2005年NPR美国国家公共电台八月-Being a Single Black Father

This year there will be more than a million divorce filings in the United States. One of them has commentator¹ Leon Wynter's name on it.

I am now playing at age 51 the strangest role yet in my long strange trip: suburban² single father, non-custodial³, and black. I've said goodbye to white privilege by association with a marriage, a mortgage and a master's degree. Now, well, if I were still in the Bronx, I'd be the baby father. Except I still pay the mortgage, and I still do the Saturday shuffle⁴ with my seven-year-old Grace from piano lessons to playground to her softball game, but in my hand-me-down 1990 Toyota, not the Volvo that brought her home from the hospital.

As we pull to the ball field, I spy the single mother of the only other black girl on the team getting out of a taxicab. We don't do that on our side of town. We don't give our kids names that sound like imaginary African nations, either. Some of us are black, of course, but not like that. What do I mean by "we", anyway? We, the white privileged upper middle class? Or we, who grew up in the Bronx with kids who lived in the projects?

After the game, the mother is stranded⁵, negotiating on herself for a ride that's not coming. I offer her one and once we partner the Toyota, Grace finagles an impromptu⁶ play date in the park—our nearly all white park. It's just a public park, they're just kids banging and clanging the jungle gym with the other kids. I wish and I'm tired from being "we", and "we" and "me". I sit next to the single mom on the bench and I really don't care if the white people judge her loudhailer or cringe at her even louder R-rated cell phone chatter⁷ . I don't care if she turns my "we" into a black stereotype⁸ just by sitting next to me. Truth is, I'm not feeling the white suburban "we" this weekend, I'm feeling single black parent and the sticker shock of divorcing while maintaining appearances. She tells me her baby father is working overtime⁹. I don't know the brother but now I can identify— slaving on a Saturday to keep his child as high above his head as he can reach even if he can't afford to be with her. Play date done, we drive down to the other side of town and drop them off. As we drive away Grace notices the graffiti and remarks that we must have gone a long way toward the Bronx in taking them home. Slipping back north on the greeny boulevards, we observe an unusual silence. We sit in the drive way and grow wise awhile together, before alighting on the three-quarter acre that is still her home. I break the silence with a simple question "Grace, look at me, do you like the way you live?" She sighs, "I know, daddy. I know. I'm thankful." She's well ahead of me as usual.
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non-custodial parent：The parent who does not have custodial rights to the child, but is responsible for the partial support of the child and is physically¹⁰ absent from the home where the child resides. This parent is usually referred to as the non-custodial parent.
Hand-me-down: 1.Handed down to one person after being used and discarded by another. 2.of inferior quality; shabby.
Boulevard: 林荫大道
Graffiti：涂鸦

1 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

2 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

3 custodial   

adj.监护的，照管的

参考例句：

• The teenagers were convicted of manslaughter and given a two-year custodial sentence. 这些青少年被判过失杀人罪，及二年的监禁（拘留）刑罚。
• This article interrogates the cultural experience of being a non custodial mother. 本文审视一位无监护权的母亲所感受到的文化体验。

4 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 impromptu   

adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地)

参考例句：

• The announcement was made in an impromptu press conference at the airport.这一宣布是在机场举行的临时新闻发布会上作出的。
• The children put on an impromptu concert for the visitors.孩子们为来访者即兴献上了一场音乐会。

7 chatter   

vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战

参考例句：

• Her continuous chatter vexes me.她的喋喋不休使我烦透了。
• I've had enough of their continual chatter.我已厌烦了他们喋喋不休的闲谈。

8 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

9 overtime   

adj.超时的，加班的；adv.加班地

参考例句：

• They are working overtime to finish the work.为了完成任务他们正在加班加点地工作。
• He was paid for the overtime he worked.他领到了加班费。

10 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。