what? t e r e s a : Well, i changed. i just tell people what i think about stuff,about discussion meetings,about like the work and stuff like that. instead of me just saying “mm hmm, whatever you say” . . . i actually give out my opinion. . . . [And] i’ve learned how to stand up and talk in front of an audience, like...