Just before schools let out for the holiday break, it was announced that the Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded an Arts in Education to grant to our school, Booker T. Washington Magnet High School, to conduct a collaborative project between the Creative Writing magnet, which I teach, and our Strings magnet. The proposed project, for the second semester of this school year, will involve an exploration of Alabama’s history of racial tension and injustice that will lead to the creation of new musical/lyrical works based on the students’ experiences.

Our school’s theme for this year is “Creative Innovation,” and this collaborative project is part of that idea. Additionally, my students in the Creative Writing magnet have undertaken a range of new media projects, including our blog newsprung: art & writing in the deep south and new Twitter-based soap opera called #issasteal.  To see what we’re doing, follow @booktw_cw on both Instagram and Twitter. Of course, there will be updates, pics, and more from our ASCA-funded project there, too.