Writers Week XVII

Monday
Up first was Julie Halpern. She was decent. She would go off on random tangents sometimes. I have heard before that when you put real-life experiences into your book they are much better. Or you could write a lot more and in detail. Julie said she that inspired her stories. She also lived in Illinois part of her life. When she was younger she would publish "zines" with a friend. One of these zines being called "Cul-de-sac." I also found it out that someone like here was in a mental hospital. As of right now she looked like she was a person that was mental fine, even in her childhood.

Tuesday
Because Tuesday was a late start the students and faculty performed or talked. As a whole the group did well. Colleen had two poems about VAMP and her mother. The poems were good but she smacked her lips after every line and it was a little bit annoying. Jonathan's story about the bird lady on a United Airlines flight was funny and sort of interesting. Like how she made bird sounds for Disney. I believe everyone had to agree that Unser was the funniest and probably the best that day. his skit for speech (team or class?) was very funny and many laughed because it is becoming a true story. The other three Nakendra Currie, Tamar Alexanian, and Alaina McCaffrey had read four short poems, lost best friend over a boy, and a princess in that order.

Wednesday
I had English fourth period last year as well. Sierra DeMulder had performed at the same time last year. If i remember correctly her opening poem about the girl and the red flower was one that she had said last year. Over all she was very good like the past year. Some of her poems were in a cool format. One of these in a different format was the pro-anorexia poem. It was split up into ten postcards. I found that interesting as i have never heard something like that done before. Her inspiration for a couple of the poems was very out of the ordinary. The gay rights poem about Matthew Sheppard and the fence post as well as Jeffery Dahmer (spelling?). Over all i would not mid seeing her again as a performer.

Thursday
Unfortunately was students again, but this was not a bad thing. Hannah Lee was the stand-out on Thursday. Many people liked her raspy voice and her guitar playing and was asked for an encore. She forgot the lyrics and stopped playing during the encore but came back with an original comedy skit. This was entertainign and her characters were their own person ans she changed between them very well (I would get confused). Both guys did a rap. Davy Mellado made a song on his Ipad and rapped along with it. While Daniel Ghadaksaz had the tech crew play music and he would rap about "Dreams."

Friday
Last but not least was Billy Lombardo. Obviously he liked baseball and was a big fan of baseball. His book The Man with Two Arms is a bout a switch-pitcher meaning he could throw left and right handed. He read a chapter or so out of it and it sounds like a good book. He also had a poem called "A Poem for Lenard" (I am pretty sure on that title). This poem was about a young black boy going across town to get air in his bicycle tires. He was met by four white boys who beat him in a coma. Billy said "He traded his bicycle for brain damage." Or something along those lines. It was a very sad story that made you think about how humans could be so cruel.

This was a great Writers Week. I learned about many talents in the school as well as how some of these writers became writes. And how they were inspired to write. To write better and in more detail you must try to use real life experiences to make the story more personal. Tuesday was the only day i saw more of Writers Week than just from English class. I was there the period before English and sixth period when i had lunch. No one from third period really stood out to me but Emma Nelson's story about being in the orphanage was very different. She talked about her past life in the orphanage. I saw the last half of Mr. Hays' unfortunate visit to the hospital. It was a humorous story from the part i saw. Mr. Grattoni had a very nice story about his trip to the farmland in Canada and some of the work he did there. It was kind of cool that he kept a log of what went on, on the farm. Too bad that the bell rang in the middle of his chicken story.

Brady K.