WritersCorps

Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam

Admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:48:13 +0000

It’s that time of year again! Join hundreds of young poets from throughout the Bay Area as they vie for a spot on the 2010 Brave New Voices Team in Los Angeles. Youth Speaks kicks off their annual Teen Poetry Slam, in which young poets perform their work from some of the hottest stages throughout the Bay. The event kicked off March 12 and goes through April 3 at the Warfield, where the final 16 poets left standing perform. For more information, go here.

WritersCorps Students Read at City Lights

Admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:29:59 +0000

If you’re itching to hear some great poetry from young, up-and-coming writers, check out the New Lit Generation Reading at City Lights Bookstore this Thursday evening at 7pm. Three of the participants from our WritersCorps Apprentice Program will be presenting their work. For more information, go here. Keep in mind that the event is also a celebration of Small Press Month, which you can find out more about here.

Urban Youth Arts Festival Fundraiser

Admin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:35:33 +0000

Supporters of urban youth making art and letting their creative expression go wild will want to check out the 14th Annual Urban Youth Arts Festival Fundraiser, at El Rio, on March 31st. Hosted by Precita Eyes, all proceeds go towards this year’s Urban Youth Arts Festival, an annual event for youth and families that features live music, performances, food, and art galore. The fundraiser will include music by local musicians, live painting by Precita Eyes muralists, and artwork by local Bay Area artists. Oh yeah, and lots of free barbecue! Don’t miss it! For more information, go here.

Muni Transfer

Admin — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:08:45 +0000

a day at a glance—
clutched in one fist

crumpled
inside a pocket
a clock unfolded

this flimsy bit of newsprint
curled up on a rattling seat

a sleep traveler
by the window

an hour slips through the cracks

Proof of payment lets us
Move in any direction
Until time indicated

–Annie Yu, age 20
From the WritersCorps book “My Name is a Book of Lives” at San Francisco Main Public Library

A Parent’s Voice

Admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:47:33 +0000

1. Read pieces written in the voice of a mother. Some possibilities are “Emergency Situation” by Hal Sirowitz (Mother Said: Poems, Crown Publishers, 1996), or “From Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes (Selected Poems, Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).

2. Ask students to write in the voice of a mother, father, or grandparent (their own, if they wish). If you wish, you can ask students to write what the adult speaker of the piece has to say to its writer, the student, as in the following example.

How They See Me

Every conversation I have with you costs me money. Do we have a tree outside with money on it? You have over 20 pairs of shoes and I never see you wear the same thing twice. You need a job working from eight to five because you cost a lot. I feel sorry for your future husband because the only words you will tell him is, “I want to have my hair done” and “I need money to buy weave.” Every time you take pictures, I don’t get one to carry around in my wallet. My friends ask me, “Do you have a picture of your daughter?” I say, “No, but I am the one who pays for it.”

–Jacqueline Andrea McKinney
Balboa High School
Excerpt from Flavors of the City, 1995 WritersCorps anthology

Lesson is from the WritersCorps book “Jump Write In!”

Photos from Claim the Block at MoAD

Admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:16:15 +0000

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Thanks to everyone who came out to our Claim the Block reading at MoAD, featuring students from Downtown High School and Ida B. Wells High School. It was great to see so much support from the WritersCorps fam! Here are some photos from the event. Many thanks to Michele Kraus for taking them.

Come to Claim the Block, March 11!

Admin — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:36:41 +0000

Mark your calendars for March 11, because our next Claim the Block event is right around the corner! This time, WritersCorps teachers and students from Hilltop School, Mission High School, and the San Francisco Main Library will be reading their work at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Admission is free and also includes free entrance to CJM’s galleries, so before heading over to the event, be sure to check out their newest exhibit, “Our Struggle: Responding to Mein Kampf,” a poignant show based on the collective artwork and book, Notre Combat (Our Struggle, in English), based on French painter/photographer Linda Ellia’s response to Hitler’s autobiography.

A page from "Notre Combat," Linda Ellia

The exhibition includes 600 “altered” pages from the book—Ellia personally altered the book by painting, drawing, sculpting, and collaging directly onto the pages. She then invited hundreds of people from around the world to do the same. The exhibition brings together a remarkable variety of artistic styles and powerful voices—from poets to journalists to students to survivors of the Holocaust. For more information on this and other exhibitions at the Contemporary Jewish museum, go here. And for more information on Claim the Block events, go here.

Ayibobo! Amen for Haiti

Admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:42:24 +0000

For an exciting afternoon of poetry and performance for a great cause, be sure to check out AYIBOBO! AMEN FOR HAITI this Sunday at the Glide Memorial Church. It’s a free presentation of poetry and music, brought to us by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the San Francisco International Poetry Festival, and Revolutionary Poets Brigade. Former San Francisco Poet Laureates Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Hirschman, devorah major, and Janice Mirkitani join forces with a host of other poets, including Jorge Argueta, Agneta Falk, Ishmael Reed, Michael Warr, and others. All donations will be given directly to Doctors without Borders. For more information, go here.

Cultural Encounters at the de Young

Admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:29:58 +0000

If you’re not afraid to brave the rain tonight, check out Cultural Encounters tonight at the de Young. This new series takes place every Friday night, and the museum stays open until 8:45 pm to present a plethora of arts-related events, ranging from live music to poetry to films to tours and lectures. Admission to the event gets you into the de Young’s galleries free of charge. Tonight’s performance includes live music by VidyA, printmaking demonstrations by Txutxo Perez, and a closing reception for artist Ann Weber, a sculptor who makes whimsical, curiously shaped towers out of a mundane medium: cardboard. For more information on tonight’s event and upcoming Cultural Encounters programs, go here.

Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo (May 7 Cultural Encounters event)

YO! Interviews WritersCorps at Claim the Block

Admin — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:27:00 +0000

Writers Corps. Claim the Block from New America Media on Vimeo.

Check out this interview by YO! Youth Outlook with WritersCorps teaching artist Neelanjana Banerjee and her students. It was filmed at our Claim the Block reading at MoAD last Saturday, which featured our students from Ida B. Wells High School and Downtown High School. The students talk about their poems and why writing is important. Catch our next Claim the Block event at the Contemporary Jewish Museum on March 11.