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(upbeat music)

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-: Hi, I'm Carina del Rosario,

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my students call me Ms. Carina.

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Thank you for joining me.

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I am a cultural worker and visual teaching artist.

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Now, you might not be familiar with the term

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cultural worker.

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What is that?

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Well, basically in addition to using visual art,

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I also use other things

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like poetry or writing

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to build community.

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I think stories can help us connect with each other.

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And I especially like it when stories can go along with

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a picture or a piece of art.

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A lot of times we think about that phrase,

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"A picture is worth a thousand words."

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So we're gonna kinda play with that idea.

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We're not gonna use a thousand words,

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but we are gonna use words

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in a process that's called ekphrasis.

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Ekphrasis is basically a fancy word

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to say that we're using

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literary description for a visual art.

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So, we're using words to describe in a poetic way

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or a literary way, an image that we're looking at.

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So for today, I'm gonna use the image that

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is important to me and it's an important place to me,

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and it's Chief Sealth Trail.

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I had made a collage out of it the last time,

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so the Chief Sealth Trail photo,

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and then here's my fun little collage of it, okay?

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So what you're gonna need today is

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either a picture or a collage

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or artwork of a place that's really important to you,

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and you'll need a notebook, a piece of paper and also a pen.

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So, you can use my picture of the Chief Sealth Trail

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as an example if you don't have one handy,

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or you can get a picture right in front of you.

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But as long as you're following my voice

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and my instructions,

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I think you'll be able to write beautifully

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about this place.

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So let's take a look at this image that's in front of us,

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the Chief Sealth Trail.

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Take a look at all the different parts of it.

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What I'd like you to do is pick one object

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or character from your picture, just one.

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Think about which one stands out to you

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or is interesting to you.

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Now, what I'd like you to do is open a page in your notebook

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and you're gonna do some brainstorming.

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So, for brainstorming we're just gonna come up with words

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and not judge them right away, right?

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But I want you to think of some specific words.

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I want you to think about what this object

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that you picked from your picture, what is it doing?

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Come up with verbs

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or

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adverbs

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for what your object is doing.

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Come up with about five to seven words, okay?

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So I'll give you a moment to think of those words.

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Now, sometimes I will get stuck,

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I'll come up with three, really fast.

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But I'm asking you to come up with five

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or even seven words

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just to push yourself a little bit more, okay?

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So, you might be surprised but I chose the electrical tower

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from my picture.

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And then the words that I came up with were

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standing,

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towering,

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rigidly, rigidly is an adverb,

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powering, connecting, zapping,

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extending

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and reaching.

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Okay?

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So I actually came up with eight

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'cause I kinda got on a roll

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after a little while, okay?

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So now, the next thing I want you to do is,

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that thing you chose

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to write a five to seven action words

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about verbs and adverbs.

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Can you imagine that you're that thing,

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you're that character or object from your picture.

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Now, this time what we're gonna do is,

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as we're picturing ourselves as that thing,

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I want you to ask yourself, how are you feeling?

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What are you feeling as that object

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or character?

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Here's an opportunity for us to use our imagination

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and maybe some empathy

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to try to imagine what it's like to be that thing, okay?

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So this time maybe come up with three to five feeling words.

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So take a moment to do that.

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So the words that I came up with as an electrical tower

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that would capture how I'm feeling being

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this electrical tower on top of a hill,

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tired,

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bored,

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longing,

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hot

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and alert, okay?

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So those are some examples of feelings that

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I'm having as an electrical tower.

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Now, what we're gonna do next is use these notes,

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use these ideas to come up with a short poem

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or a short story with the main character

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being the object

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or character that you chose.

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So the main character in my

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short story or poem is going to be the electrical tower.

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I am going to use it in the first person.

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So it's the electrical tower who's gonna be speaking

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in my short piece.

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But take a moment to write on your own using your notes,

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using your verbs and adverbs and your feelings.

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If you want to make it a poem, it doesn't have to rhyme.

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The only thing that I challenge you to do

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is to use sensory words,

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sensory descriptions.

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So what does it sound like

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in that place in your picture?

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What does it smell like?

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What does it look like?

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If you could touch anything in that picture,

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what would it feel to touch?

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And this one's kinda weird, what could it taste like?

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You know.

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So go ahead and take a few moments to write

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a short story or a poem

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about that thing in your picture that you've chosen,

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and I'll share you mine in just a moment.

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like I said, I chose electrical tower

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as my main character for this piece.

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Here's my poem,

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"Standing apart from you,

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"I can hear you crackling and buzzing.

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"I want to turn to you, but I have to stay here,

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"connecting others, powering their conversations

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"instead of our own.

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"My wires burn from energy pulsing within

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"from the hot afternoon sun.

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"I long to turn, to leave our post,

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"and join everyone else strolling on this path."

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So, there's my poem as an electrical tower.

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I hope that you can

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be inspired to come up with your own poem

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and maybe you can do that to any place

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that's important to you.

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Give yourself a chance to imagine being someplace,

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being something else,

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and use your own creativity to come up with something that

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sounds good to you.

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All right, thanks again for joining me.

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Again, I'm Ms. Carina del Rosario,

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cultural worker and teaching artist.

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(upbeat music)