DO PROCESS. DUE PROCESS.
BUILDING THE 21ST CENTURY WRITER
2015/16
Literary Media & Communications
STUDENT HANDBOOK
DO PROCESS. DUE PROCESS. The challenge is to take Duke Ellington School of Arts into its next iteration. Not merely to get through these two years, “in the wilderness”, rather how to shore up the school and return to a place of process. Processes that are rigorous, innovative and salient, both academically and artistically, in terms of standing or continuing to stand Ellington apart in the way it produces the 21st century artist/scholar who is not bound by discipline or canon, who can, because of the necessity and imperatives of the 21st century job force/market and the Creative Economy, do multiple things, have multiple skill sets that enable them to compete in this market. Essentially what I am asking is: how do we extend Ellington’s mission, maintaining its premise - namely access for student that “may not have the opportunity,” but with an eye on artistic markets and the Creative Economy, so that Ellington’s training is still preprofessional, but no longer localized in students having a singular identity/discipline? The LMC presents a clear example in the past five years in its “re-brand,” in the number of students, outside of the LMC, we have taken on either in class or through independent study with my faculty and me, who are hungry to move past singularity and monolithic notions of the arts. They are a generation of students who, because of technology and its continued forward march, routinely multi-task and live in multiple mediums, sound/language/visual/movement and perhaps most strikingly, curation. What my faculty, and in particular Ms. Anderson and Mr. Oyedeji, have taught me is how necessary the language of curation is, how curation of ideas is simply what technology affords this generation of young people. My guess is ninety five percent of the time, those ideas are not particularly compelling, innovative, certainly not smart. But definitely curated. Twitter/tumblr/Facebook, social platforms, ideas within the LMC, but not only not limited to the LMC, in fact, that is the problematic of Ellington per my assessment - story/narrative through multiple mediums/disciplines/platforms that are curated/ choreographed/staged/installed/scored/sung/filmed that are intelligent, salient, innovative, groundbreaking, and perhaps most importantly, not recycled again and again. This then, involves a real shift in the culture of Ellington, both academically and artistically. We need to collectively begin to really assess what the next iteration of Ellington is and not when we get into the new, physical iteration of Ellington because by that time it will be far too late. What needs to be spelled out to Ellington in a very clear, concise way, follows;
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Part One – “Do Process”, or “Do. Process.”, or “Due Process”. Or “Due. Process” – a rigorous assessment of the process of Ellington to really put forth the reality of the silos that exist. To consider how we begin to institutionally reconstruct or revisit what Ellington’s process is and towards what end, namely, Ellington’s 21st Century artist/scholar who will join the ranks of the Creative Economy. Implicit in this assessment is Ellington learning a new language/set of languages, such as the “Creative Economy”, “transmedia”, “workforce training”, “21st Century Artists/Scholar”, but also within that is to assess what new, salient, topical, noncanonical texts faculty are engaging with on the academic and artistic sides and also what is missing. What texts are missing from Ellington because of either a prescriptive canon or a lack of work on the faculty’s part towards ensuring that the material they present to their students is salient, topical, and relevant. Year one has to do simply with the assessment of Ellington’s process. As a whole.
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Part Two – “Do. Ellington.” - The year that Ellington gets ready for the move into the new, physical iteration of Ellington by beginning to implement, if not a newly reconstituted Ellington, one whose emphasis on an institutional process that is precedent setting amongst arts schools in the way it prepares its students for the 21st Century market, Creative Economy but also embodies its preparation for a new state of the art facility with a corresponding curriculum, process, and language.
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Mark A. Williams Chair, Literary Media & Communication Chair, English Department Head of Dramatic Writing
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CONTENTS 2 4 5 6 8 12 13 14 15 16 18 19 20 21 22
DO PROCESS. DUE PROCESS. INTRODUCTION ARTISTIC METHODOLOGY DEPARTMENT COURSES PROJECTS ALUMNI ESSAY: LEE PHILLIPS \\ ON BEING A YOUNG WRITER RECENT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS ALUMNI ALUMNI ESSAY: GENNA KULES DEPARTMENT RULES & EXPECTATIONS DEPARTMENT GRADING CRITERIA LMC CODE OF CONDUCT POLICY GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE LITERARY MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS PARENT GROUP FACULTY
Above: Classroom art created by students in the Literary Media & Communications department.
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INTRODUCTION WE WELCOME YOU TO THE DUKE ELLINGTON SCHOOL OF THE ARTS LITERARY MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT, WHERE OUR MISSION IS:
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The Literary Media and Communications Department’s (LMC) goal is singular, to train its student in the different strands of communication (written, verbal and new media), considering how this translates to the marketplace. This department necessitates interdisciplinarity, including, but not limited to LMC, Theater, Museum Studies, Visual Arts, and TDP (recording studio). Our aim is to dismantle the sometimes self-indulgent, and strictly cathartic workshop model of writing and leave in its place a department that imparts to its students the notion that they are writing to work, rather than just writing to write. The department has five strands that are product driven, products that range from performance to print, archival to design, research to debate. Within the strands, we are culminating work both within the Duke Ellington School of the Arts (copy and content for the Ellington website, developing archives of Ellington work, creating scripts in the areas of performance/performance marketing, writing copy and public service announcements, serving as viable extension/support mechanism of and for Ellington Fund, to name a few), and outside the context of the school. Literary Media & Communications Mark A.Williams, chair Duke Ellington School of the Arts a District of Columbia Public School 3500 R Street, NW • Washington, DC 20007 202.282.0123 • www.ellingtonschool.org Please ask us how you can make a tax-deductible contribution in support of the LMC Program.
Below: Original members of the Literary Arts Program, a former incarnation of the Literary Media & Communications Program.
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ARTISTIC METHODOLOGY “As a writer all you can do is fail, and it is within that failure that you see the possibility of success.” - James Baldwin
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“Here in Africa there is no caste system. The work is to be ordinary...and it is within that ordinariness that we find how extraordinary we can be.” - Bessie Head
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The Literary Media and Communications Department utilizes the “Triangle Method”. Developed by its Chair, Mark A. Williams, this methodology is rooted in the equilateral triangle as a shape, in that all sides are equal and equidistant. Our methodology is rooted in this because we need to produce students who understand that knowledge, language, and information are not privileged and that all learning can be equal if its arrival point is the whole, the equal whole and not one part. Apparatus and language within our educational structure, like disciplines and disciplinarity, academics and the academy, core courses and electives all are examples of privileging a part of the development of the student which amounts to students understanding knowledge in parts as opposed to learning as a process of constructing a whole. The three fundamental tenets of the “Triangle Method” are:
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1) Context – Through the consideration, examination, and research of political, social, historical, and economic context, the student begins to consider a world outside their own. The mechanism within this is the study of character through the prism of acting and writing where the student does not consider them as separate disciplines, but rather part of a method of learning about people who may or may not resemble themselves.
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2) Compassion – Within the examination of character, the student begins to examine possible and real connections to other characters, other people, other human beings outside the prism of the neighborhood, city, state, nation that the student is from. Students consider within these connections how they are constructed themselves and the implications as far as learning within.
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3) Citizen – The student begins to consider how they, through the work within the methodology, are participants in learning about who they are and the world they live in, rather than learning to be observers in an educational structure that teaches them margins and center. Student begins to examine the work community in regionally and nationally, as well as their identity and attendant responsibilities as a global citizen, the roots of which are in the service and servicing of their fellow human.
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The idea, within the “Triangle Method” is that the student makes no decision about which tenet is more important than the other and understands that all learning is a process, an ongoing process that is lifelong which is never isolated from the examination of human relationships and their inherent complexity. In this way the method also has its roots in the examination of another triangle, the triangle slave trade which was very much about destruction, the destruction of humanity, of context, of compassion, of global citizenship, of privileging capital, manifest destiny, growth, and the development of nations, which was a glaring example of brutal morality and constructions of superiority and inferiority, and rigid definitions of margin and center. The “Triangle Method” uses the Triangle Slave Trade as a referent, as well as a reminder of why teaching and learning are so urgent in the world we live in.
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Mark A. Williams Chair, Literary Media & Communication Chair, English Department Head of Dramatic Writing
Right: Mona Sharaf, class of 2015, delivers her talk “Willie Diggs” at the Goethe Institute for the inaugural TEDxDESA.
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DEPARTMENT COURSES - WRITING WORKSHOP -
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The Creative Writing unit of the course is a multi-generic introduction to the craft of creative writing. Students examine the conventions that go into crafting strong fiction, memoir and creative non-fiction. Students look at areas such as dialogue, exposition and characterization, as well as the crucial aspects of plot, dialogue, emotion and imagery, as they learn how these elements are weaved together in order to convey themes.
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- JOURNALISM -
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- PLAY WRITING -
The aim of the Journalism course is to introduce students to some of the fundamental aspects of journalism and encourage students to engage in the news, the business of news and current affairs. Students look at the principles of writing the news, while considering the history of journalism and the state of journalism today in the information age. Students learn what makes a story newsworthy, what motivates people to pick up newspapers, and what constitutes news agendas and the news markets.
Students will be expected to consider the form, content, style , analysis, and construction of a play. The arrival point of this class is for students to write and mount a staged reading of a full-length, one act play. Students will also be expected to submit work from class to at least one of LMC’s Dinner Theaters.
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- DIGITAL FILMMAKING -
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- DOCUMENTARY STORYTELLING -
This course is a hybrid theoretical and practical course in which students will be challenged to think critically and conceptually about the properties of digital film and understand the role of advancing technology for young filmmakers. Students will investigate the structure of film narrative, determine the difference between digital film and other media formats, and will comment on the impact of the digital age of film. Instruction will include close examination of digital works and theories. Students will also produce digital films from script to screen.
This course introduces students to documentary storytelling. Students will learn basic principles of nonfiction storytelling with emphasis on the aesthetic, intellectual, and ethical considerations involved in this cinematic form. Traditional documentary writing, form, style and structure will be stressed, however students may explore new creative forms of non-fiction storytelling for their final project. Instruction will focus on the documentary process from preproduction and production through post-production.
- INTRO TO IMMERSIVE & TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING -
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This course explores the cultural and commercial context of transmedia (or “crossmedia”) storytelling as a form of writer’s craft and teaches the skills and knowledge required to create it. Students will be challenged to think creatively about the potential of immersive cross-platform narrative experiences. “Transmedia storytelling” is storytelling across multiple media and with a degree of audience participation, interaction or collaboration. In transmedia storytelling, engagement with each successive media heightens the audience’s understanding, enjoyment and affection for the story. Narrative can develop across books, theater, film, video games, mobile apps, or take place on one immersive interactive platform, known as a story world.
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- INTRO TO DIGITAL MEDIA -
This is a first level media course required for all students in the Literary Media & Communications Department. Innovation continues to occur on the Internet at a lively pace. Staying up to date with the most recent tools and capabilities is handy in most professions and absolutely critical in others. This course is designed to introduce students to a variety of web technologies including social media, interactive media, coding for content creator, podcasting, immersive narrative building, and mobile applications.
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- POETRY -
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- WRITING FOR MEDIA -
This course asks students to examine poetry with a “new set of tools,” and take into consideration the speaker's intent, tone, physical, and psychological details— all of which will help their poems perform well on the page. Students are introduced to various published poets and poems and are encouraged to analyze these poems with the same tools they will use to critique their own work. In addition to critiquing and writing, there is a unit on manuscript writing, publishing, and the industry.
Photo by Brian Nielsen
Students will examine the principles of writing, from grammar to composition. Students will then learn the technical approaches to writing while working along two strands: the theoretical approach and the workshop approach. The course consists of a series of seminars to produce essays and nonfiction writing.
- AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE !This course considers the work and contributions of African-American writers from a different vantage. Students consider the construct of race as it pertains to power, stereotype and the institution of chattel slavery. Using this as a lens, students examine different periods in the lives of African-Americans and the ways in which racism was legislated, delineated and administered. African-American Literature, then, is contextualized historically so that students consider its relevance and impact on subsequent generations of artists, including themselves.
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PAST PROJECTS THE CITY LIGHTS PROJECT AT TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL Six students and two teachers from the Literary Media and Communications Department were selected to participate in THE CITY LIGHTS PROJECT at the world renowned TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL. The City Lights Project provided students with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the film festival experience for five days. During their time in Telluride, the students viewed 10-12 documentary, silent, independent and foreign films. They also interacted with professional filmmakers, producers, screenwriters and composers including Ken Burns, Walter Murch and Robert Kenner. Students wrote daily in journals, critiqued films in a public forum and learned how stories are developed and made into films. The Literary Media and Communications Department plans to continue its relationship with The City Lights Project and the Telluride Film Festival by hosting a Duke Ellington student-centered film festival with the support of the two sponsoring organizations. The City Lights Project Telluride Film Festival is led by Jami Ramberan, head of the film program in the Literary Media & Communications department.
“There’s something so valuable about The City Lights Project; making an otherwise unattainable experience accessible to aspiring filmmakers ensures that the future of cinema is in safe hands.” Edward Maloney, 10th grade. R STREET SPEAKS: SPEAKERS SERIES
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The Literary Media & Communication Department hosts a number of guests each year as part of our R STREET SPEAKS SERIES. Renowned educator, poet, writer and activist Sonia Sanchez was invited to speak as our inaugural guest in 2012. Since then, highlights have included authors Ben Percy and Olufemi Terry. The more recent visitor to the Literary Media & Communications Department was the esteemed Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, Director of the W.E.B Dubois Institute for African & African American research. Last year the department hosted Janet Nepris, playwright, critic and former head of Dramatic Writing at Tisch (NYU).
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DAISY JAMES is a publication produced by students in the Literary Media and Communications department at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Since its launch in 2009, Daisy James has served as the primary independent student publication to come out of the school. As a 40page lifestyle publication, students combine the topical journalism of traditional magazines with the latest youth interests and entertainment. Two years ago, under the guidance of journalism instructor, Shari Wright, students produced a special edition bumperissue of Daisy James that celebrated the 40th anniversary of the school as well as the 2013/14 all-school collaboration BLACK NATIVITY.
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The forthcoming issue of Daisy James will be an EDUCATION SPECIAL examining the state of education today and highlighting the progress made, looking at model success stories and how they might be replicated. Students plan to speak to educators and administrators in both the private and public sectors, as well as wide pool of parents, students and other stakeholder organizations in the DC, Maryland and Virginia area. The project plans to feature contributions from students in other public and private schools as well as an in-depth interviews with DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
ROOM EIGHTEEN ROOM EIGHTEEN is a Literary “Zine” produced by students in the Literary Media & Communications Department. A pseudo-digital throwback to the “lo-fi” years of producing publications in your bedroom with paper, scissors and glue. Room Eighteen exists not just as an outlet for LMC students to showcase their fiction and creative work, but also as a vehicle with which students can experiment with form. Students are encouraged to push the boundaries of the limitations they place on the written word and use the likes of graphic illustration, satire and concept art to convey their messages. COMMUNITY ART AND LECTURE SERIES
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The COMMUNITY ART AND LECTURE SERIES provides students with additional enrichment opportunities that supplement the LMC department's programs. Curated by Kelli Anderson, the department’s head of New Media, the Mass Communication class now includes a Community Art & Lecture Credit to all courses. These hand-picked events extend learning beyond the classroom. Students must attend three events per advisory to secure 10% of their Class Participation grade. All events are free and students are welcome to attend with friends and family. Left: Kelli Anderson, New Media instructor and curator of the Community Art and Lecture Series.
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THE HORWITZ FAMILY FUND
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The Literary Media & Communications department has a vibrant partnership with the Horwitz Family Fund in developing and growing the LMC’s Playwriting component. The partnership creates a school-wide competition, which culminates in a significant scholarship for the winner of the competition and a staged reading of the winning submission, mounted by theater professionals.
Above: The 2014 Horwitz Prize Winner, Barrett Smith takes questions after the staged reading of her play “Cosine.”
RECENT HORWITZ FAMILY FUND PLAYWRITING COMPETITION WINNERS
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2015 “YAFFEYAH” by Lila Weitzner 2014 “COSINE” by Barrett Smith 2013 “AS HE WATCHED” by Marcus Brown 2012 “STALEMATE” by Idia Leigh 2011 “THE BUSINESS OF SURVIVAL” by Sara Phillips
2010 “A BROWN PENNY” by Allantra Lewis 2009 “3 CHICKEN BONES & 109 BEADS” by Maya Upshur Williams 2008 “EMBRACE THE SUCK” by Mattie Haggerty 2007 “SIX MONTHS” by Cerstin Johnson
THE SENIOR SHOWCASE SERIES Each year the graduating class from the Literary Media & Communication Department is charged with putting on a special performance of their work. THE SENIOR SHOWCASE is an annual fundraiser that takes place at a venue outside of school. Past projects have ranged from hosting a themed night of multi-genre performances to writing plays that are then read by professional actors. Last year the graduating class of 2015 presented AMERICAN INNOCENTS, a night of poetry, dance, film and monologue that addresses the role of today’s youth in current affairs. Above: Class of 2015 students Astra Armstrong, Enanu Gerima, Celia Reilly, Mona Sharaf and Nora Gushue.
THE LMC SHORT FILM COLLECTION
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Students in the department provide videography for the school, covering its many choral, theatrical and publicity events. In addition to this, students produce narrative shorts that go on to be screened at showcases and events and officially selected at student film festivals. Works have ranged from fictional film to documentary, experimental film and music video. Left: top - a screenshot from the experimental short “Cycles,” below: a shot from the short “And No One Was The Wiser.”
R STREET COLLECTIVE
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The R Street Collective is the performing arm of the Literary Media & Communications Department. They have performed at numerous Washington venues, including The Kennedy Center, the Cocoran Gallery, Busboys & Poets, TEDX Potomac, and The Fridge Art Gallery. Members of the R St. Collective are members of an ensemble, recognizing that their stories share a link with others. And it's that link that must be shared through narrative and poetry, on stage. R St Collective members are committed to excellence, presence and integrity. Through rehearsals, master classes, and workshops, R St Collective becomes a valued, performance, and poetry arm of Washington DC. Below: The R-Street Collective performs at the Fridge Art Gallery.
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ALUMNI ESSAY: LEE PHILLIPS \\ ON BEING A YOUNG WRITER It was a simple-sounding question our creative writing teacher, Ms. C, asked us. Four straightforward words, “What is a writer?” Identify it. Tell me what it is. A person with a pencil? Like a mother explaining to big eyes, this is train, this is a cow, smile, shoe. It’s such a simple question, how can I not just see and react? Don’t look away. What is this? We all felt the weight of whatever it was and, at the time, it was one I could not name or understand. I spit out something while I felt myself get choked up, unable to express myself. Now as I stand alone I see that a writer is isolated. He sits quietly and without circumstance, pulling at the layers of surrounding normality and discovering beautiful and ugly things. He will never recover from these things and he will never be normal again. Because he had to bring these layers of humanity to the surface, he knows things that others don’t and he has been through the creation of “true” art. He, along with the reader, has suffered for and laughed with his characters. But he is the master of all of it and in this mastery he has created human and become god. No not a glorious God, one that has created dread and sickness of the soul, but also redemption and hope. Now, when you add the word “young” to writer, what happens? Most experience the mutual annihilation of the two words. They cancel each other out and cannot exist holding their two separate meanings in harmony. They cannot take us seriously. To write you must understand, and some associate youth with ignorance. How could you make a man cry? Or an old woman feel young again? What do you know? And vice versa. If you are truly a writer, a creator, isolated and insane from taking on all the trials of humanity, well then, where is the youth in that? It is not that these two cannot exist in harmony and being young, although naïve in some ways, does not make us any less Godly.You see, the thing about humans is that at every single stage of our lives we know the most we’ve ever known about life. We are constantly discovering truths about the world. At every moment, and with every discovering, we are the wisest we’ve ever been. But we are young, and we make mistakes. I have let people down. My classmates have. All of us have. Not too long ago, Ms. C, the teacher that asked the tough questions with simple words, guided us through a world that reflected our vulnerability. We wrote stories for a class but they were not for a grade, they were a risk. And some could not pull through. Some, including myself, were scared of the blank page that demanded isolation. This teacher believed in us when we were deep into these hours. She told us the only way to succeed was to try and fail, and that the only true failure was not to try at all. One day she called a meeting, the atmosphere was tense. Our intuitive minds sensed a message. “You’re too much.” Her first thought broke free and bounced around in our pinball machine minds. Some of us tried and failed. Some of us didn’t try at all. The school just wasn’t paying her enough, she would have to drop a class a week. She explained and explained but the only thing that stuck in our sticky brains was that we were disappointment. She hadn’t said those simple words. But we felt it. When what happened was brought up later in room 18, with a teacher that would later say the same to us, a link in our chain broke loose and the devastation became clear. Mr. Oyedeji tried to tell us that she had faith in us; that she wasn’t giving up on us. Only a few days later he did just that. We had been goofing off, not devoting ourselves to the task at hand, when Mr. Oyedeji snapped. He declared we were not going to be writing for Daisy James, the department magazine that juniors traditionally managed. Instead we were to read and write essays. He tossed around books, obviously angered and then stepped out of room 18. We were hurt. We exchanged glances; none of us would accept this. We were going to write our features for Daisy James anyway. We became a room full of young writers bouncing ideas of each other like a pinball machine. Up down, up down but don’t let the ball drop. Our ears perked up as the sound of the door click, our teacher entered again and we picked up our assigned reading books, faking an interest only we knew to be a disguise. A disguise of our mischief in the name of what we thought was honor. Our eyes scan words that do not touch our hearts while our hearts dance around the idea of scandal. The scandal of proving your worth when you have already shown what you’re not. We wanted to show him we were capable. What of, I don’t think any of us stopped to ask ourselves. It can’t be to show him we can do the work. He already knew we could do it. It can’t be to impress him, that’s childish. It had to something else, something bigger. It had to be because we want that isolation, that insanity of loneliness in understanding humanity and the tireless effort of communicating it. It had to be because we believed in ourselves, that we were young writers. To me there are two types of education. There are the educations that test your ability to retain information presented to you. Then there is the self-education that comes from realizing truths about humanity, and only that will better you as a person. When you put a young writer - already a mutually opposing thought - into a school that combines those two opposing styles of education. There is polarization. Like a magnetic force pulling you in opposite directions. Do you rebel against both? Just one? Which side is evoked? Young? Or writer? Now, not all kids are rebels but, speaking for myself, I march to the beat of my own drum. At times I feel like there is a fire burning inside me, ready to eat away at the lies our society has put in front of us. It’s ready to knock down selfpity and cowardice, worthless emotions. I think most teens feel as though they have something great inside them. Mine is in my mind. Or my heart. I cannot tell. This has taught me a lot about myself and how I follow (or ignore) the rules. While independence and innovation are valued, there are also some things you cannot change about life. School is one of them. I didn’t choose my mind or heart, or how fast these thoughts are bouncing around inside me. But I did choose to write. I have to learn to separate school from my passion. Don’t let that fire blind me and stop me from seeing that I have that second kind of education, the one that will make me see truths. The same fire that draws me away from the “Teach to test” style of education, fuels my passion for writing. And yet they are both in the same school. Those two types of education live together but, unlike my title as a young writer, they are not symbiotic. That fire that hates a coward, someone scared to be vulnerable but great, causes me to neglect the very thing that fire burns for. I become a hypocrite. I become a coward. But I am young. I know all I know but there is time to see so much more. There are truths to discover. How to isolate yourself. Lose the wrong crowd. Guide your fire. Name something.
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RECENT STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS R.A.R.I.A. Scholarship Essay Contest Winner - 2015 - Nia Boulware (1st Prize), Astra Armstrong
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Pen/Faulkner High School Essay Competition - 2014 - Daniella Shia-Sevilla DC CAP - 2014 - Astra Armstrong, Honorable Mention Larry Neal Award winners - 2014 Daniella Shia-Sevilla (winner, poetry) 2013 Quadaja Herriott (winner, poetry) 2012 Asia Alston (winner, poetry) 2011 Sarai Reed (winner, fiction) 2010 Kyndall Brown (winner, poetry), Caroline Hall (winner, fiction)
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Scholastic Writing Award Winners - 2015 - Nia Boulware, Henry Lozano, Edward Maloney, Luke Nogueira, Anthony Robinson, Nancy Scofield, Daniella Shia-Sevilla 2014 - Victoria Gaetan, Sarah Hirsch, Celia Reilly, Barrett Smith 2013 - Asia Alston, Ellie Cohen, Bridget Dease, Lucie Delobel, Moises Delrosario,Victoria Gaeten, Madison Hartke-Weber, Quadaja Herriot, Genna Kules, Khat Patrong, Mona Sharaf, Barrett Smith 2012 - Asia Alston, Marcus Brown, Ellie Cohen, Bridget Dease, Quadaja Herriott, Genna Kules, Idia Leigh, Khat Patrong, Barrett Smith, Helen Steinecke, Rashawnda Williams,
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Scholastic National Writing Award - 2015 - Nia Boulware 2013 - Barrett Smith.
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DC Poet Laureate Contest - 2011 Khat Patrong (1st Prize), Bridget Dease, Reginald Conway, Quadaja Herriott Creativity Foundation Legacy Prize Winners - 2015 - Nia Boulware 2013 - Barrett Smith 2010 - Sarai Reed
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Below: 12th grade students Zynyl Castor and Grace Cushner discuss images after a photo shoot.
Kennedy Center Legacy Award - 2012 - Bridget Dease Arena Stage Ten Minute Play Competition Winners- 2010 - Carol Ann Collins 2009 - Madison Hartke-Weber and Diamante Dorsey Parkmont Poetry Contest Finalists - 2012 Asia Alston (Winner) 2011 Reggie Conway, Miriam Rappaport-Gow 2010 Dayanaira Hough, Lauryn Nesbitt, Cara Racin
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2009/10 Youth of the Year Award - 100 Black Men Dante Williams DC Youth Slam Team - 2015 Henry Lozano 2011 Asha Shannon, Lauryn Nesbitt 2010 Asha Shannon 2009 Diamante Dorsey
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ALUMNI
Students who graduate from the LMC department go on to attend colleges throughout the country, at esteemed schools such as George Washington University, William & Mary, Emerson, Howard, Sarah Lawrence, Norfolk State, Tisch at NYU, Bard, Smith College, UT Austin, and many more. In addition, a number of students join international programs, honors colleges, and internships that allow them to continue their craft and prepare to enter the work force upon completion of their education.
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Our department alumni pursue careers in many different professions from veterinary studies to teaching. Many remain in the arts, Maimouna “Mumu Fresh” Youssef, LMA is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, producer and rapper that has toured the world, performing with the likes of Jill Scott, The Roots, Nas and Erykah Badu and many more. Jade Foster heads Cereus arts, an organization that produces a national queer women poetry tour, THE REVIVAL, and is currently producing a film that documents the poets’ experiences. She also appears on the popular web series The Peculiar Kind. As a rapper and producer Simeon “SmCity” Booker has featured in the Washington Post, MTV.com and established the INDIE LIFE campaign, a concert series that brings local talent to national attention. Davey Yarlborough has launched FYSM - “Free Your Soul and Mind” an organization dedicated to establishing a community of creative and independent thinkers. One of the projects FYSM has launched is an annual scholarship in memory of Ricky Battle (Class of 2014), a fund that goes towards a college-bound senior in the Literary Media and Communications department. The first recipient of the award was Khat Patrong (Class of 2014).
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The LMC prides itself in its relationship with its alumni, creating a network that continually supports students in their schooling and in the artistic field. It is this support that encourages so many alumni to return to Ellington to volunteer, teach, or otherwise give back to the department.
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Above: A map of just some of the locations that recent department graduates have gone on to college.
ALUMNI ESSAY: GENNA KULES
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I have awoken and I don’t think I will ever be able to go to sleep again. If true brilliance is the ability to hold mutually opposing thoughts in one’s head at the same time, then the elders are the truly brilliant. Today I had the privilege of bearing witness to a tongva ceremony for the fall equinox. Their willingness to share their traditions and culture with me shows incredible courage and trust. To share something so sacred with the people who have historically oppressed you has got to be one of the scariest things you could do. The people who have been trying to take everything away from you now want to be let into your traditions without knowing where they come from or about their ancestry? It doesn’t mean the same thing if you don’t know. And for us to expect them to be okay with us using their spiritual practices for something with no meaning puts on display - like a frickin canvas on an easel - our power and privilege as white americans. I have a huge amount of respect for the people who are able to share their ceremonies with us. It cannot be easy and I am honored to be a part of them - the little I am able to understand. Now I want to clarify this: I am not trying to join your tribe. I have a spirituality of my own. I have been writing my own spirituality since about ninth grade and I’m slowly figuring it out. Reading and writing is my primary form of worship. Traditionally I am Unitarian Universalist and Quaker, but my worship comes in the form of words. Their ability to hold power on a page is something that I have learned and that has been hard to learn but has been more than worth learning. A writer is what it means to contribute to the world. The writer or the storyteller is the one that is able to pass knowledge to the people who come after us. To be a writer is to have the responsibility of the world under your eyes (MW). To be a writer means to constantly be in a state of dull pain because we do not know what is coming, but we have the sense that something is on its way, and it will be our job to interpret it. All we are is interpreters for this world. So I do not ask you to give me your religion. I ask only for you to let me be witness to humanity in all of its forms. And I know that is hard. So I can understand and be patient, because trusting someone is not easy. And I can wait until you see me, until we understand each other on a human level, to experience something that could be incredibly hard to share. But I have been awakened. I have a path that I will follow and that will never stop. I have no idea where it will lead me but everything just suddenly makes sense. I no longer “don’t know” or if I don’t know then that not knowing is the answer, or rather the question, that I am looking for. There is a clarity that I didn’t know I was searching for but seem to have stumbled upon today while sitting in a circle singing and staring at the burning sage in the center. It is a clarity that not many people happen upon and I am lucky to have people in my life that have. I am well aware that I will not “save the world.” I got over that in the tenth grade. My mission is to spend my life on a journey. Some of that will be travel, but some will be internal and through words. It is a mental journey of understanding only to question more.
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A woman stood in the center of the circle holding a hollowed out gourd filled with water. Her tassels shook as she danced, tossing the water as a blessing to the earth. This is what it means to be in love. And this is what it looks like to be in love with the earth. The man in the center with the hurt spine and the tall hat continues sprinkling tobacco and blowing the eagle bone whistle to the sky. I have been grappling with recording the histories of native people because it seems wrong to put what is supposed to be in the air and the earth on a paper, in a box. But this is a media age and if we want to continue to learn and to remember it is important to record. T h e children were mesmerized with every blow of the whistle. Children sitting in pews in a church cannot sit still. They fidget and draw and sing to themselves. But children standing in a circle on a ninety degree day in the desert are purely enthralled. There’s a magic that is there. That only a few can sense. And even fewer can participate in. To be a medicine person is a gift that has been given to you. And only the people who have been given the gift can perform the tasks and then give that gift to others. It is not someone that is elected or chosen or nominated. It is a process by which no one needs to think because a way will open. Always. That is what it means to be a writer. No one elects you to do such a thing. You don’t run a campaign.You speak and people listen.You write and people read. It simply is. As a writer and from what I can understand about being a medicine person it is our duty to stay in it. We cannot let ourselves off the hook. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into slumber because the earth doesn’t stop. People will never stop moving. Those are two entirely different concepts that completely rely on each other. People will continue to exploit this earth even though we were put here to protect her. So it is the job of the writer to interpret the earth. It is the job of the writer to interpret the actions of humans. To gain a global understanding of the world and to ultimately write the solution. It is the job of a writer to not know the solution. I finally think I understand. And I know that there will always be more to understand. But at this moment I know that I will never go to sleep again.
Left: Department graduate Genna Kules, class of 2014, with author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
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DEPARTMENT RULES & EXPECTATIONS Students are expected to regularly attend all classes, workshops, meetings, author talks, presentations, etc. In addition, students are expected to be on time and prepared for all of the aforementioned.
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Tardiness, Absences, and Sit-Outs - It is the responsibility of students to abide by attendance rules and to clear absences with individual instructors. Regular and punctual attendance to all classes is required, along with full participation. It is the student’s responsibility to provide necessary written excuses from doctors and/or parents and obtain all written assignments to be made up. Three unexcused absences may result in failure. Three unexcused tardies are equal to one absence. It is possible that extended sit-outs, excessive tardiness and repeated absences may serve as grounds for transfer. If return is allowed (at the discretion of the faculty) the student may be required to repeat courses not completed.
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Class Participation - All students are required to fully participate in all class exercises and activities. Students will be regularly called upon to critique the work of other students and to read aloud from their own work. While a student has the right not to participate on occasion they may not opt out on a regular basis. Regular oral participation is required and is a part of a student's graded assessment.
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Conduct - In the classroom, hallways, master classes, rehearsals/performances, visits from guest writers, on field trips, etc. students are expected to conduct themselves with professionalism, self-discipline, decorum and restraint at all times. Sleeping is not allowed unless the student has a note from the nurse.
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Conflict Resolution - Situations that require faculty or administrative intervention should be brought to the attention of the department chairperson who will take the matter through the proper channels until it is resolved.
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Dress Code - Students are not allowed to wear any of the following: Belly (midriff revealing) tops - cleavage-revealing tops or dresses - Transparent clothing - Short-shorts - Mini-skirts without leggings or tights - Hats - Underwear-revealing clothing (either male or female) - T-shirts with inappropriate statements
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Required Materials (students must bring the following required materials to classes at all times) Assignment Book - Students must have this at all times in each class and they must use it. Students are responsible for knowing what his/her assignment is in each class and when it is due. If a student is absent they are still required to complete the assignment on the given due date unless an extension has been granted by the teacher.
! Pens, Paper - students must always have something to write with and on. !
Journals- will be given to students by some teachers and must remain in that teacher's possession, unless otherwise stated. In addition, students are expected to keep their own separate journals on a regular basis and may be asked to produce such at any time for any teacher. Journals aid writing students in their own/home "practice" of writing. Writers must practice in the same way musicians, dancers, etc. must
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Above: 10th grade student Henry Lozano.
practice their craft.
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Notebooks- (one-inch, three-ring, loose-leaf/college ruled paper) are required in most classes. Please consult course syllabi.
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*A Word About Cell Phones - Cell phones must be turned off at all times in the classroom and may not be answered, even if the caller is a parent. (Parents must call the school office if there is an emergency.) If a cell phone rings during class time, the student will first be issued a warning. Thereafter the phone will be confiscated and turned into the front office for parental pickup. The same applies to cell phones being used for text-messaging purposes or to discern what time it is. Cell phones may not be displayed by students unless the teacher has announced a class break.
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Every Literary Media & Communications student must stay informed of department productions and activities. If there is any confusion or uncertainty about anything, students should always check with a teacher.
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Grade Point Average - Students are required to maintain a Grade Point Average of at least a 3.0 in all of their Arts classes and at least a 2.0 in their Academic classes.
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Student Presentations - At the end of the first and third advisories (subject to Chair’s discretion), all students must do individual presentations before the entire department. (Students may invite family and friends to their presentation if so desired.) Students have 20 minutes each during which they must read from at least two pieces of their writing (must be different genres), discuss how they came to write the pieces and discuss their writing career at Ellington. This latter discussion must include their genesis as a writer, their writing process, how they discovered and honed their writing talent, what authors they read, what they have learned in the department, what their writing goals are for the remainder of their time at Ellington and beyond.
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Senior Presentation - Seniors must complete the same process as outlined above although their presentations must include work from each year they spent in the department. Seniors have 30 minutes for their presentations.
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Probation - Students not meeting minimum department requirements may be asked to transfer or be placed on probation. Students may be placed on probation for many reasons. Among them are: (1) not completing creative and/or production work satisfactorily; (2) not progressing toward the completion of requirements at an appropriate rate; (3) not sustaining satisfactory progress in course work and creative work; (4) poor behavior .
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All students must maintain a “B� average in their Literary Media classes. A student who fails to meet departmental expectations may have the following actions taken against him/her; probationary status, conduct contract, exclusion from extra-curricular activities, recommended transfer to neighborhood school, or any combination thereof. A panel that may include the department chairperson, the head of school, the dean of arts, the dean of students, a counselor, and a parent/guardian, will be the final arbiter. Left: 11th grade student Celia Caldwell.
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DEPARTMENT GRADING CRITERIA !
Generally: A: indicates superior work B: indicates good work C: indicates that the student barely passed the course. Such work is normally not acceptable in a student’s primary area of concentration. A student who receives such a grade may be put on formal or informal academic probation. D: indicates work that does not meet departmental requirements. Students who receive a D must repeat the course or an approved substitute. F: indicates the student has failed the course.
! How Grades are Earned: ! A grade of “A” will be earned by the student who: ! • • • • •
Completes his/her class work and assignments thoroughly and in a timely fashion. Displays outstanding behavior during classes, workshops, performances, lectures, etc. Is always prepared for class and performances with appropriate materials and attitude. Assists others, participates in discussions, and works well with peers and teachers. Often goes beyond what is expected or required of him/her.
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Completes his/her class work and assignments in a timely fashion. Displays good behavior during classes, workshops, performances, lectures, etc. Is usually prepared for class and performances with appropriate materials and attitude. Usually assists others, participates in discussions, and works well with peers and teachers.
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Often completes work with nonchalant attitude, and/or in an untimely fashion and/or with bare minimum requirements met. Often displays nonchalant attitude and/or discourteous behavior by sleeping, talking, etc. during classes, workshops, performances, lectures, etc. Is frequently tardy or absent and/or is generally unprepared for class and performances and/or usually does not have appropriate materials and attitude. Often does not participate in discussions and/or is often combative and unable to work well with others.
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Does not complete assigned work in a timely fashion. Makes excuses as to why s/he is unable to study, participate or work. Skips class, is late to class, or leaves early. Displays discourteous behavior by sleeping, talking, or not paying attention in performances, lectures, or workshops. Does not work well with other students or teachers and/or does not participate in discussions. Has limited pride in his/her work.
! A grade of “B” will be earned by the student who: ! ! A grade of “C” will be earned by a student who: !
! A grade of “D” or “F” will be earned by the student who: !
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The grades for each advisory will be based on the following areas: Participation 10% Practice and Application 50% Assessments 40%
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LMC CODE OF CONDUCT POLICY !
In the Literary Media & Communications Department we believe in holding our students to a very high standard of conduct. It is our belief that an early understanding of how you are expected to carry yourself in the working world will instill a valuable set of tools; soft skills that will serve you well for years to come. In light of this, we have created a simple code of conduct and grievance procedure that will enable both faculty and students alike to maintain a professional learning environment.
! We expect students, faculty and guests: ! - To be respectful of one another, and to carry themselves with both intelligence and humility. ! We expect students: !
-To dress appropriately. -To hand in completed assignments on time. Late and incomplete work is unacceptable. -Absence and tardiness will not be tolerated. -Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. -Poor participation will not be tolerated. -To respect the individual classroom rules of all teachers, both arts and academics (For example, no food and drink around the computer equipment in the lab).
! Students who fail to comply with the above will be subject to a penalty scoring system: ! ! ! ! ! Five-Point Penalty System ! There will be two soft warning before a student accumulates their first penalty point.
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1pt: Mediation and possible detention. 2pts: Parent contacted. 3pts: Parent/Teacher conference with Chair. 4pts: Student placed on probation list, consultation with Dean of students. 5pts: Student is placed on Transfer list.
Right: 11th grade student Luke Nogueira.
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! GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE !
We believe that students are entitled to a voice and want to give them the space to air any concerns they might have. However we believe it’s important that students express their grievances in the correct manner, to ensure that there is no conflict and that their complaints are both heard and handled appropriately.
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We believe that this formal procedure will help create a healthy environment in which to learn, as well as eliminate any potential conflict and miscommunication.
! ! ! Complaint with Member of Staff !
If a student believes they have a concern or complaint with a member of staff, we ask that students not confront that person but rather, in the first instance, seek out another member of staff in the department. That member of staff will act as a mediator to resolve any dispute.
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If they feel that their grievance has not been resolved at that first stage, students then put their complaint into writing and discuss the issue with the department Chair.
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We do believe we can resolve most disputes internally in a professional manner and will work hard to achieve this, however if students still feel that the matter has not been tackled to their satisfaction, it is within their right to:
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-Request a parent / teacher conference with Chair present -Put their concerns into writing to the Dean of Arts / Dean of Students -Put their concerns into writing to the Principal
! Complaint with Fellow Student !
If a student believes they have a concern or complaint with a fellow student, again, we ask that you do not confront that student.You should seek out a member of staff who will in the first instance attempt to mediate on your behalf. If the complaint cannot be resolved at this stage, students have the right to follow the same steps they would take with a staff grievance.
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LITERARY MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS PARENT GROUP The Literary Media & Communications group has an active Parent group. PARENTS please consider volunteering for one of the following jobs for the upcoming school year. This structure will allow parents to serve in areas most suited to their talent, skills and desires. We also encourage you to step into roles that you might not have considered:
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President of Parent Group Secretary of Parent Group Advertising — Help with preparation of flyers, signage — Send press releases to local media and your community Printing and Publishing — Department newsletter (for a broader audience, including alumni & patrons) — Regular communications to current department families Department/Administration Liaison — Plan department participation in school-wide functions (Fall Festival, student orientation/registration sessions, school-wide production, etc.) Membership — Maintaining family/student contact information (spreadsheet or database) — Phone tree — Alumni outreach and information Historical Records — Taking minutes at meetings (especially beneficial to parents who are not able to make a meeting) — Production related media: photographs, press releases, programs
! Specific ways that you could contribute on this team include participation is sub-teams: !
Communications Team – Our Communications Team, next to the Fundraising Team, is one of the most crucial parent teams for the department. You will be in direct communication with parents, the department chair, faculty members, as well as school administration. Fundraising Team – This is, without a doubt, one of the most critical teams for any department, and the Fundraising Team consists of all parents. Under a Team Leader, parents are invited to formulate individual fundraisers as well as participate in the department’s fundraising activities. The department fundraisers have included the annual year-end-letter to solicit private donations, which has traditionally garnered tremendous financial support for the department. Also, ticket sales, playbill ad sales, raffles, lunchtime pizza sales, tee shirts, and concession stands have been sources of revenue for the department. Support Team – This team supports the department’s school-year Coffeehouse productions and end-of-the-year events. You will be coordinating with publicity, advertising, tech week meals, concession stand, etc. “My daughter now has the foundation on which she can build any career, provided through her experience in the Literary Media and Communications program at Duke Ellington School of the Arts! Let’s face it, reading and writing are fundamental to all professions, whether in the Arts or not. The faculty, led by Mark Williams, has provided way more than what I could have hoped my daughter would receive in this discipline. I fully believe that most children rise to the level of their environments, and the LMC Department faculty have set the bar very high, both in terms of work ethic and producing quality work. They have taught the kids a love of learning and reading and there’s never anything wrong with that.” — Eileen Thomas, parent of LMC graduate.
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FACULTY MARK A. WILLIAMS, Chair, is a playwright, whose recent works, "Junkanoo" and "Patience Wept" have been performed at the Lincoln Theater and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and his latest play, "Zulu Nation" had its initial staging at the Bethesda Writers Center and a full production will be mounted in 2012. He has received the "Mayor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education", the "Surdna Arts Fellowship for Arts Educators", and has been named in "Who's Who Among American Educators". He is also working on a book, "3/5's of History", a trans-narrative rendering of the training for the 21st Century Writer which has been optioned.
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KELLI M. ANDERSON is an interactive media strategist and digital media artist living in the Washington, DC metro area. She is the Founder and President of Sojournals, an interactive media marketing company and online network created in 2005. Anderson creates content for professionals, artists, schools, and community organizations to drive brand awareness through digital storytelling and social media engagement.
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KOYE OYEDEJI is a writer, journalist and a graphic designer in the making. He graduated with an M.A. from the School of Oriental and African Studies and is currently completing research on writers of Nigerian descent at the University of London. He is a contributing editor for SABLE Litmag. His short stories, creative non-fiction, interviews and essays have appeared in various anthologies, journals, and magazines, including The Penguin Book of Black British Writing, Washington City Paper, ARISE and Wasafiri magazines. He is a VONA and Callaloo fellow as well as a recipient of an Arts Council of England grant. He has previously worked for the the film production company B3 Media, the London Literature Festival at the South Bank Centre and the Nottingham Evening Post. He was awarded the Mayor's Arts Award in Teaching Language Arts in 2012 and was named a finalist in the fiction category for DC Commission of Arts and Humanities Larry Neal awards in 2015. His work is forthcoming in the anthology Closure (Peepal Tree Press) and The Unreliable Guide To London (Influx Press). He is currently working on a collection of short stories and a first novel.
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JAMI RAMBERAN holds a M.A. in Film Production from The New School and a B.A. in Seton Hall University. Currently, she is pursuing her M.F.A. in Film at Howard She has worked for over five years as a professional video director of music videos commercials. In addition, she has written, directed and produced various short documentaries. Her creative works have been screened across the world at festivals and have been featured on television and online magazines. Currently, TV director of “ENF Rangers”, a kids media program that encourages multicultural youth to protect the environment. Her cinematic productions aim is message of social change into the center of popular consciousness.
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SHARI' WRIGHT graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts where she was in the Literary/Media Dept.; Wright obtained her B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Florida State University where she also minored in African American Studies and Communications. She's been a freelance journalist for the past four years, having been a contributing writer to The Washington Informer, featured on Madame Noire online magazine, and a consultant for various nonprofits and local organizations. She has had personal essays published in two anthologies and is currently working with Examiner.com as their DC Urban Arts columnist. Wright is currently obtaining her Master's in Public Administration with a concentration in Non-Profit Management from the University of Baltimore.
Right: Mark A. Williams, chair of English Department & Literary Media & Communications, Head of Dramatic Writing.
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English from U n i v e r s i t y. a n d fi l m s a n d events, she is the to inject a
FATHER JOHN PAYNE 1961 - 2014
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