Picture this: Having your ideas take shape among the rolling hills and sprawling trees that make up the historic campus of Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Even better, imagine winning a scholarship to send you there! The Kenyon Review invites high-school students ages 16-18 to an intensive 2-week writing workshop as part of its Young Writers Program [...]
When my mom was a child, she had several penpals. I remember how she would tell me about them and how much she relished reading their letters and writing back and forth to her friends. How exciting it was for a letter addressed to her with a stamp from a faraway country to arrive in [...]
I will never forget the impact that Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet Laureate in 1985, had on me when she visited my high school and spoke to a small group of us in our school library. She read a few poems, including ones from We Real Cool, and then answered questions. One of the questions was about [...]
I heard a song that took me to Germany. Touring a castle, seeing everything from knights in shining armor to the beautiful castles with gold and silver. Everything is wonderful and beautiful and peaceful. A spark in my mind that someone lived here at this place! Someone had enough money to buy everything anything they [...]
One must have the mind of a sandcastle by a blue sea on the rough sand. A child is playing on the sand. You might find something strange in the sand. Incredible. The thing could be a shark. Most of all, sharks need water to breathe. It’s funny to be a castle in the sand [...]
I bathe in the luminous starlight Cleansing my soul of the dried tears of yesterday My fears and pains are washed clear away Into the deep night. Pure moonlight paints my wings The deep black of slumber forgotten As I soar ever higher, in joyous flight besotten Into this tranquil world devoid of earthly things. [...]
My soul pulled up into the garage Rusty and broken down With a hanging left headlight, Black faded paint, Smoke coming out of the tailpipe, Bottom dragging on the ground. I got out and said, “My soul needs a fixin’ A new paint job Twenty-four inch rims To take me toward good decisions. My soul [...]
The water that we drink comes from the rivers of the white mountains. I climb as high as I can to see big, hairy mountain goats and have fun throwing snowballs. When it is your birthday, climb as high as you can so you, too, can get the best flower in the snow. By Nicolas, [...]
I was born here, but my parents are from Vietnam. School is harsh there. The teachers hit you with a ruler or put you in the sun all day if you do something bad. You can buy an ox to carry the stuff you grow to the market. The huts in Vietnam don’t have electricity [...]
Today WITS welcomes seventeen colleagues from across the US for the first WITS Alliance National Conclave. The group will meet for three days in downtown Houston. The participants are: Jim Walker, Second Story Indianapolis Janet Hurley, True Ink, Asheville, NC Megan McNamer, Missoula Writing Collaborative, Montana Jeanine Walker, Seattle Arts & Lectures Michele Kotler and [...]
I was born in Gamma’s house and every time I spend the night there she wakes up and cooks me sausage and grits. I have a nephew named Jaden who I play ball with. My favorite things to do are eat, watch TV, and play video games all day. My favorite video game is Teenage [...]
By jrwatson5
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Also posted in essay, food, memory, self-portrait, sports, story, writing
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Tagged Camp Periwinkle, Houston, summer, Video game, video games
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I am in Bitola on the Macedonian border with Greece. One of the wonderful things that happened my first year teaching in Macedonia was the students asking me if I was on facebook, although I had to tell them I was not. Then I went home and joined facebook, partly on the advice of my [...]
So tomorrow is my last day in Tetovo. Yesterday my fellow teacher Besa took me on a walk around the old town of Tetovo. We went to several places that I had visited in the past, most importantly for me, the Colored Mosque. There are so many beautiful old buildings in Tetovo, including the Turkish [...]
Andrea Dezsö’s installation, Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly, is nothing short of spectacular. The exhibit has been creating a buzz since it first opened at Rice Gallery in April, and fortunately, students from WITS Summer Creative Writing Workshops were among those studying the magical tunnel books Dezsö made from layers of construction paper to [...]
By jrwatson5
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Also posted in art, creativity, education, event, imagination, inspiration, poetry, student, writers in the schools, writing
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Tagged Andrea Dezsö, fantasy
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Today was the first day of the WITS Creative Writing Camp in Tetova on the border of Bosnia. The camp was huge with 25 students here this afternoon and four “Best-So-Far” Awards for each group — the morning kids and the afternoon kids. I am not really sure how these “Best-So-Far” Awards got started, but [...]
