 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| | | | | | | |
Volume IV, No. 1/November 2001
Hispanic Writers Inspire and Give Hope
By Naomi Ayala
This last June, six writers representing Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico – living in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. – took to elementary and middle schools in the Boston Public Schools to provide 24 presentations and workshops to 218 students.
For many students, this was their first time meeting an author. They showered each one with questions about writing and the writing process, about love, life and world issues, about identity and struggles with language, affirming the key place of poetry in Latino culture and daily life.
Students’ poems were rich with lively expression. Some celebrated Latino identity, food, music, culture. Others explored the divide between two cultures and students’ struggle to harmonize two worlds. True to the social and economic struggle being faced by many of the students participating in the program, some poems explored personal survival and the determination to hang fast to hope.
The week-long program also had great impact on teachers, who worked with authors and the staff of the Hispanic Writers Program to ensure both an enjoyable and educational experience for their students. These teachers also took part in writing exercises and enjoyed the opportunity of writing alongside their students. In this way, many students shared the power and vulnerability of writing with their teachers as partners, and shared their visions about the power of literature to bring about change.
Teachers and students were not the only beneficiaries of the program. Authors themselves were inspired by the commitment of so many teachers to the betterment of today’s Latino youth in the face of so many difficult challenges for education. And, students themselves made a truly strong impression, renewing everyone’s hope for the future.
Naomi Ayala is a poet and author of Wild Animals on the Moon.
