We’re learning how to tell a story, step by step. To eek out some of the details, we’ve been ending workshops with freewriting sessions that can be organized or written in any way; this can include bulleting, outlining, listed sentences, and a myriad of other ways of getting thoughts down on paper. Today, we took that to a whole new level; not only did we do our typical freewrites, we intentionally made them run-on sentences to force us into considering the difference between conversational and formal narrative arcs!
To help us out, we took in the lessons of Ariana Brown in her “Ode to Thrift Stores”, where she reflects on what’s been passed on to her:
This workshop focused on inheritance, so run-on sentences were a fun way to mimic the unstumbling roll of time and how nothing in life is a period, but a dash, or an indent, or a semi-colon that’s trying to figure out if it’s a comma or a colon. Check out some of the poems from my sixth writing workshop with Ms. Nazimek’s 8th Grade English class:
Group 1
Lesley R.
My dad drew as a little kid, he would draw in class and his classmates
Will say stuff like “ooo” and “ahh” at his art work. As a teen he would pack
Up spray paint and a mask to not smell the spray paint and run off to the
Alleys in Mexico. He went to the US and met my mom and drew her & her
Name many times. Then they had me, but my dad never stopped drawing, he loved
Drawing me as a baby. Now as a little kid, my dad will show me how
To draw simple things. As I got older, my drawing skills have been better, but
Not as good as my dad. Now I just like to spray paint like my dad, so
I can just be like my dad even more.
Amelia B.
Anything, so you mean I can write about the life cycle of a
Fish, plant, flower, the Earth, sspace, the universe, Without using
Any sort of stopping punctuation or even describe why there’s
Any punctuation, why are there periods, or commas, or colons and semicolons
And why the semi-colon is just a colon but it had an
Identity crisis and didn’t know whether to be a comma or
A colon or a dash on a line, as in lines in math
Equations, or why in every math problem, Jimmy has to
Buy 10 watermelons and subtract 2, how much is left
In his bank account, or why I’m not given any
Instruction or what to write in a reading assignment
Like I always am?
Oops, I stopped the run-on sentence.
“All Thanks to my Parents”
Yazmin J.
I have learned lots of things…
To always be respectful,
To always try my best in everything I do,
To always care for others,
All thanks to my parents.
I have learned other things…
To speak, write and read Spanish, the family language
To always think about others first,
Tips on how to make my drawing skills better,
All thanks to my parents.
There is also some more to this…
I inherited my traits thanks to my parents’ chromosomes,
The teached me how to use my record player and take care of my discs
To take care of my belongings, and many more…
All thanks to my parents.
Group 3
“Gold Ring to Marie”
Naomi G.
Two gold rings with dark red stones on them
That have been passed down 2 generations before me.
Making me the third generation, i guess you can say the rings have been passed down marie to marie, it all started when my grandma rosa marie bought the rings from a spot in
Puerto Rico and then gave to my mom, Marie, for her 8th
grade present, then they were given to me, Naomi Marie, as a gift
My grandma has also passed down her middle
Name Marie as a first name to my mom and
My mom gave me and my 2 younger sister the
name Marie as our middle name.
Azriel V.
Traits are something you inherit
Something that makes you unique.
Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s looks, sometimes it’s tradition
Or that weird thing your family does
Traits make you unique
A trait i inherited from my family or parents
May seem like it’s dumb or stupid but it isnt:
It’s my family’s wisdom, things that they’ve known for about
As long as the family’s name lives on I suppose
Wisdom that helps most of the time and sometimes it’s good, sometimes
It’s bad; sometimes I believe it; sometimes, I don’t.
All I know is that it’s a trait:
Something that makes me unique and great.
“NOT MY NAME”
Aaliyah M.
Deeana-D-E-E-A-N-A, not my name but my mom’s, people
Call me that thought & I turn around all confused like what I’m
Aaliyah not Deeana ohhhhh they say, feeling pretty stupid I thought
You were your mom I get that a lot even my wela who lives
With me maybe once a year maybe twice calls me Deeana, but
I just don’t see it — in her eyes, I don’t look like her at all at least not
Enough to be confused with her but I mean, i guess everyone is different.
Group 2
“My Name”
Paul G.
My pops passed down his name.
And i will carry it on for generations and
Generations to come, I will name my kid Paul
And he will name his kid Paul and over and over
Again, I was passed down a name but I don’t want
To be like the one before it, I want to be better
In every way, I want a better life, I want my kids
To have a better life. It was passed down to me
And I will continue to pass it down till Paul
The 32nd, or something like that.
“Passing Down”
Nadya F.
When people say ‘passing down’ they think of family passing down clothes or objects
But there’s more to it
Like my dad passed down my last name,
My hair traits, and eye color.
My mom passed down her hair color.
My parents passed down her language and my cousin Passed down
Her sweater, the thrift store passed down their shirt
The musicians passed down their music for other generations to
Listen to.
“All Thanks to my Parents”
Yazmin J.
I have learned lots of things…
To always be respectful,
To always try my best in everything I do,
To always care for others,
All thanks to my parents.
I have learned other things…
To speak, write and read Spanish, the family language
To always think about others first,
Tips on how to make my drawing skills better,
All thanks to my parents.
There is also some more to this…
I inherited my traits thanks to my parents’ chromosomes,
The teached me how to use my record player and take care of my discs
To take care of my belongings, and many more…
All thanks to my parents.
