Writing with Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

Highlighting the teen writing program this month was a writing workshop with Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, author of Madeleine is Sleeping (a finalist for the National Book Award) and Ms. Hempel Chronicles. On January 22, volunteers Melissa, Michelle, and Kim took teens Noel, Giovanni, Jorge, and Alejehid to hear Sarah read at Skylight Books. The following week, we were joined by Grace, Abraham, Jessica (a familiar face from the after school program, back with us after many years away), and Chris (it's always a pleasant surprise when a graduate from the program drops by), as well as volunteer Kelly (who is also Sarah's good friend), for Sarah's workshop on prose-poetry.

Using Baudelaire and Margaret Atwood to capture the teens' attention, as well as a compelling excerpt from her own book, Sarah talked about writing a prose-poetry piece in which a situation that starts of fun suddenly, somehow, unexpectedly, turns dangerous or risky. The teens took to the assignment with enthusiasm, some writing non-fiction, some writing fiction, and all using their imaginations to address the world that they live in. You can read a few of the pieces below.

Brainstorming before getting started ...

JESSICA:

Every morning waking up to the same routine. Brushing teeth, using the facilities, showering, changing into the school’s uniform. Waiting ‘til a quarter to seven to confirm the morning ride. Leaving at exactly 7:25 to be there at 7:30. Waiting for two more people and the ride. When he arrives we get in. Three passengers and one unlicensed driver. Music blaring out of one beaten-up car demanding attention, respect, from its cargo from the world. Suddenly the music goes down as a cop car is spotted. Windows rolled up. Total silence. Waiting to see if the cop will follow or turn. Suddenly relief as the cop turns and five minutes later we arrive at our destination. Just another regular school morning.

GRACE:

“I wanna spend the rest of my life with you.”

Words she heard over and over again. To her it meant the whole world. She told everyone, from right to left, how special and different this guy was.

She would die 4 him. Or so she claimed. Giving up her virginity wouldn’t be such a big deal. Right? She’s in love and this is the love of her life. Well, that was what he said.

So everything is all right … or so he claimed.

5 months later. Left heartbroken and maybe perhaps pregnant. “Baby, I love you.” These simple words messed up her life. She wasn’t the same. No school. No friends. Just perhaps pregnant.

2 weeks … a couple of blocks away from her new school and newfound friends. Staning in front of a free pregnancy clinic.

2 hours later. The once brave and in love girl she was is now broken down … now living 4 two people.

Rained Out!

What do you when the photography field trip to Hollywood Boulevard is rained out? Go bowling, of course. Accompanied by volunteers Kelly, Michelle, and Kim, teens Juan, Giovanni, Jorge, Noel, Abraham, and Alejahid hit the local lanes. Breaking 100, Juan is the reigning champion. As for the rest of us, we managed to get a few strikes, a few spares, and have a good time.

Abraham and Alejahid work the lanes.

Kelly shows the guys how it's done!

Gio offers a few pointers on bowling style.

Words, Beautiful Words

The teen writing program kicked off 2009 on January 15 by playing around with random words. Rather than discuss some big issue, or focus on any kind of formal writing style, we simply tossed words out to one another and then wrote like crazy.

For our first writing exercise, Gio, Grace, Juan, Jorge, Noel, and Abraham (as well as volunteers Michelle and Kim) each wrote a noun, verb, adjective, and two random words on a sheet of paper. Each passed the paper to the person on the right, and then we all wrote for two minutes, using the words that had been passed to us. When the time was up, we passed the paper again and wrote for two more minutes. We did this until everyone had written for two minutes using each of the sets of words.

For our second writing exercise, each person wrote a list of five nouns on one side of a page, folded the page, and passed it to the right. Without looking at the nouns, the next person wrote a list of five emotions, and again passed the paper on. The third person drew random lines, connecting each noun with an emotion. The paper was passed again, and the fourth person had to write a five-line poem, with each line incorporating the connected noun and emotion.

It turns out that writing as fast as you can using random words can be a lot of fun. It can also produce a unique array of writing, as the samples below show:

POEMS BY ABRAHAM

He follows the birds
the birds land on a palm tree
He is unhappy because they erased the tree
It happened yesterday

She is at the beach
He is in the dump
Their minds are blank
He has pimples and
She has dimples

He sees the broken watch
She sneezes around anything
He is watching her put on lipstick

I am curious to see what is in Mexico
I ate candy and I’m hyper and I’m wearing a sombrero
I am disappointed at Pancho
I am enraged at the Panchos
I’m thirsty so I get a Coke and some tacos

POEMS BY GIOVANNI

I have a watch and
I sneezed on it, now
it is broken, and I don’t
have anything on my mind
except that one word, lipstick

I was at my house and
I was really tired so I fell
to sleep. I woke up and there
was paper on me so I made
a burrito.

I woke up in the middle
of nowhere a stalker following
me so I became ferocious
and attacked, I got to
thinking, I want
carne and cookies

I sat under a palm tree
and I erased all of yesterday’s
thoughts, so I became unhappy
and I started to follow
some girl back home.
She was nice. Grrr.

POEMS BY JORGE

I heard a stalker
He’s thinking
But ferocious
He ate a cookie
He ate carne

He saw a palm tree
He erased the palm tree
He was unhappy he erased the palm tree
He did that yesterday
He followed it today

He went to the beach
He got dumped on the beach
He had a blank shirt
He had dimples
He also had pimples

She watched the TV
She sneezed sitting down
Cause she had a broken heart
She’s thinking about anything
She had lipstick on

POEMS BY NOEL

At my house I went to sleep
Because I was tired
and then I ate a burrito

I went to McDonald’s to buy
a cookie and I ran away
from a big monster and I was sad

Yesterday I followed an unhappy
guy to a poem tree
and erased my homework
and wrote about a poem tree

I sneezed and I broke
my watch with a lipstick
and did not know anything

POEMS BY GRACE

An enormous monster
Heading to the castle
Lying got him here
Enormous and Ill
Eww, a monster

Yesterday he was unhappy
The palm tree looked pale to him
He feels alone
He wants to erase his past
Wants to follow a new path in life

Watching the stars in the sky
Broken hearted he might feel
I sneeze cause of all the dusty past we had
I have nothing else to offer you
The lipstick is all worn off

At my house, sleepy and frustrated
Tired of writing papers at school
I just want a break from
this fast life
Umm … I want a burrito

POEMS BY JUAN

When I eat McDonald’s I get
sad. I know I am going to
have to run, to lose the gut and
cookies in me, unleash my
inner monster. It will be.

I am thinking of carne, Grace’s
boyfriend is ferocious, I like a
big cookie. There is a stalker in
my movie. Should I run or
throw him a piece of carne?

I am unhappy with you,
my palm tree took a doo-doo
I erase what you do
When I follow up I fall into a crew
And yesterday I scream moo

Blank Blank Blank I
got dumped on the beach.
With a sunset so far away I will never
reach. The guy had no dimples,
just big huge things called pimples.