CREATIVE WRITING

at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts in San Francisco

Welcome! CW develops the art and craft of creative writing through instruction, collaboration, and respect. This blog showcases STUDENT WRITING and how to APPLY to Creative Writing.

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  • First Annual Youth Poet Laureate Competition

    “… the Oakland Public Library and San Francisco Public Library, in partnership with Youth Speaks (the country’s leading nonprofit presenter of spoken word performance, education and youth development programs), are staging competitions that will result in two Youth Poet Laureates, one from each city. The winners will each be honored with $5,000 in scholarships and the opportunity to officially represent their communities through poetry, media, and public appearances.”

    To read more, go to: YOUTHSPEAKS

  • CW on Jean-Michel Basquiat

    Senior Alex Pollack brought to our already-extensive table today Jean-Michel Basquiat, an American graffiti artist from the 80s. Armed with printouts of Basquiat’s art, he led the Cdubs on a ruminating discussion on Basquiat’s use of symbols, repetition, and his political stance, all in frame of Basquiat’s intriguing blend of visual art and words. After our discussion, we were assigned to create our own mixture of drawing and writing through whatever topic and medium we wish. The class set to work, each individual’s piece earnestly reflecting their ideas and creative processes.

    They’re so cool.

  • Songwriting à la CW

    How many Creative Writers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

    Heck if I know, but I do know how many Cdubs it takes to write a song.

    …Or maybe not. But I do know, for sure this time, that whatever song however many Cdubs write, it is guaranteed to be quality.

    Jules Cunningham, sophomore, is our resident Tom Waits groupie-stalker (by his own claim). He began class with songs/poems by Tom Waits, then, giddy in his fanboying haze, told everyone to split up into groups of three or four and emulate the style: poetry with accompanying music to set the scene, to fill in the blanks the words left.

    The result? Half an hour of wonderful entertainment, ranging from spoken word with drumming, to songs with actual melodies, to taiko drumming and rapping. Today, Creative Writers showcased our set of truly diverse talents, musically or otherwise. Special mention goes to the Alex/Shanna/Sophia trio, who performed the instant hit and doubtless CW classic, “Everybody Poops.”

    “Hey guys! What makes you poop?”

  • Writing Through Eliot

    Yes yes, I know. If I tell you how much I love the people in our department again you’ll rip out my coccyx and shank me with it.

    But. I love the people in our department.

    Take Nick, for example, one of our darling freshmen with a passion for Eliot. He took Creative Writing on an excursion to the sunny patch of slick green grass and wildflowers (real life is allowed to take liberties with clichés) and spirited us away to the world of “The Waste Land,” “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” and an excerpt from “Four Quartets.”

    The sun reflected white against the paper, framing everything in a quixotic light. Nick read through the selections unhurriedly, his cadence posing a striking complement to the weather, bringing about not lethargy, but utter entrancement that kneads at your cerebrum, pressing in indents, impressions you know will remain for the rest of your life.

    At least, it’s not something I’ll soon forget. Eliot, combined with Nick, had a very regal way of commanding attention. Thank you very much, Nick, for sharing this intimate part of you with us. I’ve read parts of “The Waste Land” before and liked it fine, but you brought fresh, almost cinematic intricacies to the poetry. Mykel said it best, I thought, that this entire experience left us “feeling like a Fellini film.” I really hope sharing our favorite poetry becomes a Creative Writing tradition, because sometimes, the reverent way a person treats a poem he or she likes can be far more intimate and bonding than any community day activity.

    Tomorrow, we continue with our Students-in-Residence classes. The one and only Jules Cunningham will be sharing his aptitude for songwriting, and senior Alex Pollack will take over on Thursday with a poet yet to be determined.

     

  • summer creative writing programs

    Do you love creative writing so much that you would like to participate in a creative writing summer program?  If so, you are in luck.  Teen Ink has compiled a list of the best creative writing programs for high school students:

    http://www.teenink.com/Summer/

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  • orchestra concert at SOTA

    Orchestra Concert
    Saturday, May 5 at 7:30 pm
    Pre-concert talk at 6:30
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    with special guest artist Paul Yarbrough, violist and founding member of the Alexander String Quartet

    Adults: $10; Students & Seniors: $5
    Dan Kryston Memorial Theater
    Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts [map]

    The SOTA Orchestra ends the season with a flourish
    as we congratulate violinists Kenneth Renshaw and
    Alina Kobialka for their splendid performances at this
    year’s Menuhin Competition. This final concert will
    feature Mr. Renshaw and Ms. Kobialka along with
    other accomplished musicians of the SOTA Orchestra
    performing works including Bach’s Concerto for Violin
    in E Major, with Mr. Renshaw as soloist, Vladimir Martynov’s Come In, Janacek’s Suite for Strings,
    and Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5. 

    Join us one hour before curtain for a pre-concert talk with Paul Yarbrough. Mr. Yarbrough is a frequent soloist with orchestras and has given solo performances throughout the United States. He and his quartet colleagues have been honored for their ongoing service to the arts and education.

     

  • african-american authors at the sf main library

    from sf gate:

    Bay Area Authors Speak Out

    Sunday, May 6 2:00pm
    at San Francisco Main Library, San Francisco, CA

    The World as Seen Through the Eyes of Black Authors – San Francisco Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and the African American Center of the San Francisco Public Library presents lively readings and discussion by three authors: Jacqueline Luckett – Searching for Tina Turner and Passing Love; Beatrice Toney Bailey – Farewell My Friend; Ron Bryan – Maximillion Slaughter. read more

  • 4/27 – Stalker

    This is the second to last Cine/club! Take advantage.

    FRIDAY APRIL 27 DOLBY SCREENING ROOM 100 Potrero Ave
    Refreshments 6:30 Film 7pm

    Andrei Tarkovsky’s STALKER (1979, Russia)

    A different kind of science fiction–a journey through “The Zone” to find the room where wishes come true. Come stretch your mind.

    “The film itself has become synonymous both with cinema’s claims to high art and a test of the viewer’s ability to appreciate it as such. Anyone sharing Cate Blanchett’s enthusiasm for it – “every single frame of the film is burned into my retina” – attests not just to the director’s lofty purity of purpose, but to their own capacity to survive at the challenging peaks of human achievement.”

    –“Danger! High-radiation arthouse!”

  • national playwriting competition

    From the SOTA mainstage to New York, here is an opportunity to keep the momentum from the Playwriting Unit going: YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS INC.

  • And We’re Back

    After a busy busy week of playwriting and writing plays, we are finally back, ladies and gentlemen, quickly checking in.

    You may know this man as a wind-up bunny, a lazy tiger, or perhaps a swarm of bees (all of the bees). Our resident playwright and furry-by-coercion, Isaiah was an invaluable presence in our weeks of blood and tears in writing and practicing our plays, so kudos to him for dealing with our bunch of endearingly deranged Cdubs. This was also the only picture I have on my camera, alongside all the videos, so. Videos! More to come on our Playwriting unit! Check in later for exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of never-before-seen secrets and surprises, oh my! Or something like that. It’s mostly me throwing fake money at the camera. Secret to our success, guys. All of the legitimacy.

    STAR testing this week! What does this mean for Creative Writing, you ask? Nothing much, actually. And you probably didn’t ask, but whatever. We are once more at the freelancing stage of our department’s heart and soul, scouring the mountains and deserts for Artists-in-Residence and soaking up their masterful artistry like the heinously dry sponges we are. Creative Writing gives “hanging us out to dry” a completely new meaning. How’s that for imagery?

    Speaking of imagery, here’s an excerpt from Heather’s email of Thanks (capital T, you know that’s right). Unfortunately, formatting disallows me to portray the message in its original, exuberant series of bright neon highlights, but here is my best:

    Thank-you to Carol LeMaitre for her fabulous work on the plays and to Carol and Joe for spontaneously hosting our first-ever post-performance party–it was GREAT!

    Thank you A.S. Cobb for all your valuable coaching rehearsal week. You made an enormous difference, Officer Plank!

    Thank you, Isaiah, for your dedication, patience, and animal magnetism. It’s only a matter of time before you’ll be on the Discovery Channel.

    Finally and mostly, tsunami love for our Production Goddess, Keira, whose knowledge and understanding of theater, tech, and human nature is apparently inexhaustible (as is her absolutely wicked sense of humor). Four four years she has worked tirelessly to transform writers into actors, with results that are nothing less than magic.

    Thanks to Keira, the students have developed better listening skills, deepened their ability to work together, learned basic stagecraft, and become more aware of the relationship between page and stage. But most of all, Keira has helped the students discover resources they did not know they possessed. They move forward with greater confidence in their own abilities–and for this we owe her an enormous debt of gratitude.

    Love,
    Heather