A class of her own

There is one student in the small classroom with a wall of windows. The room is only large enough for a few desks on wheels that are pushed together to form a rectangle. A woman with long gray hair, a long-sleeve shirt and dark hiking pants walks in and puts her bags down on the table. She pulls out two large bags of apples: honey crisp and sweet tango. 

As more students start to trickle in, their professor, Janine DeBaise, tells them to have an apple. “We’re testing the theory we were talking about last week,” Janine says. “Let’s see if eating an apple actually wakes you up.” 

Now that everyone is in their seats eating an apple, Janine takes attendance by asking her students to answer the question of the day. Today’s question was of course, “what’s your favorite kind of apple?” 

Janine, now 62, has been teaching environmental writing courses at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry for over 30 years, but she’s been a creative writer from a young age. She has written numerous essays and poems about the modern ecofeminist movement and won the 2020 Vinnie Ream Medal for her essay called The Space Between, which she wrote after losing her older sister to breast cancer. 

Carroll, two years older than Janine, was always very close to her. Into adulthood, Carroll helped raise Janine’s kids because the sisters lived within a few miles of each other. When their kids were driving them crazy Carroll would call and say, “let’s do a kid switch.” Carroll would send Janine two of her kids and Janine would send a couple of hers “because then you go from being ‘annoying mother’ to ‘cool aunt,’” Janine explained. 

It’s been 10 years since the family lost Carroll, but the sisters are still close together. Janine’s office in Marshall Hall has windows that look over Oakwood cemetery where Carroll is laid to rest.

In 2014, Janine remembers she didn’t take any time off from work. On the day of Carroll’s funeral, she returned to campus to find a sign her students wrote on the board that said, “we love you Janine.” Janine said teaching at ESF that semester kept her sane because it gave her life structure. “I would come to campus, turn my phone off, and I would teach. I could think about my students and literature and about ideas,” she said. 

Now, in the early days of Syracuse’s spring, the small group of students in Janine’s urban environmental literature class walk across campus towards Thornden Park. Today’s assignment is to write a short essay about their experiences in an urban landscape. 

Janine apologizes to me because this is such an atypical class. But, I don’t think I could’ve come to a better one. When the students arrive at the park, everyone sits in a circle in the center of a rose garden. Janine asks everyone to close their eyes and focus on what they hear. A few minutes pass as the eight students listen to the sound of passing cars mixing with the songs of the city birds. 

She has the students focus on urban smells, and then sights. After each observation, the students discuss their ideas and Janine listens to every thought a student shares. Working at ESF has given Janine new perspectives and knowledge from engaging with her students. “It’s always just been a privilege to be able to teach ESF students,” she says. “I’ve had students over the years who have taught me so much because I get to read their papers and read their thoughts.” 

Janine enjoys sharing personal stories and perspectives with her students at ESF and as she learns from them, she is inspiring them. She creates a safe space for creativity, which is something her youngest sister learned from her as well. 

Colleen DeBaise, the youngest sibling, describes her sister as the peacemaker of the family. “She’s the one who facilitates us being a family the most. She’s the glue that holds us all together,” Colleen says.  

Janine and her youngest sister are nine years apart. When Colleen was a child, Janine used to write and illustrate cardboard-bound books that she read to Colleen before bed. Both sisters remember one that was called Aquila the Happy Sailboat, inspired by the family’s sailboat. Colleen said that the fun of reading and sharing stories “was such a part of our lives, and it was something [Janine] was doing from a very young age.” Colleen says it influenced her so greatly that she’s now a writer in her professional career.

Shannon Sweeney, Janine’s daughter, has always been amazed by her mother’s creativity. When she was a young girl, they would read a book passed down from Janine’s mother called The Children’s Garden of Verses. The book included illustrations of London, and Janine would tell tales about the cafes and shops that lined the streets of England. These whimsical scenes inspired Shannon to study abroad in London when she went to college.  

Now that Shannon and Colleen both have young kids of their own, they can see Janine’s stories inspiring them. Colleen’s kids have been Janine’s sounding board for a middle-grade book she is currently trying to publish. 

Now that spring has finally arrived, the eight students are gathered around a tree that a plaque names “The Tree of 40 Fruits.” As in ESF culture, the students start asking questions and sharing facts with Janine. This unusual tree is starting to blossom in several shades of pink and white all at the same time. Someday, when it reaches full maturity, it will have the capacity to grow 40 different kinds of stone fruits. It is rather amazing how so many different notions can grow from one individual.