The San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about WritersCorps in Sunday’s paper. Just in time for Valentine’s, the love-themed story is about our poster series, “Love Poems to the City by San Francisco Youth” currently up at Muni bus shelters on Market Street.

Love is in the February air. The flowers are blooming, and Tony Bennett will be in town on Valentine’s Day with his signature tune: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” It is an old song, a classic. Bennett, who is 85 now, first sang it 50 years ago this winter.

Perhaps you have noticed another sign of the season – a series of love poems to the city, on big posters on the sides of bus shelters up and down Market Street. These love poems are by young people.

Read the rest of the Chronicle story here.

Interviewed by Carl Nolte for his column was our student, Anna Lei, whose poem, ‘bus 49′ is featured in one of the posters. The poem is also part of the Poetry Projection Project, a film contest based on writing by youth. Hear Anna read ‘bus 49′ here.

Also, you can purchase greeting cards based on the poster series, as well as the book mentioned in the story, “City of Stairways: A Poet’s Field Guide to San Francisco” here at our online store. The book is also carried at local San Francisco bookstores Green Apple and the Booksmith.

City Librarian Luis Herrera

Congratulations to Luis Herrera, San Francisco’s City Librarian, who was recently honored by Library Journal as the 2012 Librarian of the Year! Read about his inspiring leadership, his innovative collection management, as well as his model of mentorship and building effective partnerships, here.

Love to read? Love to read a lot? Lucky for you, it’s BOGO time at WritersCorps! Now through January 5, buy one get one free at our online bookstore. This sale only happens once a year, so fill up your shopping cart.

Pick up a copy of our acclaimed San Francisco travel guide “City of Stairways” or snag a copy of “Tell the World” autographed by Sherman Alexie. For teachers in your life, may we suggest our book of lesson plans, “Jump Write In”? Start browsing our online store here. And remember, all proceeds support our free student programming.

Check out these photos above from the Poetry Projection Project, taken by Bonnie Chan.

We also want to share these red carpet interviews with filmmakers and writers, recorded by Memoir Tree.

Angela Reza Tures was the winner of the Poetry Projection Project for best film made by an adult. Guest jurors Barry Jenkins and David Campos said their decision was unanimous for her film, “My Father, a Beautiful Animal.” We interviewed Angela briefly about the inspiration and creation of her film.

What drew you to choosing Indiana Pehlivanova’s poem for your film?

The poem is so beautiful in how Indiana describes her father as well as their relationship. I could instantly relate to the poem and found it inspiring. My dad and I are really close too, so it was also the perfect opportunity for me to capture just how awesome I think he is.

How did you decide to sequence your film?

Indiana was so beautifully descriptive in her words that it was easy for me to see images of my own father as I read the poem. I had a clear vision of certain moments in my dad’s life I wanted to capture for the poem but I didn’t want him to act anything out. I very much wanted the film to be a documentary. As a result, I chose to shoot during a weekend where my dad actually did everything I’d envisioned for the poem: riding his motorcycle with my mom, working in the garden, and taking my Grandfather out for breakfast. The film is also my interpretation of Indiana’s poem. I played with some of her words, adding visual metaphors for some lines and literal interpretations for others.

Were there any challenges in translating Indiana’s poem into visual images?

There were a few lines in the poem that I wasn’t sure how to translate. I was also afraid of misinterpreting any of the poem’s connotations. However, I eventually felt that it was alright for me to go with my instincts and create my own visual interpretation as long as I was true to the overall meaning behind the poem and authentic in depicting my own relationship with my father. For example, my dad and I don’t really like McDonald’s french fries. So, in the film, we opted to eat popsicles instead for the line of the poem that says “we share a smile over mcdonalds french fries.” I chuckle at the end of the line as a sort of “wink” to the audience.  I had a lot of fun personalizing the piece but also keeping the heart of it still very present.

Were there any surprises in the making of your film?

I was surprised by how much my dad accomplishes in a single day and how he can do anything!  He’s 56-years-old and he’s a super hero. He’s intelligent, gentle, loving, funny, and playful but also as tough as nails. I was surprised to find that he’s all of those things all at once. I’ve always admired my dad but now, I feel he’s an even bigger “larger than life” character than I could’ve ever imagined. I had never followed him around like that before, just watching all he does and deeply listening to all that he says. I would strongly recommend that everyone try that. Just start following people around (laughs). But seriously, you don’t realize how much you take for granted sometimes about your family.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m teaching documentary classes to several youth organizations in my hometown of El Paso, Texas. The primary goal is for students to learn how to use film as a means for positive social change. I’m also working on a feature documentary about a sacred mountain in Anapra, New Mexico called Mt. Cristo Rey. The mountain, sitting on the Mexico/U.S. border, has recently become a site of controversy. For decades, both countries would climb and worship together. However, since 9/11, the Border Patrol has claimed and secured the border, prohibiting Mexicans from accessing the mountain. This has been a 9 year project, so I hope to complete it next year!

Tatyana Kulchinskaya was the winner of the Poetry Projection Project for best film made by a youth. She was recognized by guest jurors Barry Jenkins and David Campos for her film, “World Through a Mirror.” We interviewed Tatyana briefly about the inspiration and creation of her film.

Tatyana (center) with Aimee Espiritu of Children’s Creativity Museum and Melissa Hung from WritersCorps.

What drew you to turning Hong Truong’s poem into a film?

Hong Truong’s poem really stood out to me because of the images that came to mind just from reading it. The poem was written in a linear format so a story could be told. I read most of the poems that were offered but hers really caught my eye due to the depth behind words and the emotion already there. With any kind of animation its best to push any kind images to convey emotions. By push I mean that to show a pose or a movement that maybe exaggerated to instantly get an emotion known without having to say it. The fact that the spoken poem had so much emotion both in the way she read it and written it made creating the images much less of a struggle.

How did you decide on what images to create from Hong’s poem?

I wanted to show two different worlds in which the character is simply lost and depressed. I wanted to separate the character that is lost with the version of the character that seems to find itself. The hardest image to come up with would be for the lines that describe the nightmare that the character describes. Originally I wanted to use different settings for each description. I planed to use the rotateable table and record the character spinning in different locations. In the end I decided to just do one location that could fit most of the descriptions.

What are all the materials you used to create your film?

I used a lot of different kinds of materials. Mostly they were scraps I could find either at the Children’s Creativity Museum or my home. The character was made of wire and clay. The wire was used as a skeleton to keep the character solid with the ability to move without falling apart. The bedroom walls were made from tile swatches glued to cardboard. The bed is made from wire and Popsicle sticks for the frame. Clay was put on top to make it look like there were sheets and a quilt. The mirror was made from a piece of reflective plastic. The frame on the mirror was just thumbtacks with the points cut off. The only other set I had would be the forest scene. That scene used a small rotatable table that I covered with black felt. The trees were made from twisting wire and to cover the hot glue cone, I ended up tearing up smaller pieces of felt to make it look fluffy and could represent foliage.  Some of the odd gleams that can be seen hanging from the trees were strands of the hot-glue gun.

Were there any bumps in the road while making your film?

The most struggling part of the project was time. I had to 3 months to work to create all the props, characters, animate it as well as edit it. Three months is normally a good stretch of time to make something that is a minute long but due to the fact that I can only work on weekends due to school, I spent every weekend sitting and working in a little room, making and putting together the parts for the different scenes.  The other struggle I had was figuring out how to edit. I am used to creating an animation but I never really did any kind of editing before. The scene where the character is a transparent was created using a green screen. I ended up doing a crash course of final cut pro to get the effects I needed in place.

Are you working on a film now?

Currently, I am just working on schoolwork but I have other ideas for future animations. During the summer, I plan to make another animation for the Children’s Creativity Museum.