More Slices

Attending college in the late 1960s, Susan Hicks encountered a variety of issues that continue to divide our country. While earning a degree in education, she learned about social, racial and environmental injustice, and her activism was aroused. Family members and dear friends were being drafted into military service, and battles in Vietnam were on the nightly news.

More Slices opens with lessons learned during Susan's college days. Enrolling with the intent to become a teacher, she discovered that by the time she graduated, in a country that had been crying for teachers, opportunities in education had become virtually impossible to obtain. She found work in nonprofit organizations, both paid and volunteer.

From overnight shifts in a drug-and-alcohol drop-in and call-in center to serving as a family planning educator and clinic manager, her work exposed her to a wide variety of people and life situations. During her time in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she experienced both the pain of a personal assault and the grief of being kept away from any contact with a teen who had finally started to reveal that she was being sexually abused.

Teens and their capabilities are featured in two different narratives, and a few passages highlight people who helped shape Susan's world view. Two essays and a selection of poems complete the volume, sharing perspectives, perceptions and a bit of humor.