February 9, 2010
Former WITS student Christian Spear will continue to compete tonight for her chance to become the next American Idol. Christian wowed the judges in Dallas two weeks ago with her rendition of “All I Can Do is Cry” by Etta James, earning a unanimous vote and a golden ticket to continue on to the Hollywood portion of the competition. We wish her the best of luck as she continues to share her voice with America.
Below is a poem written by Christian as part of her WITS class in 2003.
The Sky and the Clouds
The clouds are so beautiful as they
move across the sky, although they
look as if they are prancing.
The light blue sky turns darker
when day ends.
The clouds in the day time look
as if they are prancing on the
sky, although the sky looks like a
thick blue blanket.
[top photo from americanidol.com; lower photo by reiusu via flickr]
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Posted by Kristina McDonald
February 8, 2010
The Cultural Enrichment Center of the University of Houston Downtown will host a poetry reading tomorrow (Tuesday, February 9) at 5:30 PM featuring WITS writer Merrilee Cunningham and Katharine Jager. The reading will be held at the Robertson Auditorium on the 3rd floor of UHD’s Academic Building.
WITS writer Merrilee Cunningham holds a B.A. degree in creative writing from Northwestern University where she studied under the poet Stephen Spender, and a Ph.D. in Renaissance literature from Vanderbilt University. Her poetic and scholarly works have been published in On, Versus, Visions, The Ball State Review, Renaissance and Reformation, the South Central Bulletin of the Modern Language Association and many other places. She edited On Magazine, a collection of poetry, while at Vanderbilt. After coming to University of Houston–Downtown, she edited Humanities in the South for seven years.
Katharine Jager is a poet and a medieval scholar. She received her M.F.A. in poetry from New York University and her Ph.D. in medieval studies from the Graduate Center, CUNY. Her poetry and essays have appeared in The Yale Anthology of Younger American Poets, Medieval Perspectives, The Gettysburg Review, Canteen, Friends Journal, and the Bellevue Review.
Who: Merrilee Cunningham and Katherine Jager
What: A poetry reading
When: Tuesday, February 9 at 5:30 PM
Where: Robertson Auditorium, 3rd floor of Academic Building, University of Houston Downtown
Cost: Free!
Leave a Comment » | Houston, event, poetry, spoken word | Tagged: merrilee cunningham, houston poetry reading, katharine jager | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
February 5, 2010
This month’s Gulf Coast reading will feature WITS writers Janine Joseph and Liz Countryman. The reading will be held tonight at 7:00 PM at Brazos Bookstore.
Born in the Philippines, Janine Joseph is a Ph.D. student in literature and creative writing at the University of Houston, where she is also a senior reader for Gulf Coast. She holds degrees from UC Riverside and the Creative Writing Program at New York University, where she taught with the Starworks Foundation and Community Word Project. She is a recipient of a 2009 Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation Fellowship for New Americans. Her work has most recently appeared in Third Coast, Spoon River Poetry Review, Nimrod, and in the chapbook Here is a Pen: An Anthology of West Coast Kundiman Poets.
Liz Countryman earned her B.A. from Tufts University and her M.F.A. from the University of Maryland. She has been awarded scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the Vermont Studio Center, from whom she received the Brown Foundation Award in 2008. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Houston, where she also serves as Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast. Her poems have appeared in Black Warrior Review, Makeout Creek, Forklift, Ohio, and ink node.
Leave a Comment » | Houston, event, spoken word, writers in the schools | Tagged: gulf coast, janine joseph, liz countryman | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
February 4, 2010
My heart is built
from blue ice and shiny
silver.
My heart is a red
feather that fell from
a robin migrating.
My heart is a lion
roaring for food.
My heart is my
future waiting to
be solved.
By Matt, 3rd grade
[photo by LittleMissPip via flickr]
1 Comment | poetry, student, writers in the schools | Tagged: heart, heart poem, valentine's day, valentine's day poem | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
February 3, 2010
The Kenyon Review Young Writers Program is an intense and fun creative writing opportunity for students ages 16-18 years (rising juniors and seniors in high school).
Students come to the Kenyon College campus in Ohio for two weeks of daily writing workshops (8:30am-3:30 pm) in poetry, essay, flash fiction, literary nonfiction , memoir and more. The two sessions offered for 2010 are June 27-July 10 and July 17-July 31.
The Kenyon Review is offering need-based scholarships to students who wish to attend the workshops. Visit their website to learn more about the program and how to apply. Scholarship applications are due March 1.
Leave a Comment » | event, student, writing | Tagged: kenyon review, summer writing workshops, workshops for high school students | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
February 2, 2010
I love you.
When I’m far from you I miss you.
I will show you how to defend yourself.
I will show you how to play baseball and soccer.
I will show you how to behave.
I will show you how to love.
I will show you how to miss someone.
I will show you dodge ball
and to comprehend it all.
I will show you how to be nice.
and how to make friends.
Get away from the enemies.
Be smart.
I will show you how to cook
and how to ride a bike.
I will show you how to be a good brother.
By Genesis, 4th grade
[photo by Job Garcia via flickr]
3 Comments | poetry, sports, student | Tagged: brother, brother poem | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
January 27, 2010
Max the turtle knows everything about
himself. Like the secret of catching fish
and how he sleeps and snaps or how he
dries on the log. But sometimes people
confuse me from the human Max. Here
are some things that are different from the
human Max: I am slimy and slow, but we
are both very noble and wise. But, Max
the turtle knows everything about himself.
By Max, 4th grade
[photo by annfrau via flickr]
2 Comments | animal, student | Tagged: turtle | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
January 26, 2010
The planet Mars with a million craters,
and only one patch of grass
sending hope of life.
A single red sack out of many
in one raspberry.
A glistening yellow light sparkling
from a deep, never-ending hole.
A poppy growing through the graves
in Flanders Fields.
A red beach ball
children toss and kick
on the seashore of Florida.
A creamy waterfall with stones
amid the sunset.
The waterfall flows forever.
Red blood spilled during the Civil War.
Spirits fly out of a hole
angered at the blood spilled.
A volcano with ridges,
ready to erupt.
By Pragya, 5th grade
[photo by Valeriy Novikov via flickr]
Leave a Comment » | food, poetry, student, writing prompts | Tagged: apple, apple poem | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
January 25, 2010
My brother James loved watching clouds with his sky blue eyes. His twin, Julia, preferred the night with her deep, dark eyes. But Julia wasn’t a dreamer, like James. He daydreamed all the time, even at night, because he suffered from insomnia. My mother always warned him to get his head out of the clouds and his eyes on the road ahead of him, even when he was little.
Once, when we was five, he replied to this, “Mama, my head’s not in the clouds. The clouds are in my eyes, and it hurts.” She scolded him for such nonsense, but later the teacher told her he was having trouble in class, and she suspected it was because of poor eyesight.
So he got glasses, but when he would watch the clouds, he took off the glasses so he could see the clouds better than anyone else. Eventually, the glasses shrunk to contacts.
One day after high school, his eyes were red and itchy, and he took out the lenses, but his eyes still bothered him. Julia offered to take a look into his sky blue eyes to see what was wrong, and I walked into their room just in time to see Julia falling through the clouds in the sky inside his blue eyes.
After that, James’ eyesight got worse and worse, and now he sits at home feeling the sun on his face and the wind in the trees and the clouds in his eyes.
By Elizabeth, 12th grade
[photo by evakke via flickr]
Leave a Comment » | story, student | Tagged: clouds, eyes | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
January 22, 2010
Studies regularly indicate that girls score higher in reading and writing than boys by a statistically significant amount. Travis Elementary School in the Heights is working hard to change that. The PTA pays for Writers in the Schools (WITS) to help create a rich environment for boys (and girls) to grow as readers and writers. In January Travis librarian Amy Cole Barile (the beloved Ms. B!) started a special after-school club for boys, dads, and others called Books & Boys. The hard work is paying off! Below are three outstanding poems by 4th grade boys at Travis:
Evolution
A six-legged
glowworm
burrows into the
flame-resistant
magma
and
evolves
into a
winged
salamander.
By Ralph
[photo by Shutter Moments via flickr]
Bone Yard in the Clouds
I was rushing
to the bone yard
in the clouds
searching for the
happiness that
had spread all
across the world
when dripping
from the sky came
a drop of rain
clashing down
against the
concrete
beside a
homeless
man’s
feet.
By Max
[photo by freg via flickr]
Gold
glistening in the falling smoke
Gold
a contest of money
Gold
steals the sparkle out of every child’s eye
Gold
Gold
Gold
that block of gold.
By Kelly
[photo by Claire Médaisko via flickr]
Leave a Comment » | Houston, books, education, essay, parenting, poetry, writers in the schools | Tagged: Amy Cole Barile, books and boys, HISD, Travis Elementary School | Permalink
Posted by Marcia
January 21, 2010
I used to have a simple toddler life, but now I am in 5th grade. I used to never have tests, but now I have at least 3 a week. As a toddler I could laugh and talk and dream forever, but now I only can think about school, what my friends are doing, and some assignment that’s due tomorrow. No more learning colors and watching cartoons, but a long life of school. No more magic milk and tooth fairy. No more playing princess. No more PB&J, no more 24/7 attention, and no more playgrounds. No more flying on the swing feeling untouchable and that nothing could go wrong. Now my daddy says I’m too big for piggy back rides and too old for crying. I am still like a little kid on the inside, making my way through the world. I still have fun, but, unlike toddlers, I have to focus. I know left and right, and how to multiply and divide, but I am still young, and I live a good life.
By Linleigh, 5th grade
[photo by tlrey via flickr]
1 Comment | essay, student | Tagged: 5th grade, growing up | Permalink
Posted by Kristina McDonald
Former WITS student Christian Spear will continue to compete tonight for her chance to become the next American Idol. Christian wowed the judges in Dallas two weeks ago with her rendition of “All I Can Do is Cry” by Etta James, earning a unanimous vote and a golden ticket to continue on to the Hollywood portion of the competition. We wish her the best of luck as she continues to share her voice with America.
