Where Am I? Sitka Story Lab Student Anthology
The Island Institute's Sitka Story Lab program released this new book of Southeast Alaskan student writing in May 2016. Called Where Am I?: Stories of Strange Landscapes, Wrong Turns, and New Worlds, the anthology features fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and zany creative experiments that convey the disorientation and the discovery that young people experience, from being in the wilderness to simply growing up. The young writers come from Sitka, Hoonah, Haines, Wrangell, and Skagway, and are as young as nine years old and as old as eighteen. "The writing ranges from fantastic and playful to emotionally moving and dark," said Story Lab Coordinator Sarah Swong. "I'm impressed at how creative and varied these writings are, and at how open students were to feedback and improving their work." The project offered students the chance to write a piece for publication and to hone their writing with an editor.
The Island Institute's Sitka Story Lab program released this new book of Southeast Alaskan student writing in May 2016.
Called Where Am I?: Stories of Strange Landscapes, Wrong Turns, and New Worlds, the anthology features fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and zany creative experiments that convey the disorientation and the discovery that young people experience, from being in the wilderness to simply growing up. The young writers come from Sitka, Hoonah, Haines, Wrangell, and Skagway, and are as young as nine years old and as old as eighteen.
"The writing ranges from fantastic and playful to emotionally moving and dark," said Story Lab Coordinator Sarah Swong. "I'm impressed at how creative and varied these writings are, and at how open students were to feedback and improving their work."
The project offered students the chance to write a piece for publication and to hone their writing with an editor.
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FROM ASHES TO ASHES<br />
The warm orange embrace of the sun reminded him of the summers<br />
on the lake, no care in the world. The sun pierced through the<br />
weakest point of the blanket-like ash.<br />
He snapped back to reality to see the black soot which covered<br />
everything. Each step he took felt as if he too would be sucked into<br />
the eternal darkness. He ran his hand over a rock, the soot felt like<br />
snow, but it stuck to flesh like fire. Everything within the crater felt<br />
dull and lifeless, nothing could live here.<br />
The man’s new mission was to get a visual of his surroundings. He<br />
climbed to the opposite side of the crater and looked onwards.<br />
His gaze brought him towards a city, death and destruction were<br />
a common theme in this land, but this city brought it to a new<br />
meaning. The man continued on, intent on getting his questions<br />
answered.<br />
*<br />
The day was turning to night by the time the man got to the bottom<br />
of the volcano. The gray in the sky was slowly turning to black;<br />
no light could pierce its hold on the sky. The outskirts of the city<br />
were a sight to see. Cars were parked in the middle of freeways;<br />
people were frozen on the street. The city was like a piece of art,<br />
a picture of the modern life of the every-day human. The man<br />
walked to a woman holding the hand of a child. The child’s face<br />
was turned towards the volcano with a look of awe. In her hand<br />
was a small bear missing an eyeball with a few tears here and there.<br />
Her youth seemed to be ever portrayed in this still image.<br />
“What a terrible way to die,” the man said as he looked onwards.<br />
The stillness of the city was quite peaceful during the night. No<br />
sound could be heard, no lights could be seen. Nothing was wrong<br />
but that didn’t make it right. The deeper he went into the bowels of<br />
the city the more pungent the odor became death and decay turned<br />
into genocide and rot. The man was now curious as to why this was,<br />
and when he came to his answer he was more disgusted by<br />
10 <strong>Where</strong> <strong>Am</strong> I?
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