This summer at Bailey’s Cafe, I’ve been practicing making jewelry with Ms. Monifa. Her jewelry making methods are very different from Ms. Angela’s. Ms. Angela would use cloth and paper but Ms. Monifa uses copper wire and other professional jeweling material. I don’t expect to pick up jewelry making instantly but this is a valuable skill I would love to use in my free time if I had the tools to do it. This class has taught me exactly what to do when I see a jumpring, or a rubber mallet and how to imprint words and designs on metal. I recorded Ms. Monifa polishing a piece just to watch and study it later. I would definitely become a jeweler if the opportunity opened up to me. I would like to learn more about the profession and maybe I’ll be able to say I have jewelry making skills one day.
My favorite activities here are jewelry making practice and talking with Sweat and Kadeem. My least favorite is probably knitting/crocheting but I know it’s a good skill to have for the future. I just dislike how much I have to focus because even if I mess up once it all goes to waste and I’ll have to restart. The thing I love about talking with Sweat are his experiences and how he shares his wisdom with us to inspire us and make us think. Sweat and Kadeem are people I can ask questions to that I can’t ask my mom because my father isn’t around. He’s always asking us questions to keep the attentive energy flowing and never excludes someone so everyone gets to talk, like an informational Q&A from a very experienced older man.
There are a lot less people here than before so I started telling my friends about Bailey’s Cafe so maybe next summer it can be another home for them too. But I’m kind of enjoying how little people are here because it makes us closer and get to know each other better. I just enjoy being around the family I don’t have in New York because my family lives in Indiana. Bailey’s makes my summer really fun, productive and interesting but would never be the same without the few people who make my summer experience what it is.