August 30, 2021
by Gabriela Denise Frank “If you’re going to have to figure out new things, artists are a good group to be with,” Alicia Craven, SAL’s Director of Education, noted. “They’re inventive, creative, and open to seeing possibilities that a more linear thinking pattern might not allow for.” Alicia was speaking about her colleagues—the cohort of […]
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September 29, 2017
Ronica Hairston, the mother of 2016-17 Youth Poet Laureate Ambassador Joseph Hairston–whose poetry you can find here and here–generously made these warm remarks in support of Writers in the Schools at our 2016-17 WITS Anthology Launch. At this celebration, over 60 K-12 students shared the poetry, stories, comics, and memoir from the brand new WITS […]
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April 29, 2017
A Poem in the Voice of the Wind Like you, I can make the warmest of weather into a sick, shivering mess. Like you, I am angry, and whip at people’s hair and clothes, though you only do it in your imagination. Like you, I love to stir up the sand with my fingertips, but […]
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April 10, 2017
By Kathleen Flenniken, WITS Writer-in-Residence A friend of a friend was looking for a poem her fifth-grade son could memorize for a class project. The question came to me and I made a couple of suggestions. The boy chose “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand. His mother sent a photo of him studying the poem with […]
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April 3, 2017
By Corinne Manning, WITS Writer-in-Residence The day after the election, I carried a tote-bag full of ferns, poetry by June Jordan, and a memoir in comics by Lynda Barry into the high school. To my students, I tried to introduce the idea of imagination, of finding ways to tap into their sensory experiences, even when the […]
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April 2, 2017
By: Karen Finneyfrock, WITS Writer-in-Residence A few weeks ago, it snowed in Seattle! That’s a pretty exciting occurrence for inhabitants on the Puget Sound. Students got a snow day, followed by a late start. Since I was scheduled to teach in fourth grade classrooms at Lafayette Elementary, I knew I would need to work a […]
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March 29, 2017
For Black Boys Delicate Black boy. Solider, plum painted spirit, deep rooted, dreamer. I can tell from the oceans on your bed that you’ve never been told you were beautiful. Mother didn’t remind you of rainbows in her malleable insides. She soaked you in songs but never self-love. Never explaining the pink hue of your […]
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March 28, 2017
My Music Brings Joy to the World Long ago the creator saw there was only a lot of suffering and no joy and peace. This displeased the creator, so she unlocked her head and let the joy of the world out, but only a little, so there would be balance. The orb of joy became […]
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March 27, 2017
By Imani R. Sims, WITS Writer-in-Residence 33 student eyes, all staring at the screen as Martin Luther King Jr. takes the podium: But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we […]
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March 2, 2017
Last week, WITS Writer Daemond Arrindell shared a powerful poem with us written by Marylou Gomez, his partner teacher at South Lake High School. The whole SAL staff was moved by her words and the purpose they hold. As we try to balance on the fast-shifting political landscape, it seems more and more necessary, either […]
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