Red Cedar Writing Project

Billy Collins read the following poems: “A Portrait of the Reader with a Bowl of Cereal,” “Grave,” “Palermo,” “Simile,” “Oh, My God,” “Monday,” “The Trouble with Poetry,” “Litany,” “Migrane” or “Hangover,” “Hippos on Holiday,” “Schoolsville,” “The Golden Years” and (after the following questions) “On Turning Ten.” He also answered three questions: What was most memorable about your experience as Poet Laureate? Does writing poetry affect other types of writing you do and, if so, in what ways? Do you feel pressure to be funny and do you think your work is changing?

Lorene Cary

Presentation at the College Section

Conference on College Composition Luncheon 

 November 21, 2009

Reported by Liz Webb RCWP Teacher Consultant at MSU

(Read on for a great speaking/writing/performing prompt!) 

Books by Lorene Cary: 

• Free (2006) Underground Railroad storied for young readers,
• The Price of a Child, a novel about a young woman’s escape from slavery
• Pride, a contemporary novel
• Black Ice, a personal memoir

It was serendipidity:   I picked up The Price of A Child to read two weeks before the NCTE convention and before I realized Ms Cary was speaking at the convention.  The book touched me deeply, so I had to find a way to hear her speak even though I did not have a luncheon ticket.  Luckily, I was able to join the standing-room-only crowd after lunch was served.

Ms Cary began by speaking about her intent to keep to the theme of the NCTE conference of “reading between the lines.”  She shared information about her current projects such as Art Sanctuary in Philadelphia, a Community Writing Project she founded where black artists and participants speak, write and perform.  (See below.)

She then shared with us the honor of having her book, The Price of a Child, chosen as the reading for One Book, One City in Philadelphia in 2003.  “I did 90 events in 60 days.”  She went on to share the stories of the feedback she got as some people told her it was the first book they had ever read.  “It gave me an appreciation for those who made it through convoluted syntax and dialect.”  Some of these same folks suggested to her that other possible readers need simpler language.

Although she had lost her reading glasses, she read to us from some of her work including “Crossing the River on Christmas Night,” about a man who was trying to find his wife and family who had been sold far away by an angered master.  She noted the different ways adults and children “read between the lines” regarding the story.

A true teacher, Ms Cary then engaged us in a speaking/writing/performance piece that teaches how to transition from one genre to another.  She asked us to turn to a neighbor and tell a story about something that was important to us that possibly included forgiveness. (But if we didn’t like forgiveness, we could ferret out our own topic.)  When pair partners finished sharing our stories orally, we were to write three lines of rhymed Blues lyrics, the first two of which are simply repeated.  She sang her example to us:

I hate to see the evening sun go down…

I hate to see the evening sun go down…

Makes me feel like I’m on my last go-round.

The room buzzed to life as participants became immediately engaged.  We shared our stories, wrote our lyrics and then people jumped up to share lyrics; many sang them with gusto.  I’m sure that this would fuly engage children as well.

Ms Cary went on to share how books have impacted her.  From reading George Eliot she decided:  “If life’s like that, them I’m not alone.”  She explained how “books can give us an intimacy we sometimes don’t get from people we love.  The book gets into you and deepens what you know and understand.”  She loves the Kafka line about books:  “A book should be the axe that breaks the frozen ice in me.”  For her, reading between the lines happens with everything she reads or writes.

Just this week, the Art Sanctuary’s first Hip Hop curator put up an updated version of their standards based hip-hop learning guide at www.artsanctuary.org/clientimages/39850/Do (If this does not load, go to http://www.artsanctuary/  and review the site to find it.)  This is a valuable resource.  They are excited about creating Hip-hopera, a new genre that combines Hip Hop and opera which are both over-the-top.

Please go to Ms Cary’s  website www.lorenecary.org/ to learn more.

Coretta Scott King Awards Discussion at NCTE, Nov 21, 2009

At the Nov 21, 2009 NCTE session celebrating 40 years of the Coretta Scott King Awards, Deborah Taylor, chair of the Coretta Scott King Award Committee, led  a dynamic  panel discussion of the awards with authors Walter Dean Myers and Tonya Bolden as well as illustrator E.B. Lewis on the panel.   The conversation was rich and substantive.  I have captured the words of the speakers as closely as I could.  The words of these writers and this artist speak eloquently as to the responsibility of teachers to fully educate all students.  Liz Webb, RCWP TC 2000

Ms Taylor:  We are going to discuss the elephant in the room:  Is there still a need for the Coretta Scott King Awards?

Myers:  I’m researching pilots – flyers and river boat pilots….Their stories need to be told.  Young African Americans need to hear these stories.

Lewis:  Authors and artists need to do the research and then their energy needs to be expressed.  I’ve been to the Mississippi Delta because I know nothing about it….  We need to have no limitations.

Bolden:  Where’s the Love?  Where is this suggestion coming from?  This suggestion is destructive.  When there is no need for something it goes away (wisdom teeth, baby teeth).  We don’t have time for destructive spirits.

Ms Taylor:  How do we get them (the books that win the award) out of the Black History Month  February) ghetto?

Bolden:  We have an honest discussion about it….We need to stop seeing each other as OTHER.

Lewis:  James Baldwin said, “We need to leave something behind that someone can use.”   We must allow the artist to do and speak in ways he/she needs to do and speak….  We’re all human beings.  The Coretta Scott King Awards… are a body of work that is positive….  We are digging into research to supply info for the whole world.

Myers:  History is as much about what is not told as what is told.  As a kid, I thought African Americans had not been written about because they had not done anything.  Schools transmit values.  My early writing emulated British authors until I read Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin.  I needed  to know that at 13.  When Jewish children read about the holocaust, they often feel these people did something wrong.  African American children feel the same about slaves.  Why don’t teachers understand the importance of this?  A recent book compiles ads that were published for runaway slaves.  One of these says:  “Nicodemis speaks French and German.”  Read betrween the lines.  African Americans have a sensitivity to this history.  Stories need to be told that are valuable to young people.  My brother was killed in Vietnam.  I called home to check on my son just before this session (Christopher Myers, an illustrator for Myers recent book, Looking Like Me,) because he is traveling to the city where my brother was killed.  Vietnam is a part of my history.  These stories are needed by young people.

Taylor:  There is something the artist adds – another dimension.  When Jackie Robinson integrated the major leagues, there were a lot of men left behind who had been playing in the Negro League.  E.B. Lewis’ drawing of these men around a campfire with an overturned bus in the back ground captured this without a single word being spoken or printed.

Myers:  Now is your time.  So much black history is told from the standpoint of “this person is exceptional.”  When you find an exceptional person, it is because that person had an exceptional family, teacher or mentor who proveided support.  Solomon Fuller, an indentured  servant,  bought his own freedom.  His grandson became a neurosurgeon.  M.L. King’s father came from the rich tradition of the ministry in the African American churches.  Malcolm X’s father was a Garveyite.  These people came from a tradition, a supportive background.  Heroes come from a strong background.

Lewis:  I grew up in a family of artists – it is not an anomaly that E.B Lewis became an artist.  I couldn’t wait to move from the kids table to the adult table at Thanksgiving where we discussed education, medicine and art.  When illustrating Talkin’ Bout Bessie, I looked around for models and used a girl and her mother in my neighborhood.  I used people in my own family for the other characters.  This helped me fuel my passion for the art.

Bolden:  I would have been Maricha if I had grown up at the time she grew up.  We are both native New Yorkers, strong people who have overcome obstacles.  When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher.  She overcame her scoliosis to become a teacher.  This is a little girl who merits memory.  Peolple like this also matter, not just the heroes.  The word slave is like a rock up against the head.  I avoid using it.  We are writing books that transcend that.  Some people miss the universal message because they think it is just a black story.  The people we write about lived and laughed and played.

Myers:  Tonya, your work assumes the dignity of black people.  (Tonya found Maricha first.  I discovered her and started doing the research when I found out Tonya was already writing about her.)

Bolden:  The subtlties are about the grace we bring to our books that moves them to the universal.

Lewis:  The history of America is all-inclusive.  Yes, there is a cleansing that is needed, because we have to hunt for these books.  (He stood  the three books at the table upright.)  These books are not displayed like this in the front of the store.  A teachers’ job is to introduce such books and to make each classroom accessible to all children from all cultures.  Umberto Clemente’s biography and Countee Cullins’ poetry needs to be displayed next to books about ML King and Lincoln.

Tonya:  The term multi-cultural now goes way beyond black and white.  We do American kids a disservice if we don’t prepare them to have lunch with a person in Asia.  These differences are a pretense.  We are all minorities.  If we want our kids to compete, we need to go way beyond black and white.  It’s about education, not about fear.

Questions from the audience:  How can we hold the film industry more accountable to getting these books made into films?

Bolden:  Support the books.  Get 10, 000 people to buy them. And then the film makers would be interested.   It’s economics. 

Question:  Do you teach racism to a class of students with only one or two children of color in the classroom?

Myers:  To not mention it, you are teaching racism.   History is what we teach and don’t teach.

Bolden:  If you love children, you can teach them anything. 

Taylor:  Do not single children out.

Toby Kahn-Loftus:  Literature is either a window or a mirror for all children.  We thank each of you for your work.

For information about Walter Dean Myers and the books he has written, please go to his website:  http://www.walterdeanmyers.net/biblio_full.html

For more information regarding Tonya Bolden and the books she has written, please go to her website: http://www.tonyaboldenbooks.com/

For more information about E.B.Lewis, please go to his website :  http://www.eblewis.com/illustration/eblewis.html

On Friday, November 20, a brave group of RCWP TC’s decided to answer the age old question, Pat’s or Geno’s? Now any ptomaine palace patron knows where these two joints are: Philly, home of the all-American invention, the cheesesteak. Luke, Chris, Aram, Eric, Robin, and I took taxis from the Wachovia Center (76′ers v. Grizzlies, but that is another story for later) and converged upon the hallowed grounds of chopped onions, steak pieces, and gallons of cheese whiz. Geno’s was selected as the first establishment. We saw, we ate, and we conquered. Luke thought it would be very appropriate to sashay across the boulevard to Pat’s and sample the cuisine at that similar establishment. After being schooled in the art of how to order, we dove in (for the second time in about 15 minutes). And the winner is? Well, I suppose you might have to contact each of us, individually, to find out our personal preferences. I do believe that I have now had my fill of the Philly delight. My cheesesteak days are officially over.

“poetry is a bird, prose is a potato”

Billy is inspired by irritation.
Emotions can be distractions.

The Romantics eliminated sex and humor from poetry
and substituted landscape

Billy says that the past tense of “Oh, my God” is
“I was like, Oh, My God.”

Writing is an act of hope:
we hope someone will read it.

I just got the chills.

Billy needs to give us girls “a break.”

A gasp from the audience.

It never goes how we think it will.

Would they be an angry mob?

Billy thinks the best time to write is with a blank mind

{More of Aram’s poetry can be found at his blog; he’s writing 30 poems in 30 days this month}

Today while working at a Video Editing Tech Kiosk, I was approached by Lauren Small, a historical fiction novelist. After talking for a while, I discovered what she really wanted to do was help a class of students create some form of media, such as a movie trailer, for her book. She has a problem: she can’t find a high school teacher to partner on this type of activity.

Here’s what she’s looking for:

• An 11th grade classroom that would be interested in reading her novel
• An opportunity to do a presentation for the kids about the historic event that is the focal point of her novel
• To be interviewed/podcasted by students on the process of writing a novel
• To work with a teacher to create student videos to go with her book

She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, but would be more than willing (and excited) to come to Michigan!

A poem because today I met Billy Collins, the former poet laureate of the United States.

I pledge allegiance
to the strawberry soft skin
of you, my baby, after your bath
and to the ten toes that are
impossible to resist putting into
my mouth, making you squeal.
a thousand kisses, every day
for you, my sweet, darling boy
with bedtime stories and blankets for all.

I was inspired by Aram’s last blog post to start setting goals for my experience next week at the Annual Meeting.

I am looking forward to NOT carrying a laptop, as I have every time I have attended a conference.  This year, with the combination of texting and dialing a phone number, I am able to tweet and podcast the conference.  I will also be using my camera phone to upload pictures to flickr.  My plan is to then organize the content I’ve posted during the day on my laptop when I return to the hotel in the evening.

So, from me, look for a good number of tweets, some phonecasts, and pictures.  I will be posting my notes to the wiki and pictures to flickr.  I remind myself that I should remember to #nwpam my tweets and tag all my posts on the wiki and the blog and flickr this way as well.  This will help other folks searching for content on the meeting to find what I am posting.

A few years ago, when I first attended the annual meeting as a newly minted TC, I admitted to a carload of mostly strangers that I was planning on stalking a certain author to get an interview.

Ever since, I have continued the tradition of stalking some intellectual hero of mine in order to interview them.  This year, my heart is set on meeting Julie Andrews, who is headlining over at NCTE.  Considering what a big name she is, I am thinking chances are slim.

Andrea admits her stalking aspirations

I’m trying to remember what I agreed to do in Philadelphia.

1. I’m attending sessions on Thursday morning and afternoon…and posting my notes on the Session Notes page of the wiki.
2. I’m attending the General Session on Friday, along with the Round A and B sessions (and posting my notes as in numero 1). I’m also presenting part of the Friday Round A1 WIDE PATHS Remix.
2.5 I’m noticing that I need to be at a NCTE Web Kiosk at 11:00. People will be counting on me to wow them with wiki wonder. I imagine there will be a walk involved from the General Session to the NCTE spot. Maybe some set-up time. I’m a little worried that I’ll miss the end of Billy Collins talk. I don’t think it’s too early to ask if someone could tape the end for me. I know it’s going to be good. Eloquent, witty, and somehow teacher-centric. I’m talking at least an audio tape and at most video tape. I may have a Flip camera you can borrow. This is serious. There’s chocolate in it for you. And a drink (in the evening completely off the clock, not on Uncle Sam’s time). My missing this talk will seriously impact my chances of getting an interview with Mr. Collins, which is one of my goals of going to the City of Brotherly Love. HELP!
3. I’m chowing down with my RCWP friends on Thursday night at 7 pm (though I may need a snack before then)
4. I plan to go to the NWP Social on Friday night (more yumminess and a great chance to touch base with NWP friends from around the country)
5. There are pre- and post-meetings and a write up…

Am I forgetting anything? Any place someone knows I’m supposed to be?

Comment, email, phone me, come over, tweet me…anything…please just don’t let me let down Janet.
She’s not my mother, but she’s that aunt that has done so much for me, been there when I needed her, knew the right thing to say at the right time. She’s that cousin that went through the painful, growing up years with me, had the confidence in me when I wasn’t so sure, and knows my pain. She’s that sister that I can’t always find but I know is out there rooting for me to fight the good fight, write the intelligent word, and teach the left-behind student.