A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
By Alex Madison, WITS Writer-in-Residence In honor of the season, I thought I’d share a lesson I’ve taught seventh graders at TOPS K-8 during my two years with Writers in the Schools—it involves strange, bumpy, warped, and moody autumn gourds. I use these gourds, plucked from the QFC produce section, to teach my students how […]
By Danielle Palmer-Friedman, SAL Volunteer When I asked Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Reneé (she/they) why I should go see Danez Smith (they/them) speak on November 26, she had this to say: “Get your life together and get to the reading.” She shared with me Danez’s poem “alternate names for black boys” and added: “If you still […]
My Names the last name is my dad. white. a dog full of unconditional love. me as well. crooked teeth, not common but common enough to know how to say and spell like you know me. cooper. my middle name is through my veins. my mom’s veins and her mom’s veins and her mom’s. Inez, […]
Compass That Points her Home My mother is Korean, from a small fishing village (not so small now), in South Korea. It’s called 퍼 항, Pohang She came to […]
Give Me Your Tired I can say all that where I come from to where my parents, and their parents were born. But what does it matter our skin, hair or eyes It’s lineage that matters.The seed in which knows how to grow into an apple tree, the apple falls and the seed grows to […]
Stand Up America, America a place that is unknown like history there are secrets that have never been told Many have stood up for years, why don’t we celebrate them, why don’t we give them cheers When we started Black Lives Matter and people said they care, then tell us why police brutality is still […]
I’m Planting Waterfalls: A Letter To America America, where have your white stars flown? Why do the stripes on your flag look like crossbones? Gravestone pathways you say… America, why do I see my own blood river bathing In war badges run between my fingers. America, I’ve grown with my hand on my heart, north […]
Imperfect A dark purple bruise on perfect skin Hidden, painful, an accident But I know, I am the eye opened, watchful, while the other is closed I see it all The perfect world that everyone sees now Merely a curtain To hide the ruined chaos behind Hide the bruise Don’t let them know That you […]
Thank you so much to everyone that attended SAL’s Back-to-School Luncheon last week to support our Writers in the Schools program! As WITS parent Tammy Watson told us, “Each child, each voice that needs to be heard, is depending on someone to make that difference.” Last Tuesday, we came together to make a lasting difference […]
It’s a magical moment when young people begin experimenting with writing in order to make sense of their place in the world. We see this every fall, when Writers in the Schools hosts its WITS Anthology Launch—in this powerful afternoon of youth voices, we see what happens when space is created for youth to think, engage, […]