About This Blog
“Thought flows in terms of stories - stories about events, stories about people, and stories about intentions and achievements. The best teachers are the best story tellers. We learn in the form of stories.” -Frank Smith
This blog is dedicated to providing a place where Edison College students, or any member of the Edison College family, can tell their stories through poetry, art, words and images. We invite you to share your voices and experiences - the good and the bad - as they relate to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, first language, (dis)ability, and other social and cultural identifiers. It is our hope that others will read, view, contemplate, and learn from the story tellers, and offer their own contributions in response.
Poetry Workshops
For these workshop, students are asked to begin with images that mean something to them personally, something relating to a particular theme. Next, students brain-storm a list of words evocative of the feelings associated with their chosen image. From these words evolve the poems found on this site. You may choose to browse poems by date or category as listed on the right.
Share Your Contributions
You don’t have to wait to be asked. If you have a story to tell about your experiences with diversity, tell it here. You can write it, sing it, film it, draw or paint it. As long as you can capture your expressions in digital format, you can email them to Dr. Mireille Lauture at mlauture@edison.edu for posting to this site. All submissions will be reviewed to be sure they are appropriate for public viewing.
A word about words: Bigotry . . . hatred . . . genocide . . . intolerance . . . are not pretty. Sometimes, neither are the words used to describe them. Submissions accepted for this site are posted as submitted. Readers are cautioned that strong language may be found in a few poems or essays. The site moderator will strive to exercise judgment in this regard. Submissions with excessive use of strong language will not be posted to this site.
We ask that those submitting comments to the postings on this site:
- Recognize that the postings reflect lived experiences and personal perspectives, and should be respected accordingly.
- Speak from your own experience instead of generalizing (”I” instead of “they,” “we,” and “you”).
- Are not afraid to respectfully challenge one another by asking questions, but refrain from personal attacks — focus on ideas.
- Participate to the fullest of your ability — community growth depends on the inclusion of every individual voice.
- Instead of invalidating somebody else’s story with your own spin on their experience, share your own story and experience.
- Remember that the goal is not to agree — it is about hearing and exploring divergent perspectives.
