Altars in the Street: A Neighborhood Fights to Survive [Hardcover]

Melody Ermachild Chavis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 1997

Altars in the Street is the personal chronicle of Melody Ermachild Chavis, who bought a house in what was a quiet interracial neighborhood on the south side of Berkeley, California, but which became a place where drugs and violence were growth industries. It is about the life of a mother trying with other mothers to raise children in a dangerous world. It is also the inspiring story of how she and her neighbors found ways of working with each other, the youngsters, the elderly, the unemployed, the addicts, the drunks, and even the police and the drug dealers--in a courageous effort to preserve their homes and their lives. It teaches community action we can all adopt, such as tutoring at local schools, encouraging teenagers to start a gardening project, and accompanying them to court when they find themselves in trouble. This book illustrates our collective responsibility for bringing about healing. It is a brave and wonderful wake-up call, full of the nitty-gritty of how each of us can make a difference when push really does come to shove. Drawing on deep reserves of good humor, common sense, and practical experience of nonviolent action, Melody Ermachild Chavis has written a moving testament to the power of spirit in today's often cynical world.

Altars in the Street is for people who live in cities and those who have fled them. It will speak to anyone who cares about the future of our children, our neighborhoods, and our nation, anyone who wants to look truthfully at the relationship between poverty and prisons, and between community and education. It is also for those who seek to put spirituality to work where it really counts--on the street where we live.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This work is the poignant story of Chavis's and others' struggles to secure community pride, cooperation, and decent family living in the face of increasingly disruptive activities associated with crack use and crack-related crime in Lorin, an interracial community on the south side of Berkeley, California, where Chavis lived for 16 years. A survivor of a dysfunctional family, she is a privately employed investigator for the defense in death penalty cases. Her connections with the Zen Center and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship reinforced her commitment to nonviolent approaches to the community's myriad social and political problems. Despite some visible successes, the unalleviated stress in a neighborhood consumed by drugs and violence finally forced Chavis and her family to move out of Lorin. Chavis writes with conviction and compassion. Strongly recommended for professionals, academics, and lay readers alike.?Suzanne W. Wood, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Alfred
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The distortions of race suggest that this affecting narrative of the impact of drugs on Lorin, an interracial neighborhood on Berkeley's south side, by a 16-year white resident, will gain more visibility than a similar report on drugs and daily life in Harlem, South Central, or Chicago's South Side; happily, Chavis' racial attitudes are less distorted than most. An ex-teacher who became a private investigator specializing in death-row defense work, Chavis and her partner Stan, a teacher turned auto mechanic turned lawyer, bought a big old house in Lorin for their merged families and got involved with their community from the start. By the mid-eighties, crack and crime invaded Lorin, and Chavis worked with neighbors, first on a block committee, later to set up a community garden where young people could earn money and learn skills. Even in a town the rest of the country calls "Berserkly," Lorin's problems were often ignored, and Altars vividly recounts the blows that finally convinced the author and her spouse to leave "the only real home I have ever known." Mary Carroll

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1st edition (March 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517704927
• ISBN-13: 978-0517704929
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #250,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring story of a woman's fight to change the world., April 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Altars in the Street: A Neighborhood Fights to Survive (Hardcover)

Melody Ermachild Chavis' book has proved to me that one person CAN make a difference. This story stayed with me, and I can't wait to read "Finding Freedom" by Jarvis Masters, the Death Row inmate Melody befrinds in "Altars." Chavis tells the story of a crumbling South Berkeley neighborhood with realistic hard-edged truths, taking the reader along with her as she struggles to fight back against the drug wars and violence taking over her community. You'll find yourself sharing her pain, joy and frustration with every page you turn. I recommend this book to anyone with an inkling for the possibility of social change. To those who are skeptics, I say give "Altars in the Street" a chance to change your mind--and your life--forever. Bravo to Melody. I just hope she continues to publish her work.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring account of one woman's commitment to her community, August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Altars in the Street: A Neighborhood Fights to Survive (Hardcover)

Melody Ermachild Chavis writes a thoughtful and compelling account of her commitment to an inner-city neighborhood. Weaving family, community, and personal stories, Melody recounts the joys, triumphs, and struggles she encountered in this Berkely neighborhood. Interspersed are the beginnings of her Buddhist faith which provide the graceful style of her writing. This is one of those books that will remain floating around in my brain for quite some time. It was required reading for a senior Social Work class, but I found that it speaks to all of us who find ourselves in neighborhoods or communities. We all face challenges of living closely together and this is a testament that these difficulties can be overcome in a harmonious fashion.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring renewal of committment to urban community life., May 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Altars in the Street: A Neighborhood Fights to Survive (Hardcover)

Alters in the Street slices through the jaded, bunker-mentality of urban life by seeping us in the war zone, giving a poignant face to the brutalized and brutalizing who are our neighbors, and delivering renewed committment and a path to making peace and quality of life right where we are. I experienced the whole range of emotions, cried while reading every chapter but ended up wanting to extend myself further into my community. I almost wanted to become a Buddhist! A moving example of travelling through discord, through the elements that separate us from ourselves and our community to reach a more integrated, whole and hopeful self.