An Interview with Yolanda Anderson

By Jonathan Thomas

Jonathan Thomas: Can you tell me a little bit about the Two Cities project?

Yolanda Anderson: If I had to be honest, I’m still trying to get a grasp of what the two cities are. If I had to say it myself, we’re looking at the scope of Main Street from Interstate 20 to downtown. If you go from I-20 to Columbia College, you will see a whole different type of city than you will from Columbia College or Hyatt Park forward. The way I describe it, it’s like the upper echelon and the lower group.

JT: How would you describe the differences between these two areas?

YA: If you ride down Main Street, up and down along the entire strip, you see it’s a physical difference. One area is more maintained than another. The economic status of one end is different than the other, truthfully being told. And I guess the whole gentrification peep is still, and I have to be completely honest, is still something I’m grasping and getting an understanding of. I knew what it was, ’cause I seen it happening in different spots in Columbia, but never knowing what the purpose is. I don’t frown on gentrification so to speak. I frown on the lack of education that comes with it.

JT: Education in what sense?

YA: Say for instance I live on this lower end on Main Street, say for instance I own a house, and my house may not be as maintained as much as another house that’s further down ’cause I don’t have the finances to do so. What I feel goes with gentrification is the fact that some people know and have the information on who to go to, where to get this that and the other, they have the different opportunities to get the loans or the this that or the other, while others don’t. And I feel it’s as if, when they come and beautify the area — and I feel like there is no problem with that at all — but don’t just displace people because they don’t have the means or the understanding as to what’s going on, or how to get it done. Don’t displace them without educating them at least first, and letting them be aware of how they can have better opportunity. I will say that a part of my concern is that this is coming and things are happening up above people’s heads and they don’t know this train is on its way and you’ll either be able to jump on board, or you’ll have to move somewhere else.

JT: You mentioned education, what about the education of children? Are there issues that concern you on that front?

YA: Oh yeah, a lot of issues. You have one school district versus the other, which has more connections or finances or whatever, versus the other. I have two children in the District One area, and I feel the effects of it.

JT: What are the effects?

YA: I won’t say the teachers aren’t available, but they don’t get the same type of advantages as the Northeast side or the Richland Two District side does. The schools look different. We don’t get bussing, and I found out there taking away more busses.

JT: They’re taking away school busses?

YA: Oh yeah. That’s something I missed at the School Board meeting, but they’re voting to take away even more busses.

JT: But how do children get to school?

YA: Walk. My students walk. Cold, rain, sleet, snow: they walk to school.

JT: That doesn’t sound right.

YA: I walk my son to school everyday, and my son has flat feet, very bad. So the one thing that really woke me up was that my son is told by his mom, You better get a good education, ’cause that’s what you need. I instill that in them. But also I know that he won’t ever be able to serve his country, because his feet, but he gotta walk to school and get a good education. All these things come up against them, and transportation is a big issue on this end of town. There’s a city bus, however those are my concerns. There should be equality.

JT: How is the public transportation for adults?

YA: To be totally honest, I don’t use public transportation. Part of the reason is that bus pass is $3 for the day, but sometimes that’s not available to me.

JT: I hear ya.

YA: So I have to try to get a ride, because I don’t have a vehicle. I make phone calls. The bright side of it, if you gotta find a bright side, is that the people on this side are forced to build community, because if you don’t, you’ll lack a lot. And therein comes my project, which is to introduce the arts to children over here in this apartment complex, because a lot of them may not get out of this area to go see what’s outside. My goal was initially to get them out of here, so that they could see something different, but I hit a bump in the road with that because of transportation and liability. My goal was to get a van over here so that we could always take them somewhere. But then the mindset was that there’s gonna be this that and the other. That’s still my goal long term, but for now it’s to bring the arts to them.

JT: You mentioned that you have students. Can you describe the program where you work?

YA: I’m with an after school program called Gable Oaks After School Enrichment Program.

JT: How old are the children?

YA: Our after school program ranges from ages 6 to 17, but we mainly get the elementary and middle school students. So the average is from about 8 to 14 or 15.

JT: Is your program unique? Are there other after school programs in the area?

YA: Well the schools do after school programs. I would definitely say we are unique because there aren’t many apartment complexes that offer an after school program.

JT: What do students do in your program?

YA: Well they get the homework help they need, and we do different types of activities with them: team building, social skills, and we’ve added a therapeutic part too, so that they are also getting any type of mental assistance that they need as well.

JT: So your goal was to have a van, so you could do field trips with the students, but that wasn’t available.

YA: Yeah. I grew up in this type of environment. I went to a predominantly white school, and I had friends who introduced me to different things that my mom, a single parent of five children, was never going to be able to introduce me to.

JT: Did you grow up in Columbia?

YA: I didn’t. I was in North Carolina. I moved to Columbia in ’94, after I graduated from college.

JT: Do you feel like Columbia has changed a lot since 1994?

YA: Oh yeah.

JT: And what about social relationships between people? Does it seem like it’s getting better or worse?

YA: I don’t know that it’s getting any better, and I won’t dare to say that it’s getting worse.  

JT: You mentioned transportation was a problem for children, since the school busses are disappearing. Are there other city issues that seem to impact the kids?

YA: Everything impacts the kids. Besides education, I can’t pinpoint anything except the need for opportunity, the need for people to reach back to show them something different. That’s huge for me. It happened for me, and I was the only one in my family who graduated from college twice.

JT: So you’re working to create opportunities for children in the after school program. To bring it back to Two Cities, how are you approaching the project as one of the participants?

YA: My project is bringing the arts here. My sustainability hopefully is that artists will see what we’ve produced at the festival and will be interested in coming here and showing them different arts. So this week I have a graphic designer coming. My spin on it is that it’s like a time capsule. That will be my theme throughout the entire thing, and they will be able to celebrate where they live. Because so many people are coming to change what’s around them, I wanted to be able to celebrate it from the eyes of a kid, because they’re happy and enjoying their environment. They don’t know what’s going on around them. The time capsule is twofold: to let people see what we’re celebrating, and for them to be able to look back in 5 or 10 years and see what is different.

JT: What would you put in a time capsule?

YA: It’s not so much a time capsule that we’re putting together. People keep asking that, so I guess maybe we should. It’s more the idea of it. What I really wanted to do was put together a book. I just think about North Main, and the area over there by the Sonic and it always makes me think: that was a Sonic, a year ago, and now what’s going to happen with that building? They’re tearing up the street to prepare for what’s coming. Things are changing, and it would be nice to capture it.

JT: I wonder how you could make a time capsule? That could be cool.

YA: Yeah, everyone says it’s a cool idea and I don’t even know how or where to do it or what to have the kids put in it. But that thought does not leave me.

JT: You could Google it and find instructions. If you bring stuff together and put everything in a little time capsule, what will you do with it, bury it underground? That could be interesting.

YA: Yeah, and hope that the tree or wherever they bury it doesn’t get knocked over.