A Literary Feast

Dear Families,

Despite the interruption of a much welcomed (by students) snow day, we are back to this week’s atypical routine of desks in rows and sharpened #2 pencils. Students continue to be thoughtful and focused as they contemplate a range of language arts and math concepts and skills and practice their test taking skills. This afternoon’s annual Literary Festival proved to be as popular as ever as students participated in two hour-long literary focused workshops given by LREI faculty and outside guests. Here is the menu of this year’s rich and varied offerings:

  • Travel Writing (with David Lee). In this awesome workshop you’ll write a short travel article and get the opportunity to submit it for publication in Teen Ink magazine. Please come to the workshop equipped with an idea of the place you want to write about – foreign or local.  The smaller  the place, the better, as it provides a microcosm of the culture. For example, if you want to write about NYC, you could write about a local store or a subway route, or a person you see on your route to school. This is a great opportunity to learn about travel writing from your Spanish teacher, who also happens to be a NEW YORK TIMES PUBLISHED WRITER!
  • How to Write a Brilliant Book Review (with Jennifer HS). Want to write the GREAT AMERICAN NOVEL? Sorry, can’t help ya. Want to become a New York Times reporter? No can do. Want to learn how to write a brilliant book review in 175 words or less? THAT I can show you! Come prepared to learn how to be a concise wordsmith and still get your point across when it comes to sharing your opinion about books
  • Found Poetry (with Heather Brandstetter). Explore the streets of New York and find the poetry that is there everyday.  Heather will lead participants on a poetry-finding adventure!
  • Who the Heck Are You?!(with Dennis Kitchen). A perennial favorite! Ever wonder who that person is you see wandering around the building? You know they work here, but you’re not quite sure what they do. In this workshop, you’ll be outfitted with a camera and you’ll hunt these people down, snap their picture and then interview them. Dennis Kitchen will share interviewing techniques and help you create a fascinating bio on that person you think you know, but not really.
  • Make a Book of Secrets! Historically, books have been used as a hiding place–holding secrets, memories, charms, treasures, jewelry, etc. This bookmaking and collage workshop uses small matchboxes as drawers to tuck away your secrets. You can create a Book of Secrets for a literary or historical character, or create a book that holds your own secrets. What secrets or treasures would Parvana from The Breadwinner tuck away?  or Harry Potter?  or Jonas from The Giver?  or Anne Frank?  or you?
  • Picture Books and Children’s Literature (with Matthew Rosen and Michelle Boehm). Matthew Rosen, former editor, will talk about writing and constructing picture books. You will have the opportunity to create their own picture-book dummies, and you’ll lay out text, add illustrations, and format their dummies accordingly. This is lots of fun, so don’t miss out.
  • Songwriting. Join middle school music teacher and band director Matt McLean in this workshop where you’ll explore the exciting world of songwriting. Participants will explore the various components that go into creating a memorable song and then will set out to create their own hit.
  • Spanish One Act (with Gabrielle Keller). Participants will read through and perform a very short one act play in Spanish and then will rework the language to change the dilemma, but not the humor.
  • Striking Viking Story Troupe. In this interactive workshop, you’ll work with members of the Striking Viking Story Pirates theater troupe. They’ll guide you through a dynamic process in which individuals and small groups will write and act out stories. After the workshop, the Story Pirates will take these ideas back to their secret headquarters/laboratory, and several weeks later, they will return for Middle School meeting with newly-built puppets, props, and a brand new sketch comedy show, including some new stories written by participants in the workshops.
  • Dramatic Writing Workshop with Performance Component (with Meghan Astracan) A dramatist, also known as a playwright, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works are usually written to be performed in front of a live audience by actors. In this workshop, participants learn some tricks of the trade from professional dramatist and LREI high school drama teacher and director, Meghan Farley Astrachan. Participants will write short scenes and have the opportunity to bring some of the writing “to its feet” by having participants work as actors, bringing the dramatists’ words to life.
  • The Comic Book (with Sanjun Chon) Graphic novelist/comic book author Sanjun Chon will lead you in a workshop where you’ll create your own graphic novel, and he’ll show you how he creates his own comic books using a computer. This promises to be a great time!
  • Designing a Superhero (Frank Portella, Ana Chaney and Larry Kaplan). In this workshop, you will get the chance to create a superhero based on original images drawn by an illustrator. You will create a character history, decide on superpowers and more!
  • What’s it like to be a rock journalist? (with Lizzy Goodman) Do you get put on a special list for shows? Yes. Do record companies send you free music? They sure do. Do you get to meet some of your heroes? Absolutely.  But after you’ve attended the rock show, listened to the free records and met your heroes, you have to synthesize those experiences into crisp, clean copy that tells your reader something new. And you often have to deliver this copy very quickly under less than ideal circumstances (like from the back of a tour bus or under a tent in the rain at a music festival). Staying cool under pressure is key and knowing your craft is the secret to staying cool under pressure. In this workshop we’ll go through the basics of rock writing, from how to deal with a difficult interview, to what makes a good live review, to how to write a profile of a band. Students will practice interviewing several real musicians and then writing short pieces based on the quotes they get from these artists.
  • Poems, Prose and Play with Language (Sarah Barlow). Play with words while trying forms you may never have worked with before. Come to write ticker thangas, puzzle poems, list poems, poems within poems and 5 words and go! poems.
  • Concrete Poetry (Momii Roberts). In this workshop, participants will explore the rich world of concrete poetry, which uses words and images. Students will explore a variety of techniques and will create their own concrete poems.
  • Political Cartoons (Steve Volkmann). Political cartoons are not all fund and laughs; they are a serious matter and often say as much in a small space as a written news story. In this workshop, students will explore this fascinating news medium. We will look at the history, techniques and various approaches cartoonists use to communicate their sharp-witted and often sarcastic views to their audience. By the end of the workshop, each student will produce a political cartoon that delivers their own commentary on a current pressing issue in their lives.
  • Enter The Writing Ninja (with Libba Bray) The mighty writing ninja approaches the story. It will not get away this time, for the ninja is strong and creative and also, the story is due tomorrow at 8:20, and not to turn it in is unacceptable to the ninja’s code of honor and the teacher’s grade book. Suddenly, from out of the shadows come the ninja’s greatest enemies: Writer’s Block, Lack of Inspiration, Boring Characters, Even More Boring Plot, and–worst of all–the dreaded Inner Critic. It will take all the stealth warrior’s cunning and writing ninjutsu to lay waste to these enemies. But how to defeat these monsters? Come learn tricks to get your mind into prime fighting mode, featuring the Nunchuks of Word Styling, the Legendary Pressure Point Move of Improv Story-Building, and the Final Whammy of Something-I-Have-Yet-to-Make Up. For this workshop, you will need only paper, a writing implement of some sort, a sense of humor, and a thirst for adventure which cannot be slaked through ordinary means, such as Snapple Fruit Punch. Your heart is strong, mighty warrior. Soon, your writing will make nations tremble.

Truly, a literary feast.

Be well,
Mark

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