Jarrett J. Krosoczka: Why lunch ladies are heroes

Prevoditelj: Ivan Stamenković Recezent: Senzos Osijek

When my first children's book was published

Kada je objavljena moja prva knjiga za djecu

in 2001,

2001.,

I returned to my old elementary school

vratio sam se u svoju staru osnovnu školu

to talk to the students about being an author

kako bih pričao kako je biti autor

and an illustrator,

i ilustrator,

and when I was setting up my slide projector

i kada sam postavljao svoj projektor,

in the cafetorium,

u kantini,

I looked across the room,

pogledao sam preko sobe,

and there she was:

i ona je tamo bila:

my old lunch lady.

moja stara teta iz kantine.

She was still there at the school

Još je bila u školi

and she was busily preparing lunches for the day.

i bila je zauzeta pripremajući ručkove za taj dan.

So I approached her to say hello,

Prišao sam kako bih ju pozdravio,

and I said, "Hi, Jeannie! How are you?"

i rekao sam, "Zdravo Jeannie! Kako si?"

And she looked at me, and I could tell

I pogledala me, i znao sam

that she recognized me,

da me prepoznala,

but she couldn't quite place me, and she looked at me and she said,

ali me nije mogla smjestiti, i pogledala me i rekla,

"Stephen Krosoczka?"

"Stephen Krosoczka?"

And I was amazed that she knew I was a Krosoczka,

I bio sam zadivljen kako je znala da sam Krosoczka,

but Stephen is my uncle who is 20 years older than I am,

ali Stephen je moj ujak koji je 20 godina stariji od mene,

and she had been his lunch lady when he was a kid.

i bila je njegova teta iz kantine kada je bio dijete,

And she started telling me about her grandkids,

I počela mi je pričati o unučadi,

and that blew my mind.

i to me zapanjilo.

My lunch lady had grandkids,

Teta iz kantine imala je unučad,

and therefore kids,

samim time djecu,

and therefore left school at the end of the day?

i samim time odlazila je iz škole na kraju dana?

I thought she lived in the cafeteria

Mislio sam da živi u kantini

with the serving spoons.

sa grabilicama.

I had never thought about any of that before.

Nikad nisam razmišljao o tome.

Well, that chance encounter inspired my imagination,

Taj slučajni susret potaknuo je moju maštu,

and I created the Lunch Lady graphic novel series,

i stvorio sam strip Teta iz kantine,

a series of comics about a lunch lady

seriju stripova o teti iz kantine

who uses her fish stick nunchucks

koja koristi svoje nunčake od ribljih štapića

to fight off evil cyborg substitutes,

kako bi se borila protiv zlih zamjena kiborga,

a school bus monster, and mutant mathletes,

čudovišta iz školskog busa, i matematičara mutanata,

and the end of every book,

i na kraju svake knjige,

they get the bad guy with their hairnet,

uhvate zlikovca mrežicom za kosu,

and they proclaim, "Justice is served!"

i izjavi, "Pravda je poslužena!"

(Laughter) (Applause)

(Smijeh) (Pljesak)

And it's been amazing, because the series

I bilo je odlično, jer je serija

was so welcomed into the reading lives of children,

bila tako dobro prihvaćena od strane djece,

and they sent me the most amazing letters

i slali su mi divna pisma,

and cards and artwork.

i razglednice i crteže.

And I would notice as I would visit schools,

I primjetio sam kako sam posjećivao škole,

the lunch staff would be involved in the programming

da je osoblje iz kantine bilo uključeno u program

in a very meaningful way.

na vrlo značajan način.

And coast to coast,

I od obale do obale,

all of the lunch ladies told me the same thing:

sve tete rekle su mi istu stvar:

"Thank you for making a superhero in our likeness."

"Hvala ti što si napravio superheroja koji sliči na nas."

Because the lunch lady has not been treated

Jer teta iz kantine nije tretirana

very kindly in popular culture over time.

lijepo u pop kulturi kroz vrijeme.

But it meant the most to Jeannie.

Ali najviše je to značilo Jeannie.

When the books were first published,

Kada su knjige objavljene,

I invited her to the book launch party,

pozvao sam ju na zabavu lansiranja,

and in front of everyone there,

i ispred svih ljudi ondje,

everyone she had fed over the years,

svih koje je hranila tokom godina,

I gave her a piece of artwork and some books.

dao sam joj umjetničko djelo i neke knjige.

And two years after this photo was taken,

Dvije godine nakon ove slike,

she passed away,

preminula je,

and I attended her wake,

i bio sam na njenom bdijenju,

and nothing could have prepared me for what I saw there,

i ništa me nije moglo pripremiti za ono što sam vidio ondje,

because next to her casket was this painting,

jer pored njenog lijesa bila je ova slika,

and her husband told me it meant so much to her

i njen suprug rekao mi je kako puno joj je značilo

that I had acknowledged her hard work,

da sam priznao njen naporan rad,

I had validated what she did.

da sam potvrdio ono što je činila.

And that inspired me to create a day

I to me inspiriralo da stvorim dan

where we could recreate that feeling

gdje bih mogao ponovno stvoriti taj osjećaj

in cafeterias across the country:

u kantinama diljem zemlje.

School Lunch Hero Day, a day where kids

Dan Heroja Školskog Ručka, dan kada djeca

can make creative projects for their lunch staff.

mogu napraviti kreativne projekte za osoblje iz kantine.

And I partnered with the School Nutrition Association,

I u partnerstvu sa Školskom Asocijacijom za Ishranu,

and did you know that a little over 30 million kids

i jeste li znali da preko 30 milijuna djece

participate in school lunch programs every day.

sudjeluje u školskim programima za ručak svakog dana.

That equals up to a little over five billion lunches

To je jednako otprilike pet milijardi ručaka

made every school year.

koji se naprave svake školske godine.

And the stories of heroism go well beyond

Priče o herojstvu idu daleko iznad toga

just a kid getting a few extra chicken nuggets

da dijete dobije nekoliko komadića piletine više

on their lunch tray.

na svom poslužavniku za ručak.

There is Ms. Brenda in California,

To je gospođa Brenda u Kaliforniji,

who keeps a close eye on every student that comes through her line

koja pazi na svakog učenika koji prolazi njenom linijom

and then reports back to the guidance counselor

i onda javlja školskim savjetnicima

if anything is amiss.

ako nešto ne štima.

There are the lunch ladies in Kentucky

Tu su i tete iz Kentuckya

who realized that 67 percent of their students

koje su shvatile da 67 posto njihovih učenika

relied on those meals every day,

ovisi o tim obrocima svaki dan,

and they were going without food over the summer,

i da će biti bez hrane preko ljeta,

so they retrofitted a school bus

pa su preuredile školski bus

to create a mobile feeding unit,

kako bi stvorile mobilnu jedinicu za prehranu

and they traveled around the neighborhoods

i putovale su naseljima

feedings 500 kids a day during the summer.

hraneći 500 djece tijekom ljeta.

And kids made the most amazing projects.

I djeca su napravila najdivnije projekte.

I knew they would.

Znao sam da hoće.

Kids made hamburger cards

Djeca su pravile kartonske hamburgere

that were made out of construction paper.

od konstrukcijskog papira.

They took photos of their lunch lady's head

Slikali su glave svojih teta iz kantina

and plastered it onto my cartoon lunch lady

i ljepili ih na moje nacrtane

and fixed that to a milk carton

i to pričvršćivali na kartone mlijeka

and presented them with flowers.

i darivali im cvijeće.

And they made their own comics,

I stvarali su vlastite stripove,

starring the cartoon lunch lady

sa crtanom tetom iz kantine

alongside their actual lunch ladies.

zajedno sa stvarnim tetama iz kantine.

And they made thank you pizzas,

I radili su pizze zahvalnice,

where every kid signed a different topping

gdje je svako dijete potpisalo različtii nadjev

of a construction paper pizza.

na pizzi od papira.

For me, I was so moved by the response

Za mene, ja sam bio tako dirnut odgovorom

that came from the lunch ladies,

koji je došao od teta iz kantine,

because one woman said to me, she said,

jer jedna žena mi je rekla, rekla mi je,

"Before this day, I felt like I was

"Prije ovoga dana, osjećala sam se kao da sam

at the end of the planet at this school.

na kraju planeta u ovoj školi.

I didn't think that anyone noticed us down here."

Nisam mislila da nas itko primjećuje."

Another woman said to me,

Druga žena rekla mi je,

"You know, what I got out of this

"Znaš, to što sam dobila iz ovoga

is that what I do is important."

je da je ono što radim važno."

And of course what she does is important.

I naravno da je ono što radi važno.

What they all do is important.

Sve što čine je važno.

They're feeding our children every single day,

Hrane našu djecu svakoga dana,

and before a child can learn,

i prije nego dijete može učiti,

their belly needs to be full,

trbuh im mora biti pun,

and these women and men

i ove žene i muškarci

are working on the front lines to create

rade na prvoj crti kako bi stvorili

an educated society.

educirano društvo.

So I hope that

Nadam se da

you don't wait for School Lunch Hero Day

nećete čekati Dan Heroja Školskog Ručka

to say thank you to your lunch staff,

da bi rekli hvala vašem osoblju koje se brine za ručak,

and I hope that you remember

i nadam se da ćete upamtiti

how powerful a thank you can be.

kako snažno može biti hvala.

A thank you can change a life.

Hvala može promijeniti život.

It changes the life of the person who receives it,

Mijenja život osobe koja ga prima,

and it changes the life of the person

i mijenja život osobe

who expresses it.

koja ga izražava.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)