Telling stories with Karen Perron

The first time I went to meet Karen Perron, she missed our meeting and I read a couple of chapters in “A Separate Peace” in the back of her classroom.

In the book, two boys climb a tree. One jumps on a limb, making the other lose his balance and fall. John Knowles never really says why, which makes for a good discussion.

Southern High isn’t Devon, but the stories Karen Perron has brought Durham News readers the past six months have been just as real: She’s written about students who have lost friends violence, about defusing racial tension through humor, about how stressful teaching has become.

We ask our My View columnists to commit to six months. We want to make sure they enjoy the monthly column, that they cover different topics, that they tell stories. Don’t tell us what to think, we say. Tell us what you think … and why.

Karen told me more stories Saturday as we met outside Whole Foods, Flo-Rida and Kristiana DeBarge blasting over the East Campus stone wall.

Her mother died recently. She’s started a club so the kids at Southern can help plan the school’s next peace festival. She’s joined The Gathering, a new church for people like her who “don’t want to be there.”

That surprised me, because I met Karen through Marcia Owen at the Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham. She even had a radio show and a Christian ministry for a while when she lived in California. 

So I asked what she’s looking for in church that so far has
eluded her.

“I want to see miracles,” she said.

“I want to see the power of gangs broken, I want to see less
people killed in Durham,” she said. “And if I’m not doing that I’m 'playing church.’”

Karen has a lot more stories to tell.

Tell us what you think of her column tomorrow (Wednesday) and share some of your own by sending a letter to the editor editor@nando.com.