(upbeat music)
-: Hi, I'm Carina del Rosario,
my students call me Ms. Carina.
Thank you for joining me.
I am a cultural worker and visual teaching artist.
Now, you might not be familiar with the term
cultural worker.
What is that?
Well, basically in addition to using visual art,
I also use other things
like poetry or writing
to build community.
I think stories can help us connect with each other.
And I especially like it when stories can go along with
a picture or a piece of art.
A lot of times we think about that phrase,
"A picture is worth a thousand words."
So we're gonna kinda play with that idea.
We're not gonna use a thousand words,
but we are gonna use words
in a process that's called ekphrasis.
Ekphrasis is basically a fancy word
to say that we're using
literary description for a visual art.
So, we're using words to describe in a poetic way
or a literary way, an image that we're looking at.
So for today, I'm gonna use the image that
is important to me and it's an important place to me,
and it's Chief Sealth Trail.
I had made a collage out of it the last time,
so the Chief Sealth Trail photo,
and then here's my fun little collage of it, okay?
So what you're gonna need today is
either a picture or a collage
or artwork of a place that's really important to you,
and you'll need a notebook, a piece of paper and also a pen.
So, you can use my picture of the Chief Sealth Trail
as an example if you don't have one handy,
or you can get a picture right in front of you.
But as long as you're following my voice
and my instructions,
I think you'll be able to write beautifully
about this place.
So let's take a look at this image that's in front of us,
the Chief Sealth Trail.
Take a look at all the different parts of it.
What I'd like you to do is pick one object
or character from your picture, just one.
Think about which one stands out to you
or is interesting to you.
Now, what I'd like you to do is open a page in your notebook
and you're gonna do some brainstorming.
So, for brainstorming we're just gonna come up with words
and not judge them right away, right?
But I want you to think of some specific words.
I want you to think about what this object
that you picked from your picture, what is it doing?
Come up with verbs
or
adverbs
for what your object is doing.
Come up with about five to seven words, okay?
So I'll give you a moment to think of those words.
Now, sometimes I will get stuck,
I'll come up with three, really fast.
But I'm asking you to come up with five
or even seven words
just to push yourself a little bit more, okay?
So, you might be surprised but I chose the electrical tower
from my picture.
And then the words that I came up with were
standing,
towering,
rigidly, rigidly is an adverb,
powering, connecting, zapping,
extending
and reaching.
Okay?
So I actually came up with eight
'cause I kinda got on a roll
after a little while, okay?
So now, the next thing I want you to do is,
that thing you chose
to write a five to seven action words
about verbs and adverbs.
Can you imagine that you're that thing,
you're that character or object from your picture.
Now, this time what we're gonna do is,
as we're picturing ourselves as that thing,
I want you to ask yourself, how are you feeling?
What are you feeling as that object
or character?
Here's an opportunity for us to use our imagination
and maybe some empathy
to try to imagine what it's like to be that thing, okay?
So this time maybe come up with three to five feeling words.
So take a moment to do that.
So the words that I came up with as an electrical tower
that would capture how I'm feeling being
this electrical tower on top of a hill,
tired,
bored,
longing,
hot
and alert, okay?
So those are some examples of feelings that
I'm having as an electrical tower.
Now, what we're gonna do next is use these notes,
use these ideas to come up with a short poem
or a short story with the main character
being the object
or character that you chose.
So the main character in my
short story or poem is going to be the electrical tower.
I am going to use it in the first person.
So it's the electrical tower who's gonna be speaking
in my short piece.
But take a moment to write on your own using your notes,
using your verbs and adverbs and your feelings.
If you want to make it a poem, it doesn't have to rhyme.
The only thing that I challenge you to do
is to use sensory words,
sensory descriptions.
So what does it sound like
in that place in your picture?
What does it smell like?
What does it look like?
If you could touch anything in that picture,
what would it feel to touch?
And this one's kinda weird, what could it taste like?
You know.
So go ahead and take a few moments to write
a short story or a poem
about that thing in your picture that you've chosen,
and I'll share you mine in just a moment.
like I said, I chose electrical tower
as my main character for this piece.
Here's my poem,
"Standing apart from you,
"I can hear you crackling and buzzing.
"I want to turn to you, but I have to stay here,
"connecting others, powering their conversations
"instead of our own.
"My wires burn from energy pulsing within
"from the hot afternoon sun.
"I long to turn, to leave our post,
"and join everyone else strolling on this path."
So, there's my poem as an electrical tower.
I hope that you can
be inspired to come up with your own poem
and maybe you can do that to any place
that's important to you.
Give yourself a chance to imagine being someplace,
being something else,
and use your own creativity to come up with something that
sounds good to you.
All right, thanks again for joining me.
Again, I'm Ms. Carina del Rosario,
cultural worker and teaching artist.
(upbeat music)