The WITS Celebration of Story will be held at 7pm on Thursday, November 3rd, and proceeds from this fundraising event will provide year-long literary programs for low-income children. 15 Houston artists have donated work for the silent auction. The list includes Wendy Wagner, Nicola Parente, and Liz Conces Spencer. Here are a few of the works that will be sold:
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Organic Peaceby Richard Varela |
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The Wheel of Life (Dripping Springs) 2011by Van McFarland |
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Untitled, 2011by Michael Guidry |
Meta-Four Houston presents “Houston Speak Green” in partnership with Youth Speaks, Houston ArtsAlliance, DiverseWorks, Houston Museum of African American Culture and the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts on November 1 and 5, 2011. Houston Speak Green is the Regional Premiere of a spoken-word poetry contest for young people to speak about environmental effects on everyday life.
Houston-area youth ages 13 – 25 will speak their truths about environmental issues impacting their everyday lives in the regional premiere of Houston Speak Green, a spoken-word poetry contest in two parts. The preliminary round of the competition will be on November 1, 2011 at 6 p.m. at the Houston Museum of African American Culture (4807 Caroline, Houston, TX 77004) in the Museum District. The finals will be on November 5, 2011 at 5 p.m. in the Wortham Theatre of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, University of Houston (Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard.)
The Houston contest is a regional response to the global conversation sparked by Brave New Voices Speak Green, the national competition launched in 2006 by San Francisco-based Youth Speaks, Inc. in partnership with the Redford Center and the U.S. Green Building Council to engage leading spoken-word poets as ambassadors for environmental change. Winners of Brave New Voices Speak Green have performed their works before actor and environmental activist Robert Redford, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Nobel Prize-winner Bishop Desmond Tutu and mayors from across the country.
TICKET INFORMATION:
Houston Speak Green events (Preliminary and Finals) are free to the public and no ticket is required.
Tuesday, November 1; 6 p.m.
Houston Museum of African American Culture, 4807 Caroline, Houston, TX 77004
Saturday, November 5; 5 p.m.
Wortham Theatre, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts
University of Houston, Entrance 16 off Cullen Boulevard
Every year my mom drags us to a pumpkin patch so we can get our picture taken.
“Smile!” she tells us.
“Smile better!” she commands.
“We’re not leaving here until I get some good pictures!” she yells.
So, my brother and I show the whites of our teeth and try to look happy about being in a pumpkin patch at 8 AM on Saturday morning in October.
By Leslie, age 9
Writers in the Schools (WITS) understands the power of slam poets, and we are lucky to have on staff a WITS writer, Deborah D.E.E.P. Wiggins, who’s been ranked the #2 female performance poet in the world.
We also celebrate deaf poets–each year WITS students from T.H. Rogers School bring down the house at the Blooms reading at Discovery Green.
So, we are excited to announce the upcoming film Deaf Jam, which documents a convergence of these two worlds. It follows the story of Aneta Brodski, a deaf teenager living in New York City, as she prepares to be among the first deaf competitors in a National Poetry Slam.
HoustonPBS Community Cinema Series offers free screenings of independent films scheduled for upcoming broadcast on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Thanks, HoustonPBS!
What: Deaf Jam, by Judy Lieff
When: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19 at 7 P.M.
Where: Rice Cinema, Entrance # 8 – University Blvd at Stockton
This Thursday a project called Writing & C/Siting Houston presents personal essayists on the topic, Old Neighborhoods, New Neighbors. Four local writers will delve into their chosen Houston sites:
Nimmi Jayathurai, “Banana Leaves and Migrant Passages”
Raj Mankad, “America Varshe, America Kande: Hinduism, Ornament, and the Suburban Box”
Thomas Meloncon, “My Fifth Ward”
Gwendolyn Zepeda, “The Old Sixth Ward District (or, as we used to call it, Del Sesto)”
When: Thursday, October 20, 2011, 7:00 pm
Where: Robertson Auditorium, University of Houston-Downtown Please click here for free parking information
Cost: FREE
Here’s some big news from our friends at Inprint. Young adult author Pseudonymous Bosch will this Sunday, October 16 at 3pm (doors open at 2:30pm) at Johnston Middle School, 10410 Manhattan Drive. This event is FREE. Here’s the scoop:
“Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People” presents this event with the award-winning young adult author, who will read from his fifth book of the New York Times bestselling “Secret Series” called You Have To Stop This. Bosch launched the “Secret Series” in 2007 with the novel The Name of This Book Is Secret; in his current book, a trip to the local natural history museum turns dangerous. Each of the novels in the series is based on one of the five senses—smell, sound, taste, sight and touch – and You Have To Stop This currently ranks #3 in children’s books under the category of mysteries, espionage, and detectives on Amazon.
Pseudonymous Bosch’s publisher maintains that his identity is a secret. According to www.pseudonymousbosch.com, “Not much is known about him other than that he has a passionate love of chocolate and cheese and an equally passionate hatred of mayonnaise. Rumors of Boschian sightings are just as frequent and about as reliable as reports of alien abductions.” To this day, many continue to conjecture about his true identity. It is known that the “Secret Series” is copyrighted by Raphael Simon, who has written episodes for programs on Nickelodeon.
Bosch will present his work, followed by a Q&A with the audience and a book sale and signing, giving families a chance to visit with the author. Admission is free and open to the public. “Cool Brains! Inprint Readings for Young People” is presented by Inprint, a Houston-based nonprofit fostering the art of creative writing with the mission to inspire readers and writers.
Writers in the Schools (WITS) invites you to A Celebration of Story on November 3rd - an evening of storyt
elling through music. Our featured performer, Allen Shamblin, is famous for penning chart-topping hits like Clay Walker’s “Live, Laugh, Love” and Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” He will be inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame along with country music superstars Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, John Bettis, and Thom Schuyler on October 16 in Nashville.
WITS will honor Katherine Center, best-selling novelist and former WITS writer for her influence on Houston’s literary arts community and for embodying the mission of WITS through her life’s work. Center’s work includes The Bright Side of Disaster, Everyone is Beautiful, and Get Lucky.
Join us for an inspirational celebration of music, power, and story! Proceeds from the event will provide yearlong literacy programs for underserved students in schools, hospitals, community centers, parks, hospitals, and homeless shelters.
Click here to purchase tables and tickets or contact us at 713.523.3877. For more information about table and ticket sponsorships, click here.
If you are unable to attend but would like to support WITS, visit our donate page. The schedule for the evening includes:
6:00 PM VIP reception
7:00 PM Registration and silent auction
8:00 PM Dinner
8:30 PM Story songs by Allen Shamblin
Silent auction items include: United Airlines vacation getaway, Wii and PS3 gaming systems, sports memorabilia, gift certificates from t’afia, Alley Theatre, Benjy’s, Houston Ballet, and many others.
Original art donated by:
Joe Acker
Ian Anderson
Michael Arcieri
Long Chu
Aaron Courtland
Michael Guidry
Rebecca Kveton
Van McFarland
Tami Merrick
Donna E. Perkins
Patrick Palmer
Nicola Parente
Liz Conces Spencer
Richard Varela
Wendy Wagner
and many others.
SPONSORS
Poet Laureates
Kroger
Travelers
Pulitzer Prize Winners
H-E-B Tournament of Champions
Susman Godfrey, LLP
Wells Fargo
Newbery Medalists
Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing / Lizzie and Scott Fletcher
Deborah Detering
Christina Gonzalez
King & Spalding
Karen McKibben Morris and The Honorable William Morris
Xavier Peña
Sysco Corporation
Vinson & Elkins LLP
NY Times Bestsellers
Bristow Group Inc.
CenterPoint Energy
Jenny and Jim Elkins Fund
Eva Geer
MaryScott Hagle and Daniel Kornberg / Antonia Day and George Helland
Julie and David Itz
Lenora Noroski & Fred Insulbuch
Marcia and Michael Nichols
Emily and James Blackwell / Michael Pipkin
Patricia Delaney and Warren Rawson
Josephine and The Honorable Bill Rice
Nancy and Ken Spitler
United Airlines
Ann and Benjamin Ziker / BHP Billiton
HOST COMMITTEE
Greg P. Audel
Jessica Rossman and Gordon Bethune
Emily Pipkin Blackwell and James Blackwell
Stanley Chan
Carliss Chatman
Nicola Parente and Aaron Courtland
Jennifer Langdon and Joe Crownover
Melanie Malinowski and Andy Cunningham
Robin and Tony Davidson
Lizzie and Scott Fletcher
Nancy and Joe Ford
Tina and Craig Freedman
Jennifer LeGrand Howard
Lenora Noroski and Frank Inselbuch
Karen Walrond and Marcus Jennings
Shelley and Alexander Kaplan
MaryScott Hagle and Daniel Kornburg
Jacqueline S. Martin
Karen McKibben Morris and The Honorable William Morris
Whitney Botsford Morgan
Isabel Cowles Murphy and Christopher Murphy
Marcia and Michael Nichols
Roberta Weldon and James Pipkin
Josie Edwards and Monica Pope
Patricia Delaney and Warren Rawson
Josephine and The Honorable Bill Rice
Dr. Roxanne Riefkohl
Susan and Tom Scotty
Ginya and Clayton Trier
Laurette Veres
Andrea Ferguson White and The Honorable Bill White
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Xavier Peña, President
Christina Gonzalez, Vice President
Michael Pipkin, Treasurer
Garrick Malone, Secretary
Mark Cervenka
Brian S. Cheadle
Jane Creighton
David Francis
Beth McFarland Haag
Barry Hammond
Danielle Houston
Chanler Langham
Marcia Nichols
Amanda Martin Nicolo
Chris Porter
Sheleah Reed
Carolyn Rodz
Rachel Etheridge Solar
Julie Tran
Ann Ziker
Writers in the Schools (WITS) is offering a second price reduction for qualifying schools.Through a generous donation from the Simmons Foundation, Writers in the Schools (WITS) announces a second price reduction for the 2011-2012 school year. The new price—which is nearly half of last year’s fee—is available for Title 1 schools with 60% or more students eligible for the free/reduced lunch plan. The discount is available on a first-come first-served basis.
Why consider WITS? Research has shown that students who complete the WITS program perform better on standardized tests than their counterparts. Over 10 years of data collected by University of St. Thomas Professor Dr. Carl Scott indicates that students who complete the WITS program demonstrate:
than those who did not participate in the program. In a new study called “The Effect of Creative Learning on Student Achievement” by the Houston Arts Partners found that WITS students maintain:
If you choose WITS for your school, we will tailor the project to fit your needs.. The cost of the program includes:
Public Poetry — which was just named the best reading series in Houston by the Houston Press– offers up its next event on Saturday, October 1, 2011 at 2 pm at Discovery Green park in downtown Houston. To kick off the event, there will be a performance by The Mighty Orq. The featured poets will be Rich Levy, Martha Serpas, Eva Skrande, and Deborah “DEEP” Wiggins Mouton. WITS Third grader Helena de la Cruz will join the group. The reading is provided in partnership with the Houston Public Library. It is a free event, and the public is welcome.
WITS remembers Alice Hoffman, a gifted writer and a wonderfully generous young woman who passed away in the spring. Below we have posted a poem she wrote 3 years ago in the WITS program. Rest in peace, Alice, rest in peace.
For another WITS story about Alice, click here.
From Hip Hop to SugarHill
Marco Cervantes, “Transforming Jail Route”
Bao-Long Chu, “2600 Travis”
David Theis, “The Ruins of Houston”
Roger Wood, “Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios:
The Story of a House”
Thursday, September 22, 2011, 7:00 pm
Bohemeo’s, 708 Telephone Road, 77023
Free and open to all!
Writing & C/Siting Houston brings together writers, folklorists, and scholars to create written portraits that explore the ways and the wheres through which Houstonians know and cherish their hometown.
Every year organizations dedicated to reading and freedom of speech unite to sponsor Banned Books Week (BBW). This year the annual event will be celebrated September 24- October 1, 2011.
If you are unable to participate in a local event in your city, then please join in the first-ever national virtual read-out. Libraries and bookstores across the country will stage readings of banned books, and this year you are invited to record yourself reading a favorite banned book.
Here is all the information you will need from thte Banned Books Week website:
1) You can submit a video no more than two minutes long of a reading from a banned or challenged book. Here is a list of banned literary classics as well as a list of frequently challenged booksthroughout the years. You should also check out Mapping Censorship and Robert P. Doyle’sBanned Books: Challenging Our Freedom to Read for more ideas. Banned Books: Challenging our Freedom to Read is available for purchase at the ALA Store or can be found at your local public library.
2) A video of an eyewitness account of local challenges can be submitted. This video should be no longer than three minutes long.
How to upload your videos:
You will need a YouTube or Google account in order to participate. Once you have one, please sign into YouTube and follow their instructions on how to upload a video. A video tutorial on how to upload onto YouTube can be found here.
As the video downloads, you will need to update the TItle, Description, and Tag fields with the following information to help ensure that your video will be featured on the Banned Books Week Read-Out channel:
Title
The title of your video should include “Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out.” A good example is “A reading from The Perks of Being a Wallflower for the Banned Books Week Virtual Read-out” or “Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out: A reading from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Description
You may use the description to explain why the book you chose to read an excerpt from is your favorite banned/challenged book or offer more details about an eyewitness account of local challenges.
Tag
The most important part of the download is the tag. Please tag your video with “virtualreadout” to ensure that the video will be featured on the Banned Books Week You Tube Channel.
Final StepOnce you have posted your video, please send e-mail to bbw@ala.org with the link to your video. The video will then be featured on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel. Please allow a couple days for your video to be featured on the channel.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities recently released a report entitled “Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools.” It describes an educational system in crisis and suggests that arts-rich schools may be the answer to this country’s dire situation.
One of the most potent recommendations is to increase the number of working artists in long-term residencies in schools, especially underserved schools. Since the 1980s, childhood arts education has declined 49 percent for African American children and 40 percent for Latino children. The children who most need an arts education are being denied.
According to the report, the arts are absolutely crucial because they teach:
The report states that the IBM 2010 Global CEO survey found that CEOs in 60 countries believe creativity is the most important leadership quality. A study by the Conference board reports that employers rate creativity and innovation among the top five important skills for workers. The same employers rank arts study as the second most important indicator of a potential creative worker.
Writers in the Schools (WITS) is at the forefront of creativity education. We are recognized across the country for our strong programming and solid results in the classroom. We mentor other arts organizations and provide training for artists, teachers, and administrators. The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities validates what we’ve been doing for 27 years. Let’s help spread the word about how to build creative schools that work!
September 2011 is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. To raise awareness, Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers (TCCHC) sponsors an extraordinary event called Making a Mark, the annual art exhibit presented by The Periwinkle Foundation.
The Periwinkle Foundation, which reaches more than 4,000 children every year, provides programs for children, young people, and their families who are challenged by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. It operates Camp Periwinkle, Camp YOLO, Family Camp, and the Long Term Survivor Program. It also supports the Arts & Creative Writing Program at the hospital, which culminates each year in Making a Mark. Writers in the Schools (WITS) is honored to partner with The Periwinkle Foundation and offer creative writing workshops in the clinic every week.
Every September I look forward to Making A Mark, which features art and creative writing by patients and their siblings. The poems, stories, and visual art make a powerful statement about the healing that the arts can bring to patients and their families affected by cancer and blood disorders. In addition to the framed artwork, there are copies available of The Splendid Review, a publication of creative writing by patients and siblings who worked during the year with a WITS writer.
One aspect I particularly love is the collaborative piece that a professional guest artist, Periwinkle volunteers, and the children create together. Come out and meet Guest Artist Ann Johnson and see the amazing Friendship Fence that she and the children have created. You are invited to Texas Children’s Cancer Center’s Making a Mark® art exhibition on Sunday, September 11, 2011, from 2-4 pm on the Auxiliary Bridge between Texas Children’s Hospital Clinical Care Center and West Tower. Complimentary valet parking will be provided at the Clinical Care Center and the reception is open to the public.
A panel of judges selected blue ribbon pieces of art in three groups they felt most effectively represented Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Past exhibits have been shown in Japan, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, and numerous cities throughout the state of Texas. Don’t miss your chance to see this year’s inspirational exhibit presented by The Periwinkle Foundation.
