Since the Speak Out! reading, most of my CLC work has been focused on helping with the website (or at least proofreading all of Randi's hard work) and tying up loose ends around the office (filing papers in the Speak Out! Fall 2005 curriculum book, etc.).

As I announced at our meeting last week, I will not be returning to grad school next semester, so I will be leaving the CLC.  I'm sad I have to leave, but there are a lot of things that factored into this decision, and it is just something I have to do.  I has been a pleasure to be involved with the CLC and to work with Dr. Jacobi and all of the other interns.  I believe in the work the center is doing and know the CLC will continue to do great things.

I'm excited that the Speak Out! project is expanding and that the IGLP project is getting underway.  I'll be reading the blogs on the CLC's fabulous website next semester to keep posted on the center's happenings.

And Randi and Lisa...you still owe me an air guitar performance!

The Speak Out! reading on Saturday night was fairly successful.  We hit a few snags, but other than that, the girls did a fantastic job and I was glad they had a chance to read their work.

Starting Out

Things were a little disorganized, but since this was my first reading, I guess that was to be expected.  We arrived at the girls’ house a half an hour earlier to get everyone ready to go, and yet again, the staff was unaware of what was going on.  They thought the reading was at 4pm (even though we discussed it the previous week).  If we ever work with Turning Point again, there should definitely be a set schedule (we even joked about tattooing in on everyone’s arm so we could all be on the same page…). 

So, after the initial confusion, we got everything under control and were able to head to the Alley Cat.  On the way to the reading, the house supervisor told the girls that “meeting rules” would apply to the reading – this meant no food or drinks.  This made me panic just a little because part of the plan was to buy the girls a drink at the Alley Cat, but with a little persuasion from Tobi, the leader was fine with letting the girls order something to drink.

Reading Recap

We spent the first half hour ordering drinks and then headed downstairs to the poetry room for the reading.  We had the room to ourselves.  Initially, I think this disappointed some of the girls who were hoping for a bigger audience, but when it was time to read, they were a little hesitant, so I think having a private space was better in the long run.

The reading was very informal.  I did my little intro spiel thanking the girls for participating and thanking the Mildred Arnold Foundation for the financial support that allowed us to produce our books and buy the girls something to drink.  Then, I turned it over to the girls, inviting them to read their work from the book or anything else they brought with them. 

We even had one girl sing for us.  In the workshops, she had written about singing and told us she could sing, but I had no idea what a treat we were in for.  She volunteered to sing, and when she started I about fell out of my chair.  Her voice was amazing and attracted an audience from upstairs.  We joked about saving her coffee cup and auctioning it off on ebay when she becomes famous.  I have no doubt her talent will take her somewhere.

The other girls shared their work, some that was in the book and some of which they had memorized.  Everyone was very supportive and a few patrons of the coffee shop joined our audience during the course of the reading.

The girls read some of their collaborative poems, but I wish we would have organized this a little better so everyone could have played a part in reading the group poems.  Just a few girls ended up reading one of the collaborative poems, which was fine, but I think I would have been better if all the girls had participated.

The Snags

And yes, there were some snags.  One of the girls turned in a poem during the last workshop and wanted it included in the book.  Molly and I made a photocopy of the page she gave us and put it in the book.  When she got her book on Saturday, she realized that part of the poem she had given us was a personal journal entry.  Molly and I had no idea (we just copied what she told us to).  She was very upset and I felt horrible.  But Tobi saved the day and helped us remove that page from eveyone’s book.  I am working on making her a new book with a corrected poem so she can have a book that includes all of her work.

Another girl, who is no longer at Turning Point, turned in poems the second week of the workshop, so I included them in the book.  But come to find out, some of her poems were not original – they were song lyrics and the other girls were happy to point that out at the reading.  Needless to say, again I felt bad about publishing these poems…but I learned my lesson and I realized I need to brush up my music…

Final Thoughts

Despite the snags, I think the girls had a good time.  We got permission from several of them to publish their poetry on our website. 

We were a little crunched for time during the course of the workshop.  Next time, it would be best to build in an extra week so that the girls can proofread the book before it is printed.

Thanks to all who attended the reading!

Other Stuff

Now that the Speak Out! project is over, I can hopefully help out with the CLC’s other projects a little more.  Thanks to Randi for getting us going on the website.  I can’t wait to see it!  Lisa is working hard on the Intergenerational Literacy Project, and I am sure it will be a success!

This week was fairly unstructured.  We spent time discussing the reading and letting the girls pick colored paper for the cover.  Molly and I decided to use the “Name” piece by Sandra Cisneros.  We didn’t use it at the beginning, and we thought it might be a good thing to end with.  We read it and had the girls write about their name, why they liked it or why they didn’t.  Some girls chose to create acrostic poems with their names. 

Next, we asked the girls to think of an occasion in their life that they let pass without a celebration (it could be something grand or mundane) and then create a party invitation for that event.  They didn’t care much for this exercise.  One girl told us it brought up too many “issues” for them.  So, we let the girls develop their own prompt.  One girl suggested that write about what the world would be like without fences.  Only a few girls responded, but this led to a lot of conversation. 

And once the girls had opened up, they began to share things they had written on their own.  One of the girls shared poems from memory and several others, who hadn’t been willing to share their work before, read us some amazing poetry.  Needless to say, Molly and I were extremely impressed and asked the girls to let us make copies of the poems to include in the book. 

We spent the rest of the time discussing what to include in the book and listening to the girls recite their own poetry.  The girls seemed very excited about the reading, and I hope whatever sparked them to share their poetry will last until the reading next week!

Yes, I am guilty of letting a week slip by without my riveting account of the Speak Out! workshops, so I apologize to my faithful readers (all two (?) of you).

The October 30th Workshop

Molly couldn’t be there this week, so I flew solo.  It was a little scary at first, but I was actually quite impressed with the results of the workshop.

After a quite disastrous week involving the movie Thirteen, this week was an attempt to get back on track.  We planned a number of very different exercises and went back to a focus on poetry.  For the first exercise, we read “a poem about listening” and the girls did the “Listen Up!” exercise.  We had them imagine they were alone in a room with someone that would just listen to them.  We asked them to write “Listen Up” at the top of their papers and then write about whatever they had to say.  In the past, the girls hadn’t written for more than seven minutes, tops.  But this exercise must have sparked something inside them because they wrote for at least 15 minutes!

Next, we read the poem “Famous” by Naomi Shihab Nye and I asked them to write about what they would like to be famous for.  They wanted to be famous for a lot of things, ranging from singing to having the most beautiful baby.  One response that stood out in my mind was a girl who said she didn’t want to be famous for being wallpaper but for what she had to say…very impressive.

The next two exercises were done in pairs.  I gave each group a slip of paper with a sound (like thunder, fingernails down a chalkboard, etc.).  Then I asked them to come up with words that sounded like that sound.  When they were finished we went around in a circle

And each group read their “sounds.” We ended up going around the circle at least five times and the girls added new sound effects each time we went around.  It was a lot of fun.

For the last exercise, I gave each group a letter of the alphabet and asked them to come up with a Halloween-themed line using words that began mostly with that letter.  We then combined the lines into a Halloween alliterative poem.

This week was pretty successful overall (especially compared to the previous week), and it’s hard to believe the workshops will end so soon…

Replies to this Entry:

Re: Catching up...

Elizabeth Kin, elizabethkin@hotmail.com
Reply Created: November 14, 2005

This week was tough.  Not only was life in general pulling me in a million different directions, but ths week's Turning Point workshop was especially tough. 

This week we wanted to focus on image.  I chose a clip from Killing Us Softly 3 that discussed how advertisments often give the message that women should be seen and not heard.  The clip discussed how the body language and position of women in ads reinforces the message of silence.  Seeing that our theme is Speak Out!, I thought this would make a good connection on how they have a right to use their voices. 

So we watched and discussed the clip.  Some of the girls said that people are paranoid, advertising isn't "out to get" women, and others thought what the film had was true - that ads infuence how images of women are constructed.  I then showed the girls some ads from a few magazines.  We discussed them for a while and then asked the girls to choose an ad and write in the voice of the woman in the ad.  In other words, what would the woman in the ad say about how she is being portrayed.  This went over like a lead balloon.  Maybe two girls wrote something down.  I am not sure what went wrong...if they were just uniterested or if I didn't explain things well enough or if they were just not in the mood for that yesterday (one girl said she wasn't going to write because she didn't want to think about anything negative...).

Next we showed them a clip from the movie Thirteen.  They were VERY interested in the movie, but not in writing about it.  We showed a clip from the beginning where Tracy, a girl who desparately wants to be cool, changes her image to be friends with a popular girl.  We asked the girls to respond to this...what did it make them think of, had they ever changed themselves to be accpeted.  Again, this exercise was a lead balloon...maybe they needed more direction or a clearer prompt, but really we just wanted a gut reaction.  They gave some good feedback when we talked about it, saying it was sad that she felt she had to change herself, but no one was really willing to write about it.

I think what it came down to was the girls really just wanted to watch the entire movie (and we hd interrupted a movie they were watching when we got there, so this might have started things off on the wrong foot...).  I explained to them that we only had permission to show a clip and that we could and would not show them the whole movie...so then they decided to call the Turning Point staff into the room to convince them to let them watch all of Thirteen.  They told the staff Molly and I said there was nothing inappropriate it the movie (this was after I had just finished explaining to the girls that we would not show the movie because certain parts may be inappropraite), so I had to speak up to the staff and let them know we did NOT say this movie was completely appropriate.  I think this made some of the girls mad...

So, desparately trying to salvage our workshop, Molly asked the girls to freewrite.  They wanted nothing to do with this so we asked them to do an acrostic poem using the word image.  I think only two girls did this exercise...but they turned in their poems to be typed.

So, the moral of this long-winded story is that teenagers are tough, and maybe this topic wasn't the best choice.  I wanted to give the girls a chance to see things a little differently, but maybe it just wasn't the right time... 

I just finished reading the work the girls gave us today and a girl who was new to the group wrote the words “My soul has been seen through writing.”  Our workshop probably did not inspire her to write this, but what she wrote summed up our purpose for doing these workshops – to give the girls a voice.  So I am doing a little happy dance!

Backtracking...

Ok, now backtracking a little (sorry, I was very excited when I read that, so I had to share)...This week’s workshop went well.  The girls expressed an interest in learning how to write poetry, so Molly and I decided to try to help them visualize and write about concrete images instead of just feelings (basically a lesson in “show us, don’t tell us). 

We  read “Girl in the Doorway” by Dorianne Laux, which describes a 12 year old and her move into adolescence.  The girls had some trouble understanding the poem (they thought it was about secret admirer watching a girl from afar), but we welcomed their interpretations and talked about the images in the poem.  We had them pair up and we gave them each a number.  We had two poster boards with fill-in-the-blank sentences on them.  The girls worked together on the sentences that corresponded with their numbers to come up with similes and evocative images.  Some of them were very good at this and other had a little trouble.  We had some funny sentences (I loved the ghettoness of the wash on the line in the summer morning) and some great images (Like an avalanche, his smile suddenly collapsed.

We then had the girls try concrete descriptive language on their own.  We told that to image that one day they woke up and were 30 years older.  How would they look?  Where would they be?  What would their lives be like?  Everyone had fun with this one (and most of the girls were horrified that they would be 45 someday), and again they produce some great images (My wrinkles in my face are like the indents in the leather couch).

The last exercise was called “My soul is...” and it was extremely successful.  The prompt read “My soul moves like.....my soul dreams about....my soul smells and feels like...my soul has been seen...”  The girls filled in the blanks and almost everyone turned in this exercise for us to type.

Successes

• They wrote more and talked less – I think working in pairs helped with this.
• They turned in writing for us to type.
• They are writing outside of the workshop.  Each week at least one girl tells us about or gives us a poem she wrote.

 Things to keep working on

• Encouraging them to give each other feedback.  They all give positive feedback, which is great, but we want them to ask each other questions about their writing.  Molly and I are trying to model this for them.
• Getting them to bring their books to the workshop...no one had their book yesterday, so they wrote on pieces of paper.  This is fine, but it would be a lot easier if they brought their books...maybe our hypothesis that they would feel more of a connection to the workshop if we let them personalize their writing notebooks was just wishful thinking...

Other happenings

I finished editing my interview with Dr. Langstraat and sent it to her to review, and I sent e-mails about the book club, so now I am just waiting for feedback.  I am still editing the interview with Dr. O’Donnell-Allen, but should have it finished by tomorrow.  I also need to talk to Sasha and brainstorm about the Bruce Nagel grant...looks like its going to be a busy week!

Week 2

This week’s workshop went well.  We had eight girls participate, two were new to the group.

Because the girls expressed a strong interest in writing poetry last week, Molly and I decided to give poetry a try this week.  Initially, I was nervous bout this because I know very little about poetry.  But Dr. Jacobi eased my fears and suggested we use teen poetry.  This was the initial plan, but after searching through a lot of teen poetry, Molly and I decided to go in a different direction. 

To keep it upbeat, we started by reading one of Sylvia Plath’s lighter poems, “Cinderella.”  Molly and I like the imagery in the poem, ut we also thought it would work well with modified version of the “I am…” writing exercise.  We had the girls write “I am (fill in the blank with their favorite fairytale character)” and then list the reasons why they chose that character.  It was a fun exercise and drew creative responses and a lot of laughs from the girls. 

We then read “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou.  The girls really liked this poem and what it had to say.  One girl said she liked the poem because the woman recognized that she was “all that” inside but didn’t necessarily have to flaunt it outside.  We had the girls choose a line or two from the poem and then write a poem of their own that started with or included that line in some way.  This exercise was more difficult that we thought, not only for the girls, but for Molly and me as well.  We expanded the prompt for the girls who were struggling and just asked them to write a general response to the lines they selected.  But they still seemed a little lost…we got few responses and I’m not sure what we could have done differently.

For the last prompt we did an “idea to image exercise” where we asked the girls to close their eyes and write down the first image/thought/idea that entered their minds when we said a specific word.  We chose “love” and “soul.” Some of the girls drew pictures and some expressed the images they saw through words. We had them do this exercise on note cards and then we collected them, shuffled them and read them as a collaborative poem.  They loved it.  I am going to type up this poem and give them all a copy next week.

Highlights

• One of the girls who was new to the workshop this week started the workshop with an “I don’t want to do this and I’ll never come back” attitude…by then end, she said she actually had fun.
• We asked the girls to start giving feedback on each other’s writing…it was all positive this week, but we encouraged them to ask questions about each other’s writing...at least this is a step in the right direction.
• One girl shared poetry she had written on her own…I am typing it for her so we can include it in our book. 

Challenges

• The girls talk – a lot…some just start talking in the middle of a prompt an I can tell that it frustrates some of the girls who really WANT to write.  We thought about splitting the girls up, but it just didn’t seem to be the right thing to do last time.  Suggestions anyone???  I don’t want to make it too school-like…
• Not all of the girls wanted to give us a piece of writing to photocopy for the book…maybe next week.

Other happenings…

Just in case anyone was wondering, I interview Dr. Langstraat and Dr. O’Donnell-Allen today, so I am working on writing up the descriptions for the website.

We started the Speak Out! project at Turning Point yesterday, and overall, I think it went ok. 

Beginning Tension

We arrived at Turning Point at 3:30 (the workshop was supposed to begin at 4:00) just so we could introduce ourselves to the staff, figure out where we were going to be and get organized.  This may not have been the best idea.  When we arrived the staff member who was there had no idea who we were or why we were there.  We explained the workshop and that we had been working with Gwen.  She was friendly and welcoming, but the situation was just a little awkward.  I guess I thought everyone knew we were coming…

While the girls finished their Status Group meeting, Molly and I sat in the dining room and discussed plans for the workshop.  We were both still a little nervous about using the Jamaica Kincaid piece because it is a very different style of writing, but it was too late to change and we risked it knowing we could change directions next week if this writing piece tanked.

The Group

The staff member at the house required all of the girls to participate in the first week’s workshop, which drew a little resistance.  One of the girls made a scene saying she wasn’t required to participate in groups because she was in transition.  But eventually she agreed and ended up being one of the most vocal girls in the group.  I’m glad she stayed.

We started off by explaining the workshop and describing the things we would be doing (watching films, listening to music, poetry, etc.).  We also made it clear that if there was anything they wanted to write about, we would invite them to bring their ideas to the workshop. 

Then we had the girls fill out questionnaires and as they were doing so we talked about how we would publish their work and hold a reading at the end of the workshop.  I made the mistake of passing out the sample books of teen writing while they were filling out the questionnaires, so this part drug on a little too long. 

We did introductions and then started the reading.  We went around the circle and let each girl read a line or two.   The girls reacted strongly to the piece and it surprised me. 

Here are some of the reactions:

• Some said they didn’t like it.  They thought it was old fashioned and that the world doesn’t work like that anymore – girls don’t have rules like that.
• Some thought it was interesting and raised the issue of women’s rights saying that maybe it was good advice for women in other countries who don’t have the options American women have.
• Some said they didn’t understand it.

When we got to the writing prompt, the girls had a little more trouble.  Molly gave the prompt orally (to write about advice you have been given or to write about your idea or society’s idea of the perfect woman), and the girls had a million questions.  They didn’t understand or they didn’t hear the prompt or they didn’t know what to write, but eventually they started writing.  A few of the girls didn’t write anything, and a few of the girls spent the writing time flipping through the books of published work that were still circulating (again, that was my mistake!).  I think they just needed reassurance that anything they wrote would be acceptable – that we just wanted them to write. 

A few girls shared their work and so did Molly and I.  I remember reading in a previous intern’s blog that having the facilitators share their work made the girls feel more comfortable about sharing their writing.  The girls were supportive of each other’s writing, but I should have asked for more feedback.  I didn’t really push this issue at this workshop because I just wanted to girls to feel comfortable, but next week I definitely want to discuss their writing more.

We had another writing prompt, but we decided to let the girls decorate with books instead.  They were VERY excited about this.  Kudos to Molly for this idea…I think she was right on target when she said letting the girls decorate the books would get them invested in the workshop because they could have something of their own.  Hopefully this tactic will work and the girls will be back next week.

Changes for next week:

• Don’t give the girls anything to look at – they enjoyed seeing other teens’ published work, but the books distracted them
• Ask for more feedback on the writing they share
• Pass out the writing prompts on pieces of paper
• Limit their writing prompt choices
• Try breaking up into small groups if we have 11 girls again – it might make them write more and talk less without seeming too school-like

Speak Out! Update

I am disappointed.

On Friday, I received a call from Gwen, and she said circumstances at Turning Point required them to go back to a bare bones schedule this week, so the writing workshop would have to wait.   I understand this is what’s best for the girls right now, but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.  I felt prepared and was looking forward to getting started.  Things are supposed to resume next week, so we’ll see…

Gwen also mentioned that we would need to make some adjustments in the schedule.  We planned to rotate between three time slots, but one of the time slots is the girls’ movie night.  The staff decided we should not offer a workshop during this time because they felt they would face too much resistance from the girls (which I can understand).  So as of right now, the plan is to offer the workshop on alternating Saturdays (from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm) and Sundays (from 4 pm to 5 pm).  Gwen is supposed to e-mail us a final schedule this week.

Other happenings…

I spent much of this week preparing for the Speak Out! workshops.  Molly and I met with Gwen to go through a brief Turning Point orientation.  Gwen gave us some background on Turning Point, told us a little about what to expect from the girls, and offered some advice on how to handle things that might come up during the workshop.  Later in the week, I met with Molly to finalize our plans and assembled writing notebooks that we are planning to have the girls decorate during the first workshop. 

I finished and posted the interview templates.  Hopefully everyone will find them useful…if not, let me know – they aren’t set in stone.

I also had the privilege of attending the reading at community corrections.  I really didn’t know what to expect, but was very impressed by the women who shared their work.  It was obvious that the writing workshops had been an important part of their lives during the past few months.  With each word the women read, I could almost see their self-esteem building, and I could tell they were enjoying themselves (and they definitely enjoyed the cupcakes Dr. Jacobi made!).  Their writing was moving, and I hope the workshops at Turning Point will be as successful.

I spent most of my time this week preparing for the first Speak Out! workshop at Turning Point.  Molly and I were supposed to start the workshops Saturday, but due to a few setbacks (mainly scheduling and paperwork), they were postponed until next week.  The first official workshop will be Sunday, September 25. 

I am a little disappointed that the workshops were postponed, but also a little relieved.  Part of me is ready to get out into the community, meet the girls we will be working with and get started.  It seems that in planning the workshops there are so many “play it by ear” moments (waiting to see how many girls we will have, what their interests are, how they will respond to our ideas).  I am sure there will be more of these moments, but I am ready to start filling in some of the blanks in our workshop agendas.  The other part of me is grateful for a few extra days to plan.  I wanted to watch the “What I want my words to do to you” video, read more on workshops and find more prompt ideas, and now I will have a little more time to do so. 

Speak Out! Plans 

Last week, I said that Molly and I were planning to follow the week one agenda from the previous workshop fairly closely, but during our meeting on Thursday we changed our plans.  Dr. Jacobi brought up a good point and said that if there hadn’t been a lot of turnover at Turning Point since the summer, we could have some of the same girls in our workshop and we might want to consider other prompt ideas. 

So, instead of using the “Name” except from House on Mango Street, we are going to use “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid.  Our writing prompt will then focus expectations, rules and the idea of the “perfect woman.”  The exact wording of the prompt is still in the works, but that is the general idea. 

I am really excited about this prompt (kudos to Molly for the awesome idea!) and can’t wait to tell everyone how it went after our first workshop!

Other stuff

As far as administrative tasks go, I am narrowing down the questions for the interview templates and will have them posted on Tuesday.  I also e-mailed the previous interns about sending us copies of their annotated bibliogrpahies but haven't heard back from anyone yet. 

That's about it for now...hope everyone had a great weekend!

Things really progressed at the CLC this week.  We are all taking on various roles, and I am excited to see that our projects are getting underway.

Administrative accomplishments

During my office hours on Tuesday, I devised a checkout sheet for the CLC tape recorder and digital camera.  I also continued reading profiles on literacy workers and students and drafting possible questions for an interview template.  Because we want to interview people who are involved in literacy in different ways, it might be beneficial to make different templates for different categories of interviewees (i.e., one for literacy workers, one for literacy students, and one for people involved in educational/literacy policy).  This might help us to focus our questions more directly toward the person we are interviewing. 

Tuesday afternoon, I was a little early for the Speak Out! meeting so I began printing off a packet of information for a woman interested in the Literacy Network and researching deadlines for upcoming grants from a list provided by Dr. Jacobi.  On Thursday, I printed the rest of the packet on the Literacy Network (the office printer was finally behaving!), continued researching grant deadlines and requirements.  I created a new grant chart that is a little more user friendly (I hope) and includes both existing and updated information.

Speak Out! Workshops

Tuesday afternoon we had a very successful meeting about the writing workshops.  Molly and I were able to coordinate schedules and will be hosting a writing workshop for the girls at Turning Point on alternating Saturday and Sunday nights.  Molly and I met briefly Thurdsay morning to set up a game plan for the first workshop (which is in less than a week!).  We decided to stick closely to the first week agenda from the previous workshop and are planning to do basic introductions, have the girls fill out a “getting to know you” questionnaire, and use the “Name” excerpt from the House on Mango Street to get the girls writing (and help us get to know them).  I am so excited to begin this project!

The bulletin board

This past week, I spent my office time trying to familiarize myself with the CLC and developing the bulletin board.  On Tuesday, I planned out what to put on the board and, with Dr. Jacobi’s help, started gathering material for each “area” (Current Projects, Literacy Events, Opportunities for Literacy Activism, Literacy Network of Larimer County).  On Thursday, I started constructing the bulletin board and sent e-mails to faculty members to build a list of events to post in the “Literacy Events” space.  Right now, I consider the CLC bulletin board a work in progress and am always open to suggestions!

Interviews with Literacy Workers

I also began research on literacy workers in Larimer county (and elsewhere) that might be good candidates for interviews.  After reading the interviews Melissa conducted this summer and some of the profiles on literacy workers from the office files, I began a list of questions to include on the interview template that will be in the works shortly.  This week, I hope to expand my list of possible interviewees and interview questions and so that I can start the process of actually conducting interviews.

Last week and this week

Last week consisted mostly of administrative tasks for the office, and I know I have more administrative duties left to accomplish this week and this semester, but I am ready to get started on the CLC Speak Out! project.  A week ago Friday (August 26), I spent some time poking around the office and reading material from the filing cabinets, but I spent the majority of my time that day reading the booklets of writing from previous Speak Out! workshops.  I am looking forward to meeting with Dr. Jacobi, Randi, and others interested in writing workshops to discuss what will happen this semester.  I still feel like I am settling in to the CLC but am anxious to get settled and get to work.

In my last entry I focused on general ideas for the CLC’s current projects.  However, I did not discuss my personal areas of interest for research.  This omission was intentional because I was still figuring out just how I wanted to focus my energy. 

I read the blogs of previous CLC interns and was blown away.  These women did amazing things this summer and reading the accounts of their work was truly inspiring – and it brought me back to the reason I wanted to work with the CLC.  It is something simple, echoed in the blogs of the previous interns, but it is why I am a participant in this organization - I, too, believe in the power of words.  I believe they provide freedom, an escape, an opportunity…the possibilities are endless, and I want others to see this!

Taking all of this into consideration, I think I would like to focus my research on literacy and its relationship to self- esteem in women and girls.  How does access to literacy nurture/hinder self-esteem?  How does exposure to certain types of media (books, magazines, etc.) affect the self images of women and girls?  How do girls and women use literacy in society (as a mechanism for survival, as a tool for empowerment, etc.)? 

Even though these ideas are vague and somewhat unfocused right now, I think they can be incorporated into both of our projects…or at least they are a starting point that I hope will turn into something more concrete as I explore them further.  I am excited to see how everything will take shape.

I’ve always wanted a blog, and now I have a great excuse to post my general wonderings to the world (or maybe just 4 other people)…but I’ll take what I can get.

Intergenerational Reading and Writing Project  

Now onto the important stuff…I picked up the project descriptions yesterday and am excited about both of them.  The intergenerational literacy project will be an excellent way to explore lifelong learning.  Sometimes kids forget that their parents are also learners, and this project will be an excellent way not only to foster reading and writing, but to get parents and children involved in each other’s learning processes and help them relate to one another. 

First, a few thoughts about the logistics of the book club.  The project describes participants as “adult learners and their children.”  Will a parent only partner with one of their children or more than one?  If parents participate with more than one child, how will we select a book that is appropriate for children of different ages?  Just things to consider as we work out the details. 

I found an interesting website on intergenerational learning and social capital.  It’s not directly related to our project, but it provides some background information on other programs and the effectiveness of intergenerational learning.  If nothing else, we might get some ideas for funding. 

As far as getting the word out about this project, I think Holly had some great ideas!  We might be also able to write a press release to send to the Coloradoan (or at least find a contact there), and they might run an article to spark some community interest. 

Project Narrative    

I am especially excited about Project Narrative and have an idea I’d like to throw out.  It may or may not work, but here goes…

Because part of the goal of Project Narrative is to challenge the stereotypes of women and girls that are perpetuated by the media, we could tackle these stereotypes in one of our writing workshops.  We could bring in women’s magazines and teen’s magazines (often the ultimate perpetrators of female stereotypes) and pick articles, advertisements, etc. to use as sounding boards for discussion.  Our participants could tell us what they like and don’t like about what they see, how they feel when they see it and so on….and then they could write in response to these feelings.  This subject particularly interests the media theorist deep within me, but I also think it would give women and girls a chance to speak out about self-esteem and the pressures of conformity. 

Well, that’s about it for now.  Can’t wait to get started!