Good to the last word!

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Hazelwood West Writers Week! The student enthusiasm and participation with my presentation, onstage and off, was truly amazing! My hat's off to Doug~ Jodi & the Writers Week Planning Team~many thanks for inviting me to be a part of this phenomenal writers event!

I stayed and enjoyed Judy Larsen's presentation. I must admit that the student readings were the best treat of all; indeed good to the last word! The diverse range of readings touched on issues of suicide, eating disorders, loss of loved ones, and religion. There was a Katrina survival story, a political protest song done in true Dylan style, and a humourous "fake" book report. While sitting in the audience, waiting for the 7th hour student presentations, the laughing eyes and smiling face of Kelsey asked me for a copy of Uncensored Temptation, and then shared a poem that she had written during 4th hour; a most sweet piece of lace. Then to go on the Writers Week Blog and find the following student comments~well words do fail:

Posted by Shelby Barnes on April 14, 2009 at 10:10pm
...Annette Crymes was another great author who I learned a lot from. Annette shared her poem "That's How It Goes” with us and also told us where she got her inspiration from. It surprised me when she told me she got inspiration from songs and scenes from movies. She called it, “writing from pictures.” The inspiration for part of the poem she shared came from a scene from Forrest Gump. Prior to Writer's Week I had never thought of getting inspiration from songs or movies. Annette Crymes favorite line that she wrote, "I one abused stand accused for the pain of the choice that others choose." was one of the most powerful lines that I had heard during Writer's Week. I loved how she asked the audience what their opinions were and tried to connect with them, rather than just lecturing.

Reply by Ryan Schuster on April 4, 2009 at 12:55am
I really enjoyed Ms Crymes presentation. I loved her enthusiasm and her obvious passion for what she does. I also liked the poem alot and loved the Forrest Gump reference. I plan on going out and trying to find Uncensored Temptation because I'm sure it would be a great read.

Posted by Matt Lakamp on April 7, 2009 at 10:26pm
Day 2 was very similar to Day 1 for me. It started out with a so-so presentation from Annette Crymes. Her presentation, which consisted almost entirely of an in-depth explantion of her poem "That's How it Goes", was unable to hold my attention. It was a fine poem, but I think she would've been better off including more of her other poetry than her line-by-line explanation of one poem. Then, just like in Day 1, I was blown away by the student presentations later in the day. I was particularly impressed by Katie Noel's essay during the second hour session. Not only was her writing excellent, but the courage she showed by getting up there and sharing her heart-wrenching story was truly touching. I couldn't have done that. The day ended on a sour note because I was unable to see Nick Dobelman's essay, which I heard was great. Overall though, a great day.

Posted by Kirsten on April 8, 2009 at 6:37pm
Since WW day 1 was so good I was so ready for day 2.Annette Crymes was great. I was laughing and I loved the way she did her presentation. I like the way she was showing how pictures show so many words and that individuality has such a big part of prose. Annette was also very funny, which added to her presentation. I was never bored.Annette quotes>“You can curse without cursing. OH KAY!""The boom boom word, ya know the B-word.""When painting prose it's all about individuality.""Write what you know. Write what you feel, don't worry about grammar or composition."I learned a lot when listening to Judy Larson. I didn't think that going into WW I would be really "learning" anything, but more finding inspiration. However through Judy Larson’s presentation I learned a lot about the publishing aspect of writing. Also I really liked how Judy wasn’t afraid of telling the audience all the troubles she had with her writing and publishing process. It just shows how much work writing really is and that "just being a writer" isn't a breeze.Judy Larson quote>"I spent 2 years writing a story and I didn't even know how to write it."

Posted by Taylor L. Courtney on April 5, 2009 at 7:39pm
So I must say, so far, today has been one of my most enjoyable parts of Writer's Week. I got to see Annette twice; once in first hour and once in third hour. She was so enjoyable to watch, and extremely enthusiastic-her stage presence was huge.I have to admit, that when she first got on stage, I didn't quite know what to make of her. She seemed like any old guest speaker. I imagined she would get up on stage, give her bit about writing, and then be done. But Annette did so much more than that. She got the audience involved in the discussion, asked us for our input and ideas, and I really liked that. Plus, the fact that she threw a book blindly into the audience (look out!) added extra "Like" points to my perception of her.My zinger line for the day (although I don't think it's much of a zinger by some standards, but I like it anyway) is when Annette said "Ghettos are ghettos are ghettos. It's all about oppression." I really like this line because I'm tired of a lot of conversations turning into something about racial remarks and stereotypes.Hearing Annette talk about her poem "That's How It Goes" gave me a new idea of what it could be meaning. Like when she talked about the dark side of town. Originally, I had thought of the dark side of town as a rundown part of a downtown city, with trash-filled alleys and rats and homeless people on the curbs. But then Annette asked if the dark side of town could be a suburb. And I surprised myself, because I couldn't say no. It made me think of the "dark side of town" in a different way.My favorite part of the day had to be when Annette started calling people up on stage. Oh, Damon. "See, lil' Pookie was runnin' from the police, and Pookie got shot. It wasn't his fault. The cops brought him down". Damon, I have to ask...What kind of name is Pookie?I liked when Annette talked about using imagery and uncommon words to tell a story. In her poem "That's How It Goes", the imagery and descriptions that she used really helped me to see what she was talking about. When she talked about the song reference that she used in her poem, it made me think of some lyrics from a song that I like. It's from a song by a band called Thriving Ivory, and the song's name is Angels on the Moon. Great song. The lyrics are beautiful. My favorite lines go like this:Yeah, you can tell me all your thoughts about the stars that fill polluted skies, and show me where you run to when no one's left to take your side. But don't tell me where the road ends, 'cause I just don't wanna know, no I don't wanna know.It made me wonder if I could try to incorporate a song into a poem of my own. So now, I've got something to work on.And I can't wait till day three! :D