Broadway Boys & Girls Club Creative Writing
Kara
By Rebecca, from Inkspot
Ink Spot Winter Work 2015
Take a look at the new poems, comics and stories from the Ink Spot! Click on the image.
And, take a listen to the “Hero Song” created by students in the Digital Media Workshop with Dee Jay Doc, with support from the Nord Family Foundation. https://soundcloud.com/deejaydoc/lei-hero-song
Super Snail
No one knew his name
by Sara from the Cleveland Print Room
Every day he came to the poorest parts of town. It was the opposite direction from his home, though, and the extra stop added another hour at least to what should have been a trip of 15 minutes at most.
His coworkers always scoffed. What was a respectable man like him doing on that side of the train tracks? It was foolish, they told him, and he was only asking to get mugged.
Perhaps they were right. But perhaps they had spent too much time in the city that had long turned a blind eye to suffering. He had decided to look at them as equals and offer support.
The people came to expect him, unexpectedly, after a short while at the end of the work day with a smile on his face and a few dollars in hand.
No one knew his name.
In the cold and harsh winters he brought toys for the children as well as boots and coats. He had no children of his own; the neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks had become his family.
He never gave his name.
They welcomed him regardless, though a few were skeptical of his reasons for helping. Businessmen all had agendas of their own, after all, and were rarely kind for the sake of kindness. The politicians, red and blue, had long stopped coming to that part of town after its residents had made it clear that such people weren’t welcome if they cared more about poll members than ending poverty.
No one asked for his name.
He told stories to the children of growing up in another country, not just on the wrong side of the tracks but not allowed in the city.
One day, one of the younger children asked about the numbers tattooed on his wrist, and it was one of the few times the smile ever left him. “They were from another time”, he told them, “and cruel men gave me this instead of a name”. But he pulled candies from his pocket just like every other day, and they forgot his momentary frown.
But no one ever knew his name.
My Mask
by Reese from Weekend Ink: Story Behind the Mask
My mask covers my entire face
And my mask represents toughness
My mask is made of metal
And oh, my mask is covered with fake scars and real blood
My mask is a definition of don’t mess with me
Spirit Corner Video
This video about Spirit Corner was created by participants in LEI’s Teen Digital Media Camp with Dee Jay Doc Harrill in July 2014, supported by the Nord Family Foundation.
You Got To Do What’s Right
By Claude at Lake Erie Ink’s Digital Media Project
You got to do what’s right
So by livin right today
We fight
We fight for what’s right
English, social studies, science, math
You got to study right to live life
The life in which you and me
Can have some might
You got to be a leader
Stand by what’s right
So you can be in paradise
Live it
Life Is What You Make It
By Lamontay at Lake Erie Ink’s Digital Media program with Dee Jay Doc
Life is what you make it, so live your life
One key to life is to do what’s right
You gotta do right to get to paradise
So it’s not a good choice to just roll the dice
Learn, grow, even have a helping buddy
To get to graduation it’s good to study
Without concentration will there be relaxation
Now!!! Only hesitation and procrastination
We don’t live alienation.
Look at the way we livin our lives
By Leilani at Lake Erie Ink’s Digital Media program with Dee Jay Doc
Look at the way we livin our lives
Guns, weapons, and some knives
Look at the world, our nasty desires
We’d rather see our forests burning with fire
Hough Avenue is a scary place
People there would rather judge by race
Take our leaders fightin in the war
Little kids just cryin at your door
Hookers and gamblers beggin for all yo money
Let me tell you they words ain’t funny
Let the madness and abundant criticism end
So that the right things can finally begin