SAL/ON

A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures

Category: Creativity

pastel-drawn heart

WITS Voices: Holding 67 Hearts

By Laura Gamache, WITS Writer-in-Residence On my ninth day with fourth graders at Broadview-Thomson, I asked the kids to take out their hearts, and hand them in to me. I had drawn each heart on red copier paper before our second meeting, after the teachers had expressed doubt the kids could reliably draw them themselves. […]

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Three Questions: Travel Writer Kim Brown Seely

Perhaps this Thanksgiving weekend you’ll be joining the tens of millions of Americans on the road, or—in light of the recent election—hiding at home from certain relatives, eyes blurry as you scroll through your Facebook feed. Either way, this is a great time for a virtual escape. Luckily, we have Kim Brown Seely, a local writer who […]

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Camp WITS: 2016 Audio Collection

Need a soundtrack for your Labor Day weekend? Four weeks ago, eight teens gathered at the Garfield Teen Life Center‘s recording studio to give us these emphatically–and sometimes collaboratively–performed poems. Written during their time at Camp WITS under the mentorship of WITS Writers Nikkita Oliver and Daemond Arrindell, they grapple with the vastness of identity, responsibility, and adulthood; […]

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Book Bingo: Read Out Loud

How to Brainwash Your Boyfriend: Read Out Loud Square By Julia Cook With just five weeks left of summer, the “Read Out Loud” square can seem like a huge commitment. Who has time to wrangle readers when the mountains are calling? But before you resign yourself to the white lie of audiobooks, try raising the […]

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“Henri Rousseau,” by Nadia Luke

Henri Rousseau On the forest floor, the trees growing with bananas and peaches. A flower in the distance is as pink as a sunset flying away and the light blue and gray sky is like a fan trying to blow its way out of trouble. I’m telling you there is more to this jungle than […]

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WITS Voices: All the Warm Night, Sleep in Moonlight

By Ann Teplick, WITS Writer-in-Residence   Sleep in a field of salmon peonies. A rooftop with saxophone jazz. A sand dune with peacocks. All the warm night, sleep by the creek with its burble, the sheep with its fleece of charcoal, the sister who whispers “Let’s launch the canoe.” All the warm night. As a […]

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“Bathing in India,” by Jemma Jacks

Bathing in India Before I was a citizen of this country, I was a citizen of the bucket. Staring at the water right under my nose. I don’t believe I can fit. Lifting me up, my mom tells me it is the only way, my feet dangling centimeters above the bubbly water. An orange bucket […]

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Clare Hodgson Meeker, WITS Writer-in-Residence

WITS Voices: Writing Hero Stories with Third Graders

By Clare Hodgson Meeker, WITS Writer-in-Residence Don’t ask kids what they want to be when they grow up but what problems do they want to solve. ―Jaime Casap, Google Global Education Evangelist On my first day of a nine-week residency with third graders at Whittier Elementary, I gathered the students on a bright throw rug […]

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