Reading with Patrick

Patrick Browning was one of Michelle Kuo’s students at Stars and the one in whom she takes the deepest interest. Before arriving at Stars, Patrick attended Eliza Miller Middle School, where he was kicked out. Not long before entering middle school, Patrick had accidentally set himself on fire at age 11. At the age of 18, Patrick was arrested and sent to the Helena jail where he awaited trial for the murder of a local man named Marcus. Patrick said that he had killed Marcus in self-defense.

Patrick has three sisters—Willa, Pam, and Kiera—and a daughter named Cherish, whom he calls Cherry. Patrick is very close to his mother, Mary, who struggles with the pain of her son being in jail. Patrick’s father, James, is handicapped and struggles with guilt for involving his son in his crack dealing when Patrick was as young as five. Eventually, James went to jail for two years. Mary stuck by him, holding down several jobs to care for their family. After being released, James was caught again for dealing, not long before Patrick was sent to study at Stars.

In addition to revealing a raw talent for poetry and an ability to connect intuitively with language, Patrick is a sensitive boy who empathizes with others and tries to thwart acts of violence in school. Aside from these attempts to keep the peace, he minds his own business. He develops a fondness for Ms. Kuo, whom he recognizes as someone who takes a genuine interest in him and the other students at Stars, unlike so many of the other instructors there.

Patrick and Kuo’s bond was not only fostered by her desire to help an intelligent young man better himself, but also by their shared interest in the powers of language and literature. Patrick’s struggles with reading and communicating in his native language evoked sympathy in her and a drive to help him express himself more effectively. This is likely connected to her parents’ difficulties with the English language, which placed them outside of the mainstream and made them feel less American, despite all their years living in the U.S.

Additionally, Patrick had been failed by the legal system. Both Black and poor, a fair trial would be unlikely, which led to him accepting a plea bargain to serve up to seven years. Despite the sadness of his sentencing, Kuo watched how Patrick transformed intellectually through her instruction and his exposure to great books. Later, while being shuttled from one prison to another, Patrick earned his high school diploma through a GED program. To Kuo’s surprise, Patrick was released from prison after serving 30 months due to overcrowding. He returned to the Browning home in Helena but struggled to find work. Months later, he called Kuo and told her that he found a job at a tombstone store in the center of town. He later graduates from Job Corps “with a certificate in carpentry and plumbing” (268).  

By the end of the memoir, Patrick was 25—the same age that Marcus Williamson was when he died—and his six-year-old daughter, Cherish, was attending KIPP, where Kuo had briefly taught Spanish. Patrick continued his search for steady employment and, with Kuo’s help, it is implied that he is hired at a local plant. 

The Kuos are Michelle’s parents who instilled in their daughter both an appreciation for education and for her American identity, which they insist belongs to her as much as to anyone else born in the U.S. They were proud of her adept command of the English language, both because they struggled with it and because it offered racists proof of her right to citizenship.

In the narrative, Kuo expresses empathy with her parents as well as occasional frustration with their expectations of her, some of which fall along the lines of stereotypes about Asians. For instance, in response to Kuo’s wish to teach in the Delta, they wonder why she cannot simply study science like her cousins, which they believe would make her happier. They worry about her being unmarried and forgoing a potentially lucrative law career in favor of social justice work.

Kuo’s struggles with her parents’ expectations versus her own are typical within many families. Later, she realized that Patrick, too, felt compelled to live up to the expectations of his family, particularly his father, and that very pressure may have contributed to the crime that he committed. 

Mary is Patrick’s mother, as well as the mother of his sisters, Kiera, Pam, and Willa. She is also a grandmother who helps to look after Patrick’s daughter, Cherish, while he is imprisoned for manslaughter.

Mary met Patrick’s father, James, when they were both students at Eliza Miller Middle School. She got pregnant when she was in high school, which led to her parents kicking her out of the family home. For most of her life, Mary held menial jobs to keep the family afloat financially, including working at Pizza Hut and as a cook at a nursing home, spending hours on her feet and working for a minimum wage. She told Kuo about the racist boss she had at the nursing home, but maintained both a sense of resignation about it and a sense of humor.

Mary is devoted to her family and expresses deep pain in response to Patrick’s incarceration. She suffers from diabetes, which resulted in her getting regular seizures and a series of minor strokes. Despite her travails, she relies very much on the power of prayer to carry her through hard times. She also refuses to forsake anyone, no matter how egregious their crimes. This extraordinary ability for forgiveness extended even to her brother who killed their aunt while high on crack.

Mary died not long after Patrick returned home from prison. While showering, she suffered yet another diabetic seizure and hit her head against the bathtub. She was 43.