Community Word Project

I spent a full day this past weekend starting my internship training for the Community Word Project, an arts-in-education program here in New York City. CWP places artists in public schools to work with full-time teachers on creative projects—so at some point soon I'll be doing some volunteer work at a school in Red Hook or Washington Heights or The Bronx. Though I'm already taking a class at Brooklyn College to help prepare me to teach college-level composition classes, this training will allow me to spend some time with younger kids (2nd to 7th grade, probably). I haven't done this in a long time, probably since back when I was a counselor at Camp Sealth. (Those were two of the most amazing summers of my life.)

And it's already been inspiring. I met a bunch of creative folks: Laine is a circus performer. Toby draws at his warehouse space in downtown Brooklyn. Roberto is a photographer who grew up in Mexico City. There were painters, poets, actors, dancers, and musicians. We spent a lot of time talking about the creative process, and the way that different people learn best. We did skits and acted silly. Made me realize that regular adult life can be pretty effing boring sometimes! Why does being a grown-up often mean being tedious?

I've never thought that much about my own "process" per se: What inspires me to write? What informs my work? What is "my work"? What themes usually come up? People create for many reasons and so many things come out: faith, community, justice, family, time, love, metaphor, beauty, movement, color, contrast, openness, travel, magic, persistence, kitsch, heartbreak, memory, risk, home, patience, images. The CWP people call these "creative elements."

For our next day-long training, we each have to plan a presentation that portrays our creative process—and reveals our own creative elements. I need to do some thinking about this one: I know that family (not always mine, but family in general) and relationships, voice, conflict, memory/reminiscence, and a bit of philosophy seem to come up in my writing, along with lots of concrete images and lots of metaphors and details. I've never been the best at introspection—thinking about me and why I do what I do—so this should be a good challenge!

Will let you know what I find out about myself.