FIRST EDITION 2022 AN 826MICHIGAN DIGITAL PUBLICATION Proposals from the Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club NEW MONUMENTS
NEW MONUMENTS Memorials That Matter
Catherine Calabro Cavin, Education Director Frances Martin, Operations Director
Megan Shuchman, Executive Director
826 National’s Commitment to Inclusion
As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps of learning occur, we commit to inclusion: We will not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, immigration status, military service, or disability.
Megan Gilson, Program Manager
Maya Jain, After-school Program Coordinator
Copyright © 2022 by 826michigan and Blotch Books. All rights reserved by 826michigan, the many whims of Drs. T & G Blotch, and the Theauthors.viewsexpressed
in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826michigan. We believe in the power of youth voice and are thrilled that you picked up this book. No part of this book may be reproduced without express written permission from the publisher, except for small excerpts for the purposes of review or scholarly study. Many thanks to the Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club students and volunteers for their participation in this field trip.
Kinyel Friday, Field Trip Program Coordinator
826michigan Staff
Caitlin Koska, Volunteer Coordinator
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New Monuments | v Table of Contents About the Program vi New Monument Proposals A monument to Kids in the Community 1 A monument to Mr. Tumolo ...................................... 2 A monument to the LGBTQ+ Community 3 A monument to Dodo Birds 4 A monument to Emotions 5 A monument to All Those Affected (Directly and Indirectly) by Mass Shootings 6 Monument Ideas .................................................. 7 Design Your Own Monument .................................... 9 About 826michigan 10
This book contains writing from 826michigan’s New Monuments virtual field trip program. During this program, students explore what a monument is and can be, dreaming up new possibilities for local ways to honor heroes and specialties, from the playful (coney dogs and magical creatures) to the serious (activists and abolitionists). In collaboration with 826michigan volunteers, students envision and draw these new possibilities, and then write about why they think their new monuments should be built. This project is based on the work by student writers at our sister chapter 826 New Orleans and their publication Courageous, Eccentric, Diverse: New Monuments for New Orleans.
About the Program
New Monuments | 1
A monument to Kids in the Community Annika Hansen I want to make a monument to the kids that this community supports. People who are the adults of our community are always the ones to get the attention from the rest of our community, but the children do so much more than the adults expect. Like this writing program where kids are encouraged to write about things that they want to change. And I know many kids who would spend their afternoons walking to the local park and picking up trash there and in fields that people like to have picnics in, etc. So my point is that kids should get more attention from the community than they get. Even many kids do dog walking businesses! Just admit, many adults who have dogs are busy with work and other adult things I would not know about because I’m a kid, and so they ask the kids if they can walk the dog. Just think, without the kids walking the dogs it would be much different.
2 | Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club A monument to Mr. Tumolo Chaemi Kim What do you think about your teachers? My fifth grade teacher, Mr. Tumolo, should have a monument of his own. He was the most open-minded, kind, and forgiving teacher I ever met. He wasn’t mean to any of his students the whole year. He always solved problems by talking to the troubled students. He always made me feel like I belonged in my class. He was funny and went along with all the jokes his students said and laughed with them. But he also made sure that everyone was following along and was having fun. Thanks to him, I liked going to school and looked forward to Monday on the weekends. I think he ought to be honored by everyone and everyone should know him. I think the monument that will describe him is a big teddy bear since everyone in my class called him Joshy Bear (Josh is his name). The teddy bear should be holding a big heart in its hands for the love he gave me. He should also have a smiley face to give me and my classmates happy energy. There should be a big heart shaped stone with his name on it. The statue must be very large. About as tall as the second floor. The monument should have warm colors painted on it. The monument should spin slowly and shoot sprinkles out of the mouth every ten minutes from 9am to 9pm for five seconds. The sprinkles should be made out of cotton candy.
New Monuments | 3
A monument to the LGBTQ+ Community Emma Voth Do you have a friend or a family member in the LGBTQ+ community, or are you personally in the community but you don’t feel accepted? I think we should have a statue representing the people in the community. The reasoning of the statue is to help people in that community feel more accepted. It should represent the main LGBTQ+ flag and a heart for love. There should be some sort of consequence for physically damaging the statue. For example, someone throws a drink on it; that would be “destroying” the statue.
4 | Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club
A monument to Dodo Birds Judy Choi In my opinion, I think there should be a monument of dodo birds in the island of Mauritius. Because dodo birds lived there for many generations (as I know), but people who traveled to the island of Mauritius killed them (to eat, to make something, etc.). So to show people that dodo birds were also a part of our planet, we should show our new generations of people that we once HAD those birds on our planet (just like dinosaurs). And I want the monument to look like dodo birds and people are living together, shaking hands, or hugging together to show people that we think it was our fault to kill all of the dodo birds that once lived on the island of Mauritius. (Size would be about ten feet high). Thank you ☺
New Monuments | 5 A monument to Emotions Lmar Sedawi Did you ever have a bad feeling for no reason? Emotions are electrochemical signals that flow through us in an unending cycle; we feel them all the time. They are released in our brains in response to our perceptions about the world and the situations that we are in. They help us with how we behave in daily life. That is why I think our feelings and emotions need to have their own monuments, so people can respect others’ feelings more and understand them even better.
6 | Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club A monument to All Those Affected (Directly and Indirectly) by Mass Shootings
Wynter Miller AR15S. The Modern Firearm of Mass Killing AR15s. Humankind’s worst mistake yet. Personal firearms really. Have you heard about the recent shootings in Oxford and Uvalde? Guns. These “cool” things are not acceptable in any way. ArmaLite Rifles and ArmaLite style rifles have NO recreational, educational, or protectional uses to anyone outside advanced governmental protection. Let’s get this straight, guns have NO “coolness” to them. AR15 and AR15 style guns have been used at large since Dec. 14, 2012. Since the end of the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act or Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), AR15 and AR15 style gun crises have skyrocketed. This is exactly why gun laws need to change. Furthermore, if you are up to date on all the mass shootings in America, you would know that all of the perpetrators that engaged in these shootings have had, at bare minimum, an ArmaLite Rifle (AR15). Learn more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Assault_Weapons_Banhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15_style_riflehere:
Korrin McKissic I want to make a monument for all the people who are helping to save the environment. A lot of people don’t really care about all the people who actually care about our environment.
Isaac Semrau We should make a monument for snakes because a lot of people fear snakes, but MOST don’t bother humans unless you bother them. They’re really cute, small, and adorable in my opinion. Snakes help the environment by keeping animal populations down like rats and insects and other animals.
Nayeli Karunasekara Kindness, helpfulness, family, and friends memorial, because friends and family help us build relationships.
New Monuments | 7
Teague Stewart
Clyde Musehl Teachers should have a monument because they are taking time to teach you.
Monument Ideas I would make a monument to legos and horses because they are cool and are so fun. They should get a monument that is made of gold.
8 | Writing for Change Summer 2022 Writers Club Monument Ideas (cont’d) » Harriet Tubman » pride is pride, not fashion to wear at school or to just be popular » 826michigan for helping me improve my writing skills » parents for giving us love and hope » schools » animals we eat » ocean and the earth » half made of metal and plant-like » after this generation, the earth can be changed, so our next generation of people » completely clear sculpture with a heart in the center colored like an LGBTQ+ flag to represent the wish to be transparent and to uplift people, not out » not everyone in the LGBTQ+ community feels safe expressing themselves » something to do with the pride flag » maple leaf » Jalen Rose » Henry Ford » Barack Obama » Rashida Tlaib » Ghost Boys—good book » Steph Curry—broke three-point record » hawk » JK Rowling » Ibn Battuta—great explorer » national turtle Writing for Change Writers Club
New Monuments | 9 Design Your Own Monument WHO or WHAT would you like to memorialize? Opening sentence to hook the reader’s attention: What are some facts to support your proposal? Share your feelings about why the proposed monument is important. Describe your vision of the monument. Where would it be located? What does it look like? What is it made of? Conclusion to support your proposal:
inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their Ourcommunities.writing
FIELD TRIPS
We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementary-aged writers. IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS
WORKSHOPS
Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. Please visit us online at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming.
SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT
OUR STORES
Onward robots!
In the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned all of our programs online. For the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years, 826michigan programs remained online. Beginning in Spring 2022, we started moving slowly into engaging with in-person programming, and continue to offer all of our core programming virtually.
The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18.
Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.
and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing.
Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.
ONLINE LEARNING LAB
WRITING IS A way to figure things out by ourselves A way to help us connect to our world A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new Wethingssupport the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, Wetalking)study the writing we want to do so we can try it We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose We work with a group of writers who help and support each www.826michigan.orgother
826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities. We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization. We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands. As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.
The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion. by Gerald Richards, CEO
