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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DEBBIE YEARWOOD<br />
THEA: [Holding her nose. Nasally she adds] He doesn’t smell gross.<br />
TED: [Covering his eyes] He doesn’t look gross. [He then bumps into<br />
Jerry who takes a swing and misses]<br />
THEA: [Observing the bears’ behavior and laughing] He doesn’t<br />
even act gross.<br />
JERRY: [Sarcastic and agitated] I get it, he’s perfect for her!<br />
TED: But scientifically speaking, he is. Excuse me if I’m wrong,<br />
but are you sure you don’t like Nick for the right reasons? Or are<br />
you just afraid of losing her?<br />
JERRY: I’m not going to listen to this nonsense!<br />
THEA: Ted has a point, Jerry! Maybe you’re too afraid of her growing<br />
up?<br />
JERRY: I’m not afraid of her growing up! If I was, we would have<br />
been having this conversation back in high school when she grew<br />
up too fast! For Christ’s sake she was pregnant at 17! That followed<br />
by the termination is enough to make anyone grow up too fast. But<br />
no, she had to deal with the bullying and the lying! The pressure of<br />
school, and the pressure of her peers! She stopped being my child,<br />
the day she went to Kindergarten. From that day forward, it’s been<br />
up to her teachers, her parents, and her friends to watch over her<br />
because I can’t leave this bed. And yeah maybe that’s why I’m always<br />
pissed off. Because I can’t be there to protect her anymore. Because<br />
I have to trust that Nick won’t turn out like Tommy and Seth, and<br />
Sam. I have to trust that Jenny and Emi and Leah will always be<br />
there to support her because I can’t. I had to stop talking to her the<br />
day she entered kindergarten, because that was the day I realized that<br />
she was going to have to grow up, and if she wanted to live a sane<br />
Southeast Alaska <strong>Student</strong> <strong>Anthology</strong><br />
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