PHOTO BY Essdras M. Suarez / MPW.59
- Everyone's Mom
- By Essdras M. Suarez, Boston Globe
- The 59th Missouri Photo Workshop / Chillicothe, Mo.
- Watching over her children like a lioness guarding her pride, Yvette Gholston knows that on her side of town, she has to be a mother not only to her own children but also to the other kids that come to play on her yard. The abusive relationships in her past have turned her weary, but she now has a new loving boyfriend, Robert Pittman. “ I left my first husband because I don’t ever want my kids to feel that sense of helplessness” she says with conviction. This is the first summer she has allowed her children to go out and play with their friends. She councils and nurtures them all and they listen and respect her. “This is my formula: You have to be both respectable and fun to be around,” Gholston said. Every afternoon, Gholston’s front porch comes alive when the neighborhood kids arrive looking for a fun, safe place to play.
The neighborhood children gather at Yvette's house after school.
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