A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
By Jamaica Baldwin, WITS Writer-in-Residence I’m learning so many different ways to be quiet. There’s how I stand in the lawn, that’s one way. There’s also how I stand in the field across from the street, that’s another way because I’m farther from people and therefore more likely to be alone. There’s how I don’t […]
dear sweet sister. A language can span the widest gaps – political, social, agewise or other. She’s pleasantly surprised and so am I, our words tripping, tumbling, spilling like a spring, like sweet, cold water, slaking the thirst for something we have no name for and soothing an ache we didn’t know existed. In this […]
By Ann Teplick, WITS Writer-in-Residence For seven years, through SAL’s Writers in the Schools, I have been writing poetry with children and teens at Seattle Children’s Hospital. For seven years, I’ve witnessed celebrations, indecisions, contemplations, and anguish of students and their families. For seven years, I have learned how to be mindful, how to attend […]
By Cody Pherigo, WITS Writer-in-Residence I had the opportunity to come out as transgender in my classrooms this year, an action that was never on the table when I was in high school and still isn’t for students and teachers in most areas of the country. Seattle is special, sometimes. But, it is still […]
To Whisk the Moon To whisk, to whisk, to whisk the moon To fly, to soar, to light up the moon, whoosh! Tap! Rattle tap tap! The tree, the tree, the tree under the moon. Try everything! To soar, to soar, to soar in the light! To fly, to whisk, to make light, whoosh! Tap! […]
By Alex Madison, WITS Writer-in-Residence On one of the final days of my fall WITS residency, I stood before a full class of seventh graders, hurrying to push through my fiction lesson so students could experiment with the new skill on their own. So little time remained, and I wanted them to apply some […]
Palimpsest 2016 A large church sanctuary. In the past few weeks, it’s seen too much. New pastor since the last one left for Fayetteville. New youth minister, since he’s leaving for Cabot. New music minister, since this one left for Orlando. New organist, since she left for Alabama. The choir still sings. The orchestra […]
By: Minh Nguyen, WITS Writer-in-Residence I teach high school juniors and seniors, and for one writing lesson, we focus on the epistolary format. I ask them to think of a person for whom they have very strong, likely mixed feelings, and to write a letter to them that is so honest they may not be […]
My Name Yesterday my name was Engineer Selome. Today my name is Dr. Selome. “Hi, Engineer Selome,” they say as I keep on building as an artist who can’t get distracted. I love being called Dr. Selome. I love helping people. Tomorrow I will be an adventurist, love going different places. No one knows where […]
By BreAnna Girdy, WITS Intern On Friday, March 30th, Laura Lippman and David Simon spoke to a crowd of over twenty students at Garfield High School as part of our Writers in the Schools program. With collective expertise in journalism, both Lippman and Simon offered a broad perspective into the writing world; they were able […]