Foreword

Dr. Laurie Grobman, Distinguished Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Penn State Berks

In my nearly 20 years doing collaborative local history and storytelling projects with my college students and community partners, I never imagined one day partnering with a boxing gym. But that is because I knew little about boxing as more than a sport where participants get banged up and bloodied. The moment I walked into the gym at Star City Boxing, a nonprofit gym in Reading, Pennsylvania, I sensed there was far more to it. One of Star City’s founders/owners, Alex Betances, began introducing me to several of the members; Alex’s pride and compassion for these young people was immediately apparent. Now, more than half a year later, I see the vital role Star City Boxing has in the Reading community and applaud the owners, Alex and Monica Betances, along with the coaches and volunteers who make great sacrifices to keep the gym open. 

The stories came about through a partnership between Penn State Berks in the Spring 2022 semester to collaboratively tell, write, and publish the stories in this book and on the Star City Boxing website.  

I designed the class, Storytelling for Justice, around counterstory, defined by Daniel G. Solórzano and Tara J. Yosso as “telling the stories of those people whose experiences are not often told” (32) by both responding directly to the dominant discourse and by revealing and sharing the “numerous unheard counter-stories” of underrepresented communities (32). Our focus was on collaboration. The interviewees told their stories to the students and me. Then we wrote up what they’d said in story form. But the last word on all these words belonged to the interviewees; they were involved in looking at drafts along the way, suggesting changes, and ultimately, approving the final drafts. Our hope is that the counterstories in this book offer meaningful narratives about Reading and its inhabitants as well as “help strengthen traditions of social, political, and cultural survival and resistance” (32).  

I extend deep appreciation to Alex and Monica Betances who trusted me enough before getting to know me to place these precious stories in my and students’ hands. I learned a lot from both of you and look forward to working together in the future. 

I express my sincere thanks to student writers Adam Chaffe, Giovanna DeLima, Joseph Fromuth, Troi Howell, Ja’nique Jules, Nicholas Kopp, and Elijah Schade, who were open-minded and enthusiastic about doing something entirely new for most of them: interviewing people they had never before met and working with them to co-tell, in writing, their stories.  

Of course, the same is true of the interviewees, who shared their stories with us, so that we may share them with our readers: Max Baez, Lindsay Bates, Alex Betances, Sr., Monica Betances, Alex Betances, Aly Betances, Tyleah Betances,  Henry Calvo, Luis Cintron, Julian Cruz, Chino Garcia, Shakeem Hodge, KJ Lindsay, and Steve Torres. 

I thank everyone else who assisted with Stories from Star City Boxing:  

  • Dr. George Grant, Chancellor, Penn State Berks 

  • The Dr. Ruth M. Freyberger Endowment for the Arts and Art Education, Penn State Berks 

  • Dr. Donna Chambers, Associate Teaching Professor in Spanish and Coordinator of CACE, The Center for Academic Community Engagement, Penn State Berks  

  • Photographer Annabelle Bowers 

I hope you enjoy the stories in the book and, like me, understand the beauty that exists in this nonprofit gym. 

 

References 

Solórzano, Daniel G., and Tara J. Yosso. “Critical Race Methodology: Counter-Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research.” Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 8, no. 1, 2002, pp. 23-44.