Andover Bread Loaf A Phillips Academy Outreach Program
Spring Newsletter 2018
From the Director
Youth at the Helm Founded in 1987, Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) empowers students, teachers, schools, and communities to transform themselves by igniting a passion for learning through written self-expression and the arts. ABL is a partnership between Phillips Academy and the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College’s graduate school.
The activism and bravery of the Parkland High School students have inspired the world. They have shown us that youth have the capacity to take the lead on critical national issues. It’s important to remember that young people, particularly those of color, have engaged in this kind of activism and bravery for many decades. The executive summary of the Ford Foundation’s Next Generation Leadership Network (NGLN)—of which Andover Bread Loaf is a founding member—states: “Young people who may have experienced inequalities of various kinds are not problems to be solved: they are potential leaders and resources to be noticed and developed. Along with needs that deserve to be addressed, they bring to the table insightful perspectives on their worlds, knowledge, skills, talents, transformative desires, and an extensive repertoire of communicative and expressive practices.” ABL fosters and facilitates youth leadership. Compelling examples include ABL writing leaders and members of the Lawrence (Mass.) Youth Council, the Students at the Center program in New Orleans, NGLN’s writing conference in Navajo Nation (see back cover), and the student-led English and history class, Humanities Amped, taught at McKinley High School in Baton Rouge. These youth, mostly high school- and college-age, are transforming themselves, their schools, and their communities by engaging in social and educational activism inside and outside school. They are leading a movement that has been simmering for a decade or more, one that continues to spread. These youth, along with their Parkland peers, are proof that young people are willing and able to do the work that will make our world a better place.
Lou Bernieri
Poet, teacher, and activist Denice Frohman performs her poem “Dear Straight People” for ABL’s summer workshops. Frohman was invited to read the poem at the White House in 2016.
Even those who can’t write yet participate in ABL Family Literacy Nights.
What’s Inside? Remember Me/Write Me
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ABL Impact in Vancouver
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Si, Se Puede on the Move
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BLTN/Navajo Conference
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Empower
Photos: Elissa Salas, Gil Talbot
s, Friend damie a e c A s h wit m hillip to play Dear P e g o m d o h y of m ame If you c ictures p w a r ld d ers. We cou es burg e h c k t a e n see And e lay hid p nce. ld d u and a ie We co v o m gs atch a ose thin And w cream. o all th d eat ice ld d u n o a c g e W thin y every And pla rader l. anue l, 2nd-G e M u , n e a v o L —M ce, MA Lawren
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If someone asks me about ABL, they had better brace for a megawatt smile and some gushing. It is a life-changing and life-affirming program riddled with laughter and lots of brilliance.” —Elee Kraljii Gardiner ’88 ABL Advisory Board Member
Inspire
Four-year-old Parker shares her artwork with her father and grandmother at the family-focused Slice Conference this past March.
“Remember Me/Write Me” Conference a Hit! In collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence (BGCL), ABL ran its annual Slice Conference for first- through fifth-graders (plus a few preschoolers and kindergarteners) on March 24. “Remember Me/Write Me,” based on the movie Coco, drew 103 children. The event was staffed by 15 ABL writing leaders, 10 Keystone Club leaders, BGCL staff, area teachers, and parents. Youth and adults engaged in three hours of music, poetry, and the arts. It was a day of imagination, creativity, and happiness. The conference focused on producing art about what’s most important to you—such as family, ancestors, community, loved ones, and self. New York City music teacher Alan Nuñez
was the guest artist. Breakout workshops were hosted by Elevated Thought and the Lawrence Youth Council, Phillips Academy’s Addison Gallery of American Art, Movement City, Lawrence Arts House, Chelsea REACH, and ABL teacher Mary Guerrero. Workshop participants wrote poetry and songs, created collages and sculptures, and even curated an altar of ancestors. Much of their work was shared during open mic at the end of the day. ABL is grateful to all who collaborated to make this conference a resounding success: BGCL staff, youth in the Next Generation Leadership Network, college and high school writing leaders, family members, and friends.
ABL’s Impact on Me—and a Vancouver Neighborhood I caught up with Lou Bernieri, one of my favorite English instructors, at my Phillips Academy 15th reunion in 2003. He told me all about ABL’s workshops and advocacy and, as everyone knows, his ebullience is contagious. I took him up on his invitation to apply to that summer’s ABL Writing Workshop for Teachers. Back home in Vancouver, BC, I had just started a nonprofit writing program called Thursdays Writing Collective [see www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca] for adults in a neighborhood dealing with challenges related to poverty, mental illness, addiction, racialization, and survival sex trade work. I lay all of the credit for what we have since accomplished at the feet of ABL.
A published poet with a foot in many literary communities, Phillips Academy and ABL alumna Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the author of serpentine loop and the editor and publisher of eight Thursdays Writing Collective anthologies. 2
Those two weeks with ABL were literally a summer camp for adults based on obliterating the normative hierarchies of learning, including de-centering privilege of all sorts and recognizing the resources already present in the classroom. The workshop-based
structure mirrored what we were learning to do as teachers—it was entirely exhilarating! The guest speakers were of the highest caliber in terms of academic success but absolutely had a sense of praxis that was useful to us all. ABL supports mutual inquiry, which is the only system of parity and equality one can have in a healthy classroom. It gave me a blueprint for navigating out of the trap of “skill and drill” pedagogy. It gave me a language for engaging in holistic educational concepts. It freed me as a facilitator from needing to know better than the students. ABL taught me how to be a sustainable teacher, both for my community and my own energies. Bringing what I learned from ABL back to the population I am so lucky to write with has literally saved lives. I am passionate about self-determination through creative expression, and ABL was the key in all the tumblers of that lock. —Elee Kraljii Gardiner ’88 ABL Advisory Board Member
Si, Se Puede Makes New Friends in the DR
In March, Lorie Mendoza, executive director of Si, Se Puede, planned a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and thought we could use this as an opportunity for a “Bread Loaf” exchange between our youth and the ones she’d visit in the DR. We thought about ways to have the youth put themselves into their creations. The first workshop was obvious: we did our classic “I Am” poem. After that, we made “hot dog books” about ourselves and our communities. Another week, we made mixed-media art pieces, for which we photographed our favorite body parts and wrote about why we chose the ones we did. Ms. Mendoza took our workshop creations to the DR to share with the children there, and now we’re waiting (excitedly!) for them to share their creations with us. —James Mora Senior Class President, Lawrence High School
At a recent ABL event, writing leader James Mora encouraged a hesitant 5-year-old to read his poetry aloud.
Express
Once a week for the past two years, three ABL writing leaders—including myself— have been conducting a writing and arts workshop for youth at the Merrimack Courts Housing Project in Lawrence. The afterschool program is called Si, Se Puede. The kids range from first to eighth grade, a wide age gap that we account for when planning workshops. For example, one of our first-graders, who doesn’t yet know how to write, will draw what he means to say. The storytelling skills are there even if the writing skills aren’t. This year our focus was “My Self, My Family, and My Community.”
Our Pow er We all ha d many b ad histori Where th es. e little bo y s and girls Where kis grew with ses were no one to punches Where yo look up to p re ssing aga ur mind b in st your fa u s t open and nothing ce ripped yo ur though But it only ts into takes you to stop th You’re no o se broken t: flashback stupid, s. unfortuna te, neithe r powerles s. You is a st rong Blac k, White, H well-bein ispanic, M g soldier! exican, In Do you w dian, Nati ant to kno ve w how to sto Laugh! p the pain ? Laugh so loud that it kills your We will n enemy th o longer oughts. walk with We will fi our head ght, not w s d o wn. it h our han No more ds, but wit being Sile h our min nt! ds —Tareil, 1 0th-Grade “Humanit Writing L ies Ampe eader, Bato d” n Rouge, L A
om….
I am fr
inicana m Dom o e fr m Ia ntrysid the cou m o fr y il m I am m my fa I am fro ngue e r m me o fr m a I arete m Cab o fr m a I iness m happ o d fr m Ia and da y mom m m o l ava I am fr m carn I am fro joven n missio m o fr ol I am m scho I am fro ic s u mm I am fro all b e m bas r I am fro n u s -Grade m the ir y, 4th o n fr a Y m li — a b I pu c ican Re Domin
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ABL writing leaders help students of all ages express themselves and build self-confidence.
ABL Advisory Board Michael T. Cahill ’84, Chair New York, NY Susanna Rhodes Beckwith ’88, P’18 Providence, RI Sanjiv S. Desai ’89 Coconut Grove, FL
An Extraordinary Gathering in Navajo Nation
José A. Dobles ’98 Brooklyn, NY
Elee E. Kraljii Gardiner ’88 Vancouver, BC, Canada Cynthia L. Greene ’87 Newton, MA Tucker Levy ’88 Charlestown, MA Gabriela Poma ’88 Cambridge, MA Gregory D. Shufro ’87 New York, NY Scobie D. Ward ’84 Hong Kong Timothy I. Watt ’89 West Hartford, CT
Support
Ricardo Dobles ’85 Holden, MA Keith T. Flaherty, MD, ’89 Cambridge, MA
Thanks to funding from the Ford Foundation that covered flights and expenses, more than 20 students and adult mentors from multiple locations across the United States were able to join their friends and colleagues at the 2018 Hazhóo’ó Hólne’ Writing Conference.
Sturgis P. Woodberry ’84 Darien, CT
“The level of enthusiasm, creativity, and connection was really something special,” said ABL Associate Director Rich Gorham upon returning from the 2018 Hazhóo’ó Hólne’ Writing Conference: Food for Body, Mind, and Spirit. Held March 17 and 18 in Window Rock, AZ, capital of Navajo Nation, the event brought together members of the Navajo literary community with youth from all six Bread Loaf Next Generation Leadership Network (NGLN) sites for two robust days of writing, creativity, and self-expression.
Ummi Modeste, researcher Elliot Sykes, and Marquis Victor of Lawrence’s Elevated Thought. A key component of the conference was the NGLN Youth Leader Session, cofacilitated by ABL’s Lopez, during which NGLN youth discussed their work in addressing critical issues in their communities. On Sunday morning, Dr. Sonya Shin, executive director of Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment (COPE), addressed the group. The conference concluded with a 90-minute open mic session that featured 30 performers and included works in English, Navajo, Spanish, phrase Swahili, and Hindi.
More than 75 participants engaged in a series of arts The Navajo and writing workshops, including Water Is Life, Hazhóo’ó Hólne’ The conference was coordiThe Lost Art of Letter loosely translates as nated by Rex Lee Jim and Writing, Graphic Design, Dr. Ceci Lewis, Bread Loaf Nature Writing, and “writing with beauty Teacher Network associate Theater. Rex Lee Jim, director and longtime ABL and purpose.” former Navajo Nation vice staffer; coauthored by Ummi president, led a session Modeste, ABL director of in a Navajo hogan titled In the Garden professional development, and Rich Gorham, of the Home God. Presenters included ABL associate director; and hosted by the youth, community members, teachers, Navajo Museum and Cultural Center and the writers, and NGLN guests. Department of Diné Education. “This was the most powerful Bread Loaf Representatives from Middlebury College Teacher Network event I’ve ever attended,” and several longtime ABL collaborators said Gorham. “Seeing young people and were among conference participants: Brent adults from six different NGLN sites come Peters, a teacher at Fern Creek High School, together in Navajo Nation to write, share, and Louisville, KY; Tom McKenna, principal at learn from one another was extraordinary.” Harborview Elementary School, Juneau, Alaska; Doug Wood, Ford Foundation program ABL was further represented by writing leader officer; and Andrea Lunsford, Stanford Amaryllis Lopez, teachers Yulissa Nuñez and University professor emerita.
Andover Bread Loaf Phillips Academy 180 Main Street Andover, Mass. 01810-4161 978-884-8452 lbernieri@andover.edu www.andover.edu/abl
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