A common prompt that we use with our students is the “I Am” poem. These almost always turn out to be powerful glimpses into the lives of the writer; honest and real. Reading “I am” poems from some of this year’s students, I am reminded how critical words can be to connect a writer to their world.
Stories can connect and support us in anxious and unpredictable times. They can help us find meaning, define our unique place in the world, and help us understand how we might shape our future.
As our community shifts its daily life, and we search for ways to move forward in a positive direction, Lake Erie Ink staff is working together (virtually) to brainstorm and plan how we can promote creativity as a connector, uniting us through story and creative expression. To that end, our staff is working to develop creative online content, and looking for ways to keep our youth engaged.
Stay tuned to find out more details in the week ahead! We are hoping to launch our creative classrooms on Zoom the first week of April. We will offer workshops in poetry, comics, personal narrative and even comedy!
In the meantime, we encourage you to put pen to paper, (or finger to keypad) and capture your own ideas, observations and imagination. On our social media, we are sharing resources, interactive Facebook posts and writing prompts in the hopes of inspiring youth to stay inspired and stay writing. If you create something, please submit it to us using this link. We have created a page where we hope to collect and celebrate creative projects our community is engaged in as a reminder that we will not stop writing.