高学历人群回流美国三角洲贫困区

If you are from around here, you know Doug Friedlander is not.

如果你来自这附近，你就会知道道格·弗里德兰德(Doug Friedlander)并不是本地人。

Born in New York City and reared on Long Island, Mr. Friedlander is Jewish and vegetarian and has a physics degree from Duke.

身为犹太裔的弗里德兰德在纽约出生并在长岛长大，他是一位素食主义者，并从杜克大学(Duke)拿到了一个物理学的学位。

But here he is, at 37, living in a roomy white house in this hard-luck Delta town of 12,000. Mr. Friedlander and his wife, Anna Skorupa, are part of a gradual flow of young, university-trained outsiders into the Delta's shrinking communities, many of whom arrived through Teach for America and stayed beyond their two-year commitment.

但是37岁的他如今在这里，居住在这个拥有1.2万名居民的三角洲地区（指密西西比河穿越美洲大陆冲刷出的三角洲地区，位于密西西比州、阿肯色州和路易斯安那州之间——译注）不起眼小镇上一栋宽敞的白色房子里。在三角洲地区日渐萎缩的社区中，有一群接受过大学教育的年轻外地人正逐渐补充进来，弗里德兰德和他的妻子安娜·斯科鲁帕(Anna Skorupa)便均是其中一员。他们中的许多人都是通过“为美国而教”(Teach for America)计划来到这里，并且在两年的服务期过后选择继续留下。

Mr. Friedlander is now the ambitious director of the county's Chamber of Commerce. He frets over the kudzu that is devouring abandoned buildings. He attends Rotary Club meetings, where he sidesteps the lunch offerings for carnivores. He organizes workshops to modernize small businesses and pushes tourism and the development of a decimated downtown along the banks of the Mississippi.

现在，胸怀大志的弗里德兰德是这个县里商会的主管。他为占据了废弃建筑的野葛而烦恼不已。他参加扶轮社(Rotary Club)的会议时，会避开供应肉食的午餐。他还组织帮助小型企业现代化、推动旅游业以及这个位于密西西比河沿岸的衰落商业区整体发展的研讨会。

The mechanization of agriculture, lost manufacturing and a legacy of poverty and racism have taken their toll on the Delta, but Mr. Friedlander is thrilled to be here. He left his job at a software company in North Carolina's Research Triangle nine years ago, taking a two-thirds pay cut, to "make a bigger difference."

农业的机械化、衰败的制造业以及历史遗留下来的贫穷与种族歧视问题曾让三角洲地区一蹶不振，但弗里德兰德却很高兴能留在这里。九年前，他离开了北卡罗来纳州三角研究园(Research Triangle)的一家软件公司，拿着只相当于过去三分之一的薪水，想要“过不一样的生活”。

To that end, "this is the most fertile soil on earth," Mr. Friedlander said. "If I were in New York, I would be a leaf at the end of a branch at the end of a tree — in a forest."

怀着那个想法直到如今，“这是地球上最肥沃的土地，”弗里德兰德说。“如果我在纽约，我只不过是一片森林里某棵树顶上某一根树枝末梢的一片叶子而已。”

Mr. Friedlander arrived in 2004 to teach science at Central High School in Helena. He was one of 71 corps members in the Delta; currently, about 300 of them fan across the region's classrooms each year, mostly in Arkansas and Mississippi.

弗里德兰德于2004年来到这里，在海伦娜的中央高中(Central High School)教授科学。他是当时来到三角洲地区的71名队员之一。现在，每年都有300位新成员加入到这个地区的课堂教学之中，大部分在阿肯色州和密西西比州。

Here, in towns like Helena, a former agricultural hub and river port, they find some of the most devastating poverty in the country: shacks on cinder blocks, schools with nearly all students on subsidized lunch programs.

这里，在像海伦娜这样曾是农业中心以及河流港口的镇子，他们发现了一些在这个国家称得上最严重的贫困现象：用煤渣空心砖砌成的简易棚屋，几乎学校里所有的学生都参加了午餐资助计划。

Segregation is a fact of life. Private "white-flight academies," as some locals call them, are common, leaving public schools to serve an overwhelmingly poor, black student body.

种族隔离成了一种生活现实。私立“白人迁徙学院”（本地人是这样叫它们的）非常普遍，而公立学校就成了穷苦的黑人学生的天下。

"I just knew when they left my classroom, it was an uphill battle for so many of my kids,” said Greg Claus, who is from Ohio and taught art at a public junior high school from 2008 to 2011. Now an assistant to the mayor of Greenville, Miss., he has seen the names of some former students on the police blotter. Several more are already parents.

“当他们离开我的教室的那一刻，我就知道，对我的学生中的许多人来说，接下来前方将是一场艰苦的战役，”格雷格·克劳斯(Greg Claus)说。他来自俄亥俄州，于2008年至2011年期间在一家公立初中教授艺术。现在他是密西西比州格里维尔市的市长助理，他在警察逮捕记录上看到过一些他过去学生的名字。有更多的学生现在则已经为人父母。

Teach for America is fiercely competitive, drawing top graduates accustomed to success. "For most, this is the hardest challenge they've ever met," said Luke Van De Walle, a 33-year-old corps alumnus from Indiana who has settled in Helena with his wife, Jamie, and their two young children. "They put a lot of effort in, and they get chewed up by 25 third graders."

“为美国而教”计划的竞争十分激烈，吸引了许多习惯取胜的顶尖毕业生。“对大多数人来说，这是他们有史以来遇到的最大挑战，”卢克·范德沃尔(Luke Van De Walle)说。33岁的他是来自印第安纳的一位计划成员，他如今与妻子杰米(Jamie)以及他们的两个孩子在海伦娜定居了下来。“这些老师在此付出了很多努力，比如像是被25个三年级生弄得精疲力尽。”

Still, some former members say they have never felt so satisfied.

但有些前计划成员仍然表示，他们从来没有觉得这样满足过。

Michelle Johansen, 37, arrived from the University of Michigan in 1997. Since then, she has become a volunteer manager at the farmers' market in Cleveland, Miss. She works part time at Habitat for Humanity and is an adjunct instructor at Delta State University.

37岁的米歇尔·约翰森(Michelle Johansen)在1997年从密歇根大学(University of Michigan )毕业来到这里。自那以后，她成了密西西比州克利夫兰市农夫市集的志愿者管理者。她在人类家园国际组织(Habitat for Humanity)做兼职，还是三角洲州立大学(Delta State University)的兼职指导员。

"I don't want to leave," said Ms. Johansen, who is married and has two children. "The work I've been able to do in the Delta is fulfilling."

“我不想离开这里，”约翰森说，已婚的她有两个孩子，“我在三角洲地区能做的事情非常令人满足。”

She does wish there were a Target in town. And a movie theater. There is no place to get brunch. But, she said, "there's something about the Delta that's very special, and if people are open to it, they will be captivated by it."

她的确希望镇上能有塔吉特百货公司(Target)和电影院。这里也没有地方可以吃早午餐。但她说：“三角洲地区有一些非常特别的地方，如果人们向它敞开自己，他们会被它迷住的。”

Matty Bengloff, 28, is one of those people. He grew up in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Now he owns a three-bedroom home in Cleveland, as well as a hip new yogurt shop called Delta Dairy, with his fiancée, Suzette Matthews.

28岁的马蒂·班洛夫(Matty Bengloff)就是被它迷住的人之一。他在曼哈顿下东城的一间公寓里长大。现在他在克利夫兰拥有一个三居室的房子，和未婚妻苏塞特·马修斯(Suzette Matthews)一起经营着一家叫“三角洲奶制品”(Delta Dairy)的时兴酸奶店。

"The barriers here are low," Mr. Bengloff said. "You can be really entrepreneurial. Everyone is eager to help."

“这里的门槛很低，”班洛夫说，“你可以大胆去创业，大家都很乐意给予帮助。”

But the transition is not always easy.

但是过渡并不总是简单容易的。

Residents cured Mr. Bengloff of his Yankee ways. Soon after arriving in the South with Teach for America, Mr. Bengloff was in a school speaking to a receptionist. When he could not hear the man's words, Mr. Bengloff asked, "What?" The receptionist said: "I can tell you're not from around here. When you don't understand something, you say, 'Excuse me, sir?' Or, 'Sir?' "

本地居民把班洛夫的北方人作派给矫正了过来。在跟随“为美国而教”计划来到南方之后，班洛夫有一回在一所学校里和一位接待员聊天，当他没有听清对方的话时，班洛夫问：“什么？”那位接待员说：“我能看出来你不是来自本地的。如果你没有听懂，你应该说，'不好意思，先生？'或者'先生？'”

Mr. Bengloff took the lesson to heart. Now his habitual use of "ma'am" irritates his mother back East. He drawls, "Thanks, y'all," to customers passing through his shop.

班洛夫在心里牢记了这个教训。现在他对“女士”的熟练使用已经让他远在东部的母亲有点受不了了。当顾客穿梭于他的商店时，他会拖着尾音说：“谢谢大家啦！”

Ms. Johansen and Mr. Bengloff said they were attracted to the quirks and complexity of the Delta.

约翰森和班洛夫表示，他们被三角洲地区的有趣与复杂所深深吸引。

They have found schools that are progressive and a complicated political scene. Ms. Johansen's doctor is a catfish noodler (who fishes bare-handed). Shopping online is more necessity than convenience, though a two-hour jaunt to Memphis is common. The unofficial town motto, plastered on bumper stickers, is an ironic "Keep Cleveland Boring."

他们创建了理念先进的学校，以及更多样化的政治情境。约翰森的医生喜欢赤手捕鲶鱼。网上购物并不是为了方便，而是着实有必要，尽管花费两个小时去孟菲斯的短程购物之旅也是很普遍的选择。镇上的非官方格言被印在汽车保险杠贴纸上，略带一些自嘲：“让克利夫兰继续无聊下去吧。”

No one, residents say, is too busy for a good chat.

本地居民们都表示，他们不可能忙得连跟人畅谈的时间都没有。

"I know people who live in places with lots of things," Ms. Johansen said. "Movie theaters. A Target. And they aren't happy. I'm a happy camper."

“我知道很多住在其他地方的人都非常繁忙，”约翰森说，“电影院，塔吉特百货，而他们并不快乐。而我是一个快乐的野营家。”

Mr. Bengloff, who is Jewish, found what locals call a "church family," led by a retired rabbi who commutes from Memphis once a month. Just as many of the temple regulars are Christian as are Jewish, just because they like the diversity of experience and, said Mr. Bengloff, "the rabbi is great."

身为犹太人，班洛夫创建了一个被本地人叫作“教堂之家”的组织，由一位退休犹太教士领导，他每月从孟菲斯来这里一次。犹太人对教堂的热情与基督教徒不相上下，因为他们喜欢这种多样化的体验，而且据班洛夫所说，“那位教士棒极了。”

Some longtime residents initially resented the inflow of Teach for America members with fancy degrees and backgrounds. Those troubles have largely eased over time. And the hard truth is, the Delta needs the people.

有一些在本地生活已久的居民对“为美国而教”所带来的高学历背景外来人口表示过不满。随着时间流逝，这些问题都已经消弥。三角洲需要这些人，这是不争的事实。

"It's good having highly educated folks coming back," said Chuck Roscopf, a lawyer in Helena. "My kids, my friends' kids — they're all gone. They're in Dallas or just about anywhere else, but they won't come back."

“高学历人士回归是件好事，”海伦娜的一位律师查克·罗斯科普夫(Chuck Roscopf)说，“我的孩子，我朋友的孩子——全都在外地。他们如今在达拉斯或者什么别的地方，但他们不会再回这里来了。”

Teach for America entered the Delta in 1992, when it dispatched a few dozen corps members to Helena and Marianna, Ark. The numbers and geographic reach expanded steadily but exploded in 2009 because of an influx of funds from the State of Mississippi and the Walton Family Foundation.

1992年，“为美国而教”进驻三角洲地区，把几十位成员派到海伦娜以及阿肯色州的玛丽安娜。之后，成员人数以及进驻地区的规模都在稳步增加，直至2009年时有了一次飞跃，当时密西西比州以及沃尔顿家族基金会(Walton Family Foundation)为它注入了资金支持。

The organization now estimates that over those years, 250 corps members have stayed on after their two-year commitments were over. Some have remained in education; others found jobs in private industry and community organizations.

经过多年发展，据该组织估计，已经有250名成员在两年服务期满后选择留在服务地区。有些人仍然在教育界，另外一些人在私营业以及社区组织中任职。

They have started education-based nonprofit groups, like Mississippi First and the Sunflower County Freedom Project. Mr. Friedlander and Ms. Skorupa, with other Teach for America alumni, were founding board members of a new Boys and Girls Club in Helena.

他们创办了一些教育相关的非营利组织，像“密西西比为先”(Mississippi First)和“向日葵县自由计划”(Sunflower County Freedom Project)。弗里德兰德和斯科鲁帕，以及其他几位“为美国而教”的成员，是海伦娜一个叫“男孩与女孩俱乐部”(Boys and Girls Club)的新组织的创立理事。

Mr. Friedlander remains a hard-charging New Yorker, which has rubbed some folks the wrong way.

弗里德兰德仍然有纽约人性格强硬的那一面，这让有些人对他颇有微词。

"If he was just here to make money, they probably would have run him out of town," said Jason Rolett, the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Phillips County. But Mr. Friedlander has won the trust of much of the community, Mr. Rolett said, "because of his heart, how much he cares."

“如果他只是来这里赚钱的，那他们可能已经把他赶出镇了，”贾森·罗勒特(Jason Rolett)说，他是菲利普斯县“男孩与女孩俱乐部”的执行主管。但是弗里德兰德如今赢得了社区中大部分人的信任，罗勒特说：“这是因为大家看到了他的心，因为他对他人如此关心。”

Mr. Friedlander enjoys ripping through a PowerPoint presentation of Helena's new health center, riverboat tours, renovated historic buildings, a downtown emerging from ruin and new businesses. His pride is palpable.

弗里德兰德很享受用幻灯片演示海伦娜的新健康中心、渡轮旅游、历史建筑修缮以及在新旧经济下建立发展的市中心的过程。他的自豪之情溢于言表。

Helena even has its first director of an advertising and promotion commission, Julia Malinowski, 27, from Seattle.

海伦娜甚至还有了它的第一个广告宣传主管，朱利亚·马利诺维斯基(Julia Malinowski)今年27岁，来自西雅图。

Word is spreading beyond the Teach for America crowd.

这些消息都在“为美国而教”的成员之中快速传播着。

Recently, graphic designers opened a firm called Thrive in Helena after living for five years in Brooklyn, where "about 200,000 people were trying to do what I wanted to do," said a co-owner, Terrance Clark.

最近，几位在布鲁克林生活了五年的平面设计师在海伦娜创办了一家叫“兴盛”(Thrive)的公司。联合创办者特伦斯·克拉克(Terrance Clark)说，在布鲁克林，“大概有20万人试图要做我想做的事。”

He has had enough work in the Delta to hire two interns from Midwestern design schools this summer. And Mr. Clark has recruited a group of friends from Indianapolis to come to Helena to work on community projects under his company's 501(c)(3) umbrella.

这个夏天，他在三角洲地区的业务已经多到需要请两位来自中西部设计学校的实习生帮忙了。克拉克还从印第安纳波利斯请来了一群朋友，他们将来海伦娜为他们公司享受税收减免非营利组织条款（501[c][3]条款）的社区项目工作。

Mr. Clark, Ms. Malinowski and the rest work together in a chic business incubator downtown.

克拉克和马利诺维斯基，以及其他人都在市中心漂亮雅致的产业孵化器中辛勤工作着。

The space is airy and open, with interior brick and a glass conference room — sort of like what you would find in Brooklyn.

那里的空间是自由而开阔的，内墙砖饰，还有一个以玻璃为墙的会议室——就是你能在布鲁克林找到的那种。