WRITERS WEEK XV: FEBRUARY 23-27, 2009
Share your thoughts about Writers Week XV here! What inspired you, made you laugh, or gave you a good idea? Give a shout-out to the student or faculty writers or any of the guests presenters!
posted by Gary @ 4:18 AM
9 Comments:
I thought Mary Fons was great today. She is always entertaining and enjoyable to listen to.
Mary Fons was courageous in talking so openly about her illness in front of several hundred people.
i wish i could of seen mary fon she was amazing last year... but i did hear many great things about her
Its always great to see other students take part in school activities. I really enjoyed listening to them today.
The student writers really put their heart and soul into their writing and its show
As a visitor to Fremd I was nervous in terms of what to expect. I'd heard great things about this event, but still, it was a new, unfamiliar place and I was nervous. I wasn't even going to be onstage!
As soon as I walked through the doors of the school, though, I felt an energy and excitement that was welcoming and inviting. Over the course of the day I had a wonderful experience talking with students and teachers. Most importantly, though, I watched writers present their work. Billy Lombardo was incredible. Glenn, Cristina, and Burt were fascinating. Dennis Florine made me want to practice my songwriting and guitar skills more often. But the student writers stole the show.
Sarah, Nathan, Keegan, Cori, Megan and everyone else...you were amazing! You were inspiring! Your words were powerful and moving! Thank you so much for sharing your work.
Thanks also to the Fremd Staff for welcoming us with open arms! It was greatly appreciated.
Doug Jameson
Hazelwood West High School
St. Louis, MO
Writer’s Week, throughout the years has created, inspired, and showcased some of the best creative artists and writers. Whether they are students, faculty, or professional writers, Fremd has had them. This year we celebrated the 15th anniversary of this spectacular event, and this year it was better than ever. We had a plethora of talented kids of the student body either presenting their pieces of literature or painting pictures in our minds with their splendid brand of music. Faculty, not just teachers, produced works of literature to display to us. And finally, authors and musicians alike took the stage and blew us away with their stories, writing, and musical talent. All these elements make up an event that cannot be described any other way than sensational.
Monday started off by displaying some of the best of the best when it comes to student writers. We received a taste of Jamieson Gray’s poem appropriately named, A Sandwich. The best quality of this mouthwatering piece was he was able to, in a gradual sense, have us live the story he simply wrote on a piece of loose-leaf paper. His ability to put us in the conflict arising in the story was very intriguing and creative in my mind. Next, we caught a glimpse of Jaclyn Saltzman’s personality and perception by hearing her, Skin and Bones poem. Her repetition and stress of the line, “She was just skin and bones”, makes her title an obvious choice. Although I disliked her style and presentation of this poem I believe her intent and the content of this was by far one of the best I saw all week. Third up and favorite of the day was Kurt English. His poem, presentation, attitude, and style was truly an inspiration to me. For him to only be a young student and produce such an amazing message about dreams was phenomenal. My most memorable line of the day was by Kurt. He said in his, Living For a Dream poem, “I’d rather be broke and following a dream, than wearing a fake smile.” This really was inspirational and every time I think about that I agree, even though society is the total opposite. Last but not least, was a presentation by Sal Aiello and John McCarty. One of their skits had a name of, My Best/Worst Day, and the other was Panda Bio. Their first one was very humorous and fun to listen to. Since they were the only writer duet that I saw, that added even more persona and creativity to it.
Day 1 of Writer’s Week came to a successful close. Day 2 although not as jammed pack with writers was jammed pack with personality from the very hilarious and entertaining, Simon Elkeles. Even though the entire presentation was one that I will never forget, I definitely had a few favorite parts. One of them had to be the book trailers she showed us. Even though I had probably seen the Perfect Chemistry book trailer five times before I could not get over laughing after every scene. My other favorite part was her showing us the emails she receives from fans around the country. One of my favorite emails was by a girl who connected herself to the Perfect Chemistry girl. She said, “I am just like Brittany in the book, I am rich and pretty and like a Mexican boy at school too.” But, despite my favorite parts of her presentation I had a favorite quote. While Simon Elkeles was talking about her childhood and how she really didn’t like to read she mentioned, “If I can do it than so can you.” This struck me because even though I had heard this line from people before, her context and meaning behind this meant much more at this time than any other.
Other day filled with brilliant young writers was Wednesday, Day 3. We had every sort of writing, from poems to stories, to letters, to haikus. Today I had many mixed emotions about the presenters. Rohika Wagner, unfortunately disappointed me with a seemingly lack of enthusiasm when reading his overly complex haikus that didn’t seem to have a singular meaning to them. Hannah Fox put a different perception and twist on the original Cinderella story by reading to us a letter called, Modern Day Fairytale, which was from a guys point of view. Although this wasn’t my favorite, the enthusiasm and creativity was there. Next, we had the senior Nathan Shumway who improved the writing atmosphere but made us judge him based on his anti-gay story. The last writer, coincidentally would oppose him on this same subject and receive the biggest and loudest applause from me personally. This person was Sarah Matthews who performed her slam poem named Homophobes are so gay. Her energy, position on a very controversial subject, and out-of-this-world writing made her my favorite of the entire week. She even stole he previous most memorable quote with this one, “The only that that’s ‘queer’ is you (referring to homophobes).”
Rhythms, beats, hip-hop, and classical filled Thursday to the brim. We had the privilege of hearing up and coming artists from Fremd perform their own original pieces of music. From the raping power of “FIRA” which took home the prize for favorite amongst the audience. To Austin comical poem about cookies and then wowed us with his musical talent singing and on the guitar. Then came Alice who even though admitted to not being musically talented showed us her passion for music with her original piece she sang to the crowd. Finally, we had the sheer piano genius, Patrick Kennedy who when it was all over proved once again that he was the head honcho of playing the piano. Not only was he my favorite performer of the day, his quote, “Playing the piano is truly my passion” was far superior the others. What made that quote memorable was that I am able to connect to him clearly.
Finally, we had the final day of Writer’s Week, which was expected to be good so we could end off this wonderful event with a bang. And yet again we accomplished that. We had Daphne Willis and Co. sing numerous songs that lifted up our spirits. But, to me what was most memorable was Tony Romano’s reading of his two published books and his analogy at the beginning. He was saying basically how every time someone presents on the stage he wants to either be them or have what they have. So after connecting himself to Mr. Anderson, Simone Elkeles, and “FIRA” he promptly said, “Then all of you must want to be Mr. Romano” That just cracked me up due to his quirkiness and interesting personality.
Writer’s Week gives everyone the chance to express their beliefs, passions, and anything else they want by providing all with opportunity. Even thought I probably don’t have to wish for there to be Writer’s Week VXI because it most likely will never cease to exist, I feel I should because I really cherish this week over the rest.
Writer’s Week, throughout the years has created, inspired, and showcased some of the best creative artists and writers. Whether they are students, faculty, or professional writers, Fremd has had them. This year we celebrated the 15th anniversary of this spectacular event, and this year it was better than ever. We had a plethora of talented kids of the student body either presenting their pieces of literature or painting pictures in our minds with their splendid brand of music. Faculty, not just teachers, produced works of literature to display to us. And finally, authors and musicians alike took the stage and blew us away with their stories, writing, and musical talent. All these elements make up an event that cannot be described any other way than sensational.
Monday started off by displaying some of the best of the best when it comes to student writers. We received a taste of Jamieson Gray’s poem appropriately named, A Sandwich. The best quality of this mouthwatering piece was he was able to, in a gradual sense, have us live the story he simply wrote on a piece of loose-leaf paper. His ability to put us in the conflict arising in the story was very intriguing and creative in my mind. Next, we caught a glimpse of Jaclyn Saltzman’s personality and perception by hearing her, Skin and Bones poem. Her repetition and stress of the line, “She was just skin and bones”, makes her title an obvious choice. Although I disliked her style and presentation of this poem I believe her intent and the content of this was by far one of the best I saw all week. Third up and favorite of the day was Kurt English. His poem, presentation, attitude, and style was truly an inspiration to me. For him to only be a young student and produce such an amazing message about dreams was phenomenal. My most memorable line of the day was by Kurt. He said in his, Living For a Dream poem, “I’d rather be broke and following a dream, than wearing a fake smile.” This really was inspirational and every time I think about that I agree, even though society is the total opposite. Last but not least, was a presentation by Sal Aiello and John McCarty. One of their skits had a name of, My Best/Worst Day, and the other was Panda Bio. Their first one was very humorous and fun to listen to. Since they were the only writer duet that I saw, that added even more persona and creativity to it.
Day 1 of Writer’s Week came to a successful close. Day 2 although not as jammed pack with writers was jammed pack with personality from the very hilarious and entertaining, Simon Elkeles. Even though the entire presentation was one that I will never forget, I definitely had a few favorite parts. One of them had to be the book trailers she showed us. Even though I had probably seen the Perfect Chemistry book trailer five times before I could not get over laughing after every scene. My other favorite part was her showing us the emails she receives from fans around the country. One of my favorite emails was by a girl who connected herself to the Perfect Chemistry girl. She said, “I am just like Brittany in the book, I am rich and pretty and like a Mexican boy at school too.” But, despite my favorite parts of her presentation I had a favorite quote. While Simon Elkeles was talking about her childhood and how she really didn’t like to read she mentioned, “If I can do it than so can you.” This struck me because even though I had heard this line from people before, her context and meaning behind this meant much more at this time than any other.
Other day filled with brilliant young writers was Wednesday, Day 3. We had every sort of writing, from poems to stories, to letters, to haikus. Today I had many mixed emotions about the presenters. Rohika Wagner, unfortunately disappointed me with a seemingly lack of enthusiasm when reading his overly complex haikus that didn’t seem to have a singular meaning to them. Hannah Fox put a different perception and twist on the original Cinderella story by reading to us a letter called, Modern Day Fairytale, which was from a guys point of view. Although this wasn’t my favorite, the enthusiasm and creativity was there. Next, we had the senior Nathan Shumway who improved the writing atmosphere but made us judge him based on his anti-gay story. The last writer, coincidentally would oppose him on this same subject and receive the biggest and loudest applause from me personally. This person was Sarah Matthews who performed her slam poem named Homophobes are so gay. Her energy, position on a very controversial subject, and out-of-this-world writing made her my favorite of the entire week. She even stole he previous most memorable quote with this one, “The only that that’s ‘queer’ is you (referring to homophobes).”
Rhythms, beats, hip-hop, and classical filled Thursday to the brim. We had the privilege of hearing up and coming artists from Fremd perform their own original pieces of music. From the raping power of “FIRA” which took home the prize for favorite amongst the audience. To Austin comical poem about cookies and then wowed us with his musical talent singing and on the guitar. Then came Alice who even though admitted to not being musically talented showed us her passion for music with her original piece she sang to the crowd. Finally, we had the sheer piano genius, Patrick Kennedy who when it was all over proved once again that he was the head honcho of playing the piano. Not only was he my favorite performer of the day, his quote, “Playing the piano is truly my passion” was far superior the others. What made that quote memorable was that I am able to connect to him clearly.
Finally, we had the final day of Writer’s Week, which was expected to be good so we could end off this wonderful event with a bang. And yet again we accomplished that. We had Daphne Willis and Co. sing numerous songs that lifted up our spirits. But, to me what was most memorable was Tony Romano’s reading of his two published books and his analogy at the beginning. He was saying basically how every time someone presents on the stage he wants to either be them or have what they have. So after connecting himself to Mr. Anderson, Simone Elkeles, and “FIRA” he promptly said, “Then all of you must want to be Mr. Romano” That just cracked me up due to his quirkiness and interesting personality.
Writer’s Week gives everyone the chance to express their beliefs, passions, and anything else they want by providing all with opportunity. Even thought I probably don’t have to wish for there to be Writer’s Week VXI because it most likely will never cease to exist, I feel I should because I really cherish this week over the rest.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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