Mary Jo Hetzel 
In a Silent Way 
A Novel

In a Silent Way chronicles the coming of age in the late sixties of young Jeanna Kendall as she quietly facilitates a close-knit community of learners in a progressive urban school, grapples with racism and sexism within her community activist group, and experiences the extreme highs and lows of her first intimate relationship—which happens to be with a revered and powerful community leader. Jeanna encounters all the same issues we confront today: youth of color demeaned and destroyed, wise community elders discounted by leaders who “know better, ” and the “sexploitation” of women in the movement. Gradually overwhelmed by the mounting challenges she faces on all fronts, and on the verge of a breakdown, a crisis emerges within her movement group that transforms everything and everyone and opens up a new world of possibilities—ones deeply relevant to us today.

About the author

In a Silent Way: A Young Teacher Activist in Urban America emerged out of Mary Jo Hetzel’s experience teaching in one of the first alternative high schools in the late 1960’s and from her life long involvement in grassroots social movements for racial, economic and sexual justice. She was the founding director of the Boston Campus of Springfield College, School of Human Services and faculty member of the college for 24 years. She is currently active in the struggle for justice and quality in urban public education, and in co-hosting Circle processes, rooted in indigenous principles, in an effort to break down hierarchies of power and oppression in order to co-create the conditions for community self-empowerment and institutional transformation. She enjoys jazz, creative writing, film, drama, athletics, nature, spirit, and friendship. Mary Jo lives in Jamaica Plain, a community of Boston, Massachusetts.