Terry Rodda listens as Joanna Winkler discusses "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius."
(Joanne Rathe/Globe Staff)
The final bell of the day at Arlington High School rings at 2:25. David Balyozian jumps up from his seat in a corner of the school's library and begins rearranging tables. He puts out a modest spread of cookies and Goldfish crackers, then waits for his guests to arrive.
Fellow students are among the first to trickle in, but many of the guests, as it turns out, are several times Balyozian's age.
Balyozian, 17, is a senior and one of the student leaders of the Intergenerational Book Discussion Group, which has been meeting monthly in the Arlington High library since 2004. The group is composed mainly of high school students and members of Arlington's Senior Center.
"There should be more students this time," Balyozian says before the session begins. The attendance is driven by the book being discussed, and January's choice is "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," Dave Eggers's 2000 memoir. The group's choices are determined by a vote at the first meeting in September, Balyozian says, and the selection this year is skewed toward newer books.
Frequently, the works chosen are short; students don't have time to conquer the likes of "Sense and Sensibility," explains Bill Murphy, supervisor of volunteers for the Arlington Council on Aging.
Indeed, the first order of business at January's meeting was to announce a change in this month's selection. Instead of the weighty Austen novel, the group would tackle "Fahrenheit 451," a novel of a more manageable length.
Murphy says the idea for the group came from an intergenerational task force convened in 2003 by the school and the Council on Aging to find ways to bring together the town's young people and its elders.
"When I was raised, it was easy to have access to my grandparents and uncles," Murphy says. The task force came up with several ideas, but the book club has been the most successful. "The theory was that it needed to be focused, not just spending time together," he said.
In the past, the group received a grant from the Arlington Arts Council, but it currently depends on donations from participants for whatever expenses arise. A local bookseller offers a discount to group members.
To get the discussion on Eggers's book going, Elise Frangos, chairwoman of the high school's English department, hands out biographical information on the author as student Joanna Winkler, who first proposed the book in September, begins the discussion.
The chat takes several turns, from the semiautobiographical nature of the book to the rapidly changing style in which it was written to the true meaning of its title. Each of the people at the table - six students, four seniors, and three teachers - contributes thoughts, and many quote passages directly. On several occasions, Winkler pauses the conversation to ask a question she prepared for the meeting.
Frangos says this is part of her philosophy in sponsoring the group.
"It's important for kids to learn to be facilitators and leaders. Pick up the pulse of the group, the tempo, understand the context of the group in front of them," she says. In the past, Frangos found herself and Murphy leading many of the discussions, but over the life of the group, the students have taken a more active role.
Murphy says he would like to see the group have more contact with the young people who have participated in the past. "That's the one thing that's kind of unfortunate. We don't have much contact with the graduates of the program."
Both Frangos and Murphy say they believe the Arlington program is unique in its connecting of high school-age students with senior citizens. Both are working to prepare a poetry-sharing project between middle school students and the Council on Aging.
The educational value of the exercise aside, Murphy finds a simple reason to get together each month with the high schoolers.
"I think the real key is just the fact that it's so much fun to read a book and then talk about it with the generations," he says. "It's really enlivening."
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
