by Mel Wells
Students at Wilson High School packed Annie Bloom’s Books for a reading to celebrate their work during the past semester with a WITS writers-in-residence. Students in two of Mike Nolan’s 10th grade U.S. History classes worked with poet Bettina de León Barrera and writer Joanna Rose. Students in Nathan Pier’s 9th grade Modern World History class and Norman Stremming’s 11th grade English class worked with comic artist Lisa Eisenberg.
Eleven students read their poetry and comics for an audience of forty-three friends, parents, and teachers. The tone of their work ranged from serious to playful. Several of the comics were about the election, and one was about visibility as a bisexual student. The poetry students had a unique way of cheering for each other’s poems, and there was a lot of laughter and applause from the audience for each writers’ work.
Many thanks to Annie Bloom’s for being wonderful hosts, to the generous audience for their support, to the teachers for their work with WITS writers, and to all the writers–both student and adults–who shared their work at this lovely community event. We’re especially appreciative of everyone who helped us schedule (and re-schedule) these readings with all the snow days!
