Marian Cross’s longest career, 50 years worth, began serendipitously. Her newest career as an organic farmer—now six years old—had a similar start. After all, “most formative, life-altering moments emerge not from carefully laid plans,” as Marian says, “but from being present where you are and doing what is needed.”
When she graduated from Radcliffe College in 1960, Marian was married and pregnant. Fresh from Harvard Law School, her then husband, Fritz Schwarz ’53, responded to an ad for legal work in Africa. The couple and their eight-month-old son (Eric Schwarz ’79) moved to Muslim northern Nigeria. “Back then, no one asked women what they wanted to do in their careers. Women were not expected to have careers. In northern Nigeria, at that time, the only salaried job women were allowed was to teach school. I had never considered being a teacher, but I wanted to work with the local people.” Marian was accepted as a teacher at the Catholic teachers’ training college in Kaduna—a program for native Ibo women, run by Irish Sacred Heart nuns.
“This was my first real experience with cross-cultural communication,” Marian says. “Trying to understand my students’ perspective enough to teach the very British curriculum—for which they had no context at all (think Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte)—was daunting and fascinating. I’m glad to say I persuaded the nuns to make some changes, too.”
Back in the States two years later—and after two more babies and a master’s in education—Marian eagerly applied her cross-cultural work to the New York City public school system. She began a seven-year stint teaching high school in East Harlem. Her Nigerian experience proved invaluable with her inner-city students, many of whom spoke English as a second language and were reading far below their grade level. How do you begin to learn from a teacher of another culture? From a textbook written in another language? Marian made answering these questions her life’s work.
With thinkers like John Dewey and Paulo Freire as models, Marian broadened educational opportunity as widely as possible. “I’m for creating settings where people can learn. I believe in equality in education. So many students, of all ages, are talented and bright and just don’t have the resources.” Reaching to touch as many of those students as possible, Marian became a literacy consultant to school systems, prison systems, addiction programs, and arts-ineducation programs—all while pursuing a doctorate in anthropology and linguistics at Columbia.
The day she completed her dissertation, she got a call from the New York City mayor’s office. Mayor Ed Koch asked Marian to work on the city’s education initiatives.
Now the new link between the school system and City Hall, Marian learned the “language and math” of municipal budgets and the politics of New York’s neighborhoods. She also learned how to write great speeches and make things happen. Marian launched after-school programs and education programs in prisons. She was a key player in increasing the immunization rate of the city’s students from 20 percent to the highest in the country. On her own, she developed a report on high school illiteracy and gave it to the mayor. The New York Times ran it on the front page. Marian was branded as someone who knew something about literacy.
A fortuitous influx of revenue into the city’s budget prompted Mayor Koch to set up an adult literacy program. Marian explains, “When people asked what he meant, he replied, ‘Go see Marian Schwarz. Ask her what she needs, and then do what she says.’ The budgeters came to visit me and I told them to come back in the morning—that I’d have something for them then.” By the next day, Marian and her team had outlined a $36 million adult literacy program. The city thereby approved the largest adult literacy program in the country, with Marian at the helm. Only in the most recent budget did the city pull the funding.
For those who want to learn to read, access to help is an obstacle. Waiting lists for the programs were months long. Marian realized that using television as a medium would reach people where they lived their lives. After a year of research, she had the plan that would meet the need. A Ford Foundation grant of $3 million made it happen.
The result was TV411—like Sesame Street in some ways. TV411 teaches reading, writing and math by addressing issues like health, money and family. Produced and distributed by ALMA, the Adult Literacy Media Alliance (which Marian founded), the show still runs on PBS/WGBH, and maintains a robust Web site. Marian earned two Emmys for her work on TV411.
“I’m so proud of that program, but it’s also what almost did me in,” says Marian. She stepped down from her role as ALMA’s executive director in 2005. She and her husband, Larry Cross, moved to their 1825 farm in Katonah, New York.
The couple wanted to start a modern, organic farm on the property, and one morning, after buying a $6 pint of raspberries, they realized the fruit could be the
core crop of a profitable venture.
“I love starting something from scratch, especially when I don’t know how to do it,” Marian says. Armed with her notebook and affinity for research, she began visiting local farms and reading. She interned at a farm for a spring. She and Larry—who has a farming background—began to prepare their land. They plotted crop areas, prepared the soil, built extensive fencing.
Only later did they discover why there are not more raspberry farms in Westchester County. “Raspberries are an extremely delicate fruit with lots of pests, most of which we’ve learned about the hard way,” she says. Nonetheless, their well-ventilated, north-facing, blooming slope opened to an eager berry-picking public on July 1 this year, marking Amawalk Farm’s sixth season. Theirs is one of only two certified organic farms in Westchester County. While the public picks the berries, the farm’s garlic, salad greens, tomatoes, eggplant and squash are in demand by restaurants and specialty stores across the area.
“The food movement is powerful right now, and farming is a popular trend. Many young people are studying sustainability and agriculture in high school and college, so they’re eager to be involved, and they make up our workforce.”
Though Marian will always have New York City in her blood, she and Larry enjoy being part of their smaller, quieter community. They host visits from local families, and children at the Mount Kisco Day Care Center. “The children pick things and ask questions. We yak the entire time. Teaching and learning are constantly happening at the farm.”
Marian continually sharpens her own farming skills, as well: “Now I spend time in the winter attending seminars on things like weed management and plant diseases. Life is just full of surprises, isn’t it?”
Erin E. Hoodlet