Two weeks ago we were in Durham, North Carolina shooting Michelle Gordon at her home and her “do-jang,” or tae kwon do school. It was a hot, beautiful day, perhaps overshadowed by Duke’s loss the night before in the NCAA finals. (Note: I happen to be from North Carolina and a Carolina fan.) Michelle’s loft was in a former tobacco factory with the tallest ceilings I have ever seen in an apartment. In her interview she told many stories about the early days at the Center. Here is just one of them:

Afterwards, we drove over to the tae kwon do school, TKD2XCELL, where about 25 kids were practicing for an upcoming championship. It was amazing to see what such young children were capable of. Michelle ran her school very similar to Sue’s. The kids were arranged in a circle while doing exercises, they are required to make good grades in order to be in the “elite” squad, and she took the time to see how each kid was doing. She said for her, tae kwon do is a way of life rather than a business. On the wall behind her desk were photos of Sue and Arne Duncan.

Our shoot in San Francisco was a success thanks to the help provided by Sue Duncan Children’s Center alum Kerrie Holley! We spent two days shooting at his house in Montara, CA (directly south of San Francisco near the beach), at IBM’s satellite office in downtown San Francisco, and on the streets of the city. With this footage, audiences will learn about Kerrie’s life on the West Coast and how Sue helped him get there.

Kerrie plays basketball with his youngest son, Hugo

Kerrie and his two sons relax at their computers

Kerrie talks about his experience moving to the West Coast from Chicago

Kerrie takes a walk on the beach while talking on his Bluetooth

We have officially booked flights to San Francisco to interview Sue Duncan Children’s Center alum Kerrie Holley and to North Carolina for alum Michelle Gordon! Here’s some background on the two:

Kerrie, 57, grew up on the South Side of Chicago and started attending the Center when a young child. He was a natural at math and science, helping to tutor current Secretary of Education and Sue’s son Arne Duncan when they were both at the Center. Today, he works for IBM. He is one of 217 people since 1962 to ever have been appointed IBM Fellow, the company’s highest technical honor. In a 2009 Forbes interview with Quentin Hardy, Kerrie spoke about Sue:

More than anything, [Sue] said “Finish what you start.” I remember her first saying it when I was seven. I wanted to put this book down and go to another one. And she would say, “No. You’ve got to finish this book, and then start the next one.” What she meant was that it was important to have goals, and it was important to accomplish things. She said it to me for years. I fundamentally knew that to be true and believed that. It helped when I finally went to the university–it was a total shock to my system, running into people I hadn’t encountered before, you know, and, environments and situations. But I finished.

Michelle, 51, attended the Center in the late seventies to early eighties. She was adept at martial arts in high school, and after leaving Sue’s in 1983 has traveled to China and South Korea and won awards in Tae Kwon Do. She now runs her own Tae Kwon Do school in Durham. Among her many memories of the Center are:

I remember a guy from another neighborhood stealing Sue’s car battery, and the 47th Street thugs beating him so badly, that he was actually relieved to see the police, when they came to arrest him.

I remember going to [Sue's daughter] Sarah and Arne’s high school basketball games and cheering for them. I also remember Arne going to play basketball in some of the worst projects in Chicago, and me going to protect him, just in case it wasn’t a peace treaty between the Black Stone Rangers and the Disciples.

We are looking forward to hearing more of their stories in the coming month.

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Screenshots from the latest shoots include Sue's interview (top) and the funny parallel between high schoolers Kashmere and Serenity gossiping (middle) and mothers Crystal and Mary gossiping (bottom).

Jan. 27, 2012 – It’s been a very busy couple of weeks here this unusually warm January! In December, we shot an hour-and-a-half interview with Sue in her home in Hyde Park. We’ve been going through her footage and also looking ahead to see what else we need. So far this month, we have shot at the Center for 6 days. There was a bit of drama as Dorothy, the mother of one of the families we are profiling, and two of her daughters were in a serious car accident. Luckily, there were no major injuries, but Dorothy had to miss a week working in the kitchen and the daughters suffered from some whiplash and bruises. We were able to record Dorothy’s emotional return to the Center, which will be great to see how people here really act like family to each other.

We have interviewed over 10 children and adults, including Vanessa, an employee who had attended the Center starting in 1964, Latoya, a tutor who was raised at the Center since childhood and is now bringing her daughter, and Chris, a 21-year-old former attendee who is trying to get his life back together after repeated incarcerations. I was most struck by high school student Jasmine’s interview where she reflects on Sue’s influence on her family, especially after the sudden death of her mother several years ago. She recalled her first impression of Sue and the Center, “Even though Sue was this old lady, she was tough. Like all these gangbangers would come in. They were scared of her so I knew it was a safe place to be.”

Another family we are profiling is Mary’s. She has been at the Center for 18 years and has brought her high-schooler Serenity since birth. At Mary’s house, we filmed an in-depth interview where Mary credited Sue for helping her through her substance abuse. She said that because of Sue, Serenity doesn’t want to go to Princeton, she will go to Princeton for college. And of course, we also got some great interactions between Mary and Serenity, namely the teenager’s response to taking out the trash and her hiding out in her room.

On top of all this, we had our second shoot at Sue’s house where former tutor Ted went to go visit her on a snowy Friday afternoon. I believe these visits by former attendees and employees will be an important component to the movie as we see how people are still drawn to her and value her wisdom in the wake of her Alzheimer’s.

“Are we going to be on TV?” — the question I got asked at least 3 times while shooting kids…

Jan. 6, 2012 – This was a recent find by Sue’s son, Owen. He wrote in an email, “Despite a few inaccuracies (Sue’s mom wasn’t a Quaker school teacher, etc.) I found it captures Sue well: ‘I’ll use this article to teach reading.’”

Jan. 3, 2012 – As we prepare to create a new trailer for the full-length documentary, I wanted to give a preview of what’s in store. Here is the original movie I made in 2005. (Note: this was my first documentary I ever made)

Jan. 2, 2012 – Thanks for checking out our website about the Sue Duncan documentary. I am the director, Melina Kolb, and I wanted to share with you the motivation and ideas behind this project.

I first learned about Sue during college in 2003 when I became a tutor at her children’s center, then located in the basement of First Baptist Church of Chicago on 50th Street in Kenwood. I was surprised when after my first day Sue asked what I thought of the place. Not being used to providing such direct feedback to my boss, I mentioned how open the center felt. During group time, Sue sat and asked the kids about what was going on in their lives. She asked me about my life. We talked about gangs and drugs and the concerns the families felt about the neighborhoods they lived in. I quickly learned that Sue’s was a place where the boundaries between our communities were lifted and we were just a group of people sitting together talking and sharing.

Seeing Sue be that bridge was inspiring and fascinating. I decided to make a short documentary about her center in 2005. I was fortunate to have the film air on Current TV, and from there on I knew that telling Sue’s story might be worth pursuing for a feature length film. Over the years I have interviewed her and the families at the center to capture the spirit of the community and the hardships they face. I learned about Sue’s life growing up in a wealthy family near Boston, her African American nanny who helped raise her and taught her the importance of consistency in childcare, her years volunteering in Austrian work camps, her Quaker influences, her friendship with child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, and other stories that shed light on her devotion to teaching. After her son, Arne, was appointed to be Secretary of Education under President Obama in 2009 and her recent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, I believe it is more important than ever to document her life’s work. Please visit this website to find out about progress on the documentary and how you can help our project be a success.