A Blog of Seattle Arts & Lectures
Last week, as I sat in the back of the View Ridge Elementary School library, several classes of fourth graders began to file into the room, prompting me to consider the most appropriate attire for an elementary school poetry reading. The available options included: a neon-green Seahawks knit hat (with blue tuft topper); a purple […]
By Daemond Arrindell, WITS Writer-in-Residence It was my first day returning to a high school on the south side of Seattle, where I have taught during residencies for the past three years. I hadn’t seen the kids for more than six months after working with them last winter, so I decided to teach a lesson […]
By Laura Gamache, WITS Writer-in-Residence Years ago, my friend Linda and I were sitting in a circle of new mothers. Her son, Peter, was nine or ten. He was by far the oldest child at our gathering. He amiably agreed to go into the backyard with a group of little boys. After a bit, a […]
By Margot Kahn Case, WITS Writer-in-Residence One of the many vagaries of high school, as I remember it and as I see it played out in my WITS classes, is the question, “What makes me unique?” It’s so easy to go down the “I’m-not-very-interesting” path, in the same way that it’s easy to lose sight […]
Mohammed AlShubayli wrote “I am” while he was a patient at Seattle Children’s Hospital, with WITS Writer-in-Residence Sierra Nelson. His poem was made into a broadside designed and printed by artist Juliet Shen, in partnership with the School of Visual Concepts. We hope you will join us next Thursday, January 14 from 6-8 p.m., at Cupcake Royale on Capitol […]
“So, what was going on the week before Thanksgiving?” This is the question I anticipate coming from my husband, when we wait to board our plane to Santa Fe for the holidays tomorrow. It will be provoked when I pull The New Yorker out of my bag, which will be from the week of November […]
By Karen Finneyfrock, WITS Writer-in-Residence In researching lesson ideas for a new WITS residency focused on tall tales, I Googled, “exaggeration for kids.” The top hits all advertised tips on getting your child to stop exaggerating. What better indication that tall tales would be perfect stories for fourth graders? Kids love to exaggerate! Tall tales […]
Black My color is the color of absence, silence. The memory of something you thought was there, but now it’s gone. The color of your mind when you’re in a deep rest. The color of shadows that follow you everywhere you go. My color tastes bitter and icky. My color is lovely. My color is […]
By Kathleen Flenniken, WITS Writer-in-Residence One of the most important attributes of art, and especially poetry, is the way it opens a door into another person’s life experience. A poem—a mere few lines sometimes—can create a more empathetic reader for life. My fourth grade students at View Ridge Elementary had the chance to “pretend” to […]