WITS Celebrates Another New Anthology

(from WITS residency period 2008-2009)

“Everything around me/Now is new,” writes Linus Pauling student Phat Doan. His poem “Mountain Talk” is one of many pieces in A Whole New Subject preoccupied with transitions, metamorphoses, how the present is different from the past.

Change is inevitable, especially for adolescents, but Writers in the Schools (WITS) believes in relationships that last. We began working with Grant High School in 1996, and have since grown to serve all of the comprehensive Portland public high schools and five alternative high school programs, serving more than 2,000 students each year with semester-long creative writing residencies, mentoring, and author visits. To help schools achieve their goal of teaching writing across the disciplines, WITS provides residencies in African American Studies, Advanced Biology, Advanced Theatre, Biology, Earth Science, English Language Learning, Global Studies, Language Arts, Photography and Spanish for Native Speakers. In order to keep our relationship with schools vital, we are developing new partnerships with other arts organizations, hiring writers with diverse backgrounds and experiences and publishing a blog featuring student work http://www.literary-arts.org/blogs/.

I’d like to share one of our many long-term relationships. Leonel Orozco began working with WITS three years ago when he was a freshman at SEIS on the Roosevelt campus. At first Leonel was unsure of his abilities, but soon discovered he loved creating poems and stories. He became brave enough to share his words at our celebratory reading at the Ladybug Organic Café, one of nine public student readings we organized last year with the help of our wonderful community partners. Now WITS writers count on Leonel (he will be a senior this year) to encourage his classmates; like them, Leonel models the writing life. “You can do it!” he urges, hands waving, face turning pink with enthusiasm. “Come on! Write!” This year we have the pleasure of publishing Leonel’s poem “Alameda Park” in our anthology.

Each year Literary Arts raises at least $160,000 to pay for WITS. We thank our partner Portland Public Schools and thank all our generous supporters who give so much of their time and resources. Click here to make a donation to Literary Arts and become one of these needed and appreciated friends. You can also get a copy of the anthology with a donation of $15 or more!

Congratulations to Leonel and to all the young writers published in A Whole New Subject. There is much to read and enjoy here and much to learn.

Mary Rechner
Writers in the Schools Program Director

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