This Week @ NewComm: LIFTOFF

Dear NewComm Community,

It brings me immense joy to share with you the remarkable progress and heartwarming experiences we have had during the first phase of our pilot program, FELLOWS. The journey has been nothing short of magical, as eleven talented young minds from five different schools have come together in a unique partnership to create a $10,000 social impact project using literature as our guiding force.

One of the highlights of our program was the incredible opportunity to engage in a thought-provoking conversation with the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning director, Barry Jenkins. Our Fellows were particularly struck by Barry's remarkable upbringing, overcoming the challenges of having a mother struggling with addiction to crack cocaine. His journey, driven by a rigorous commitment to self-education, has led him to become the acclaimed filmmaker he is today.

Barry's personal story resonated deeply with our Fellows, serving as a powerful reminder that our backgrounds and circumstances need not define our future. His example exemplifies the transformative power of storytelling, inspiring our young participants to embrace their own narratives and use them as a driving force to create positive change.

Our exploration began by delving deep into Sandra Cisneros' masterpiece A House on Mango Street using our literary science framework. Through this lens, our Fellows have gained a profound and nuanced understanding of the natural and man-made asset stocks that exist within our communities. It has been awe-inspiring to witness their growth as they uncover the layers of meaning embedded in the text.

In addition to literary analysis, our Fellows have embarked on a journey of introspection to explore how these assets manifest in their own lives. This reflective work has allowed them to recognize the wealth of resources they possess, empowering them to harness their individual strengths and embrace their roles as agents of change within their communities.

Equipped with newfound knowledge and self-awareness, we have also provided our Fellows with essential writing skills, enabling them to confidently communicate their discoveries on paper and through public speaking. These skills will undoubtedly serve them well as they continue to explore the profound impact literature can have on social change.

While the FELLOWS program demands rigor and dedication, I am thrilled to share that our participants are thoroughly enjoying themselves. Their enthusiasm and passion shine through in every discussion, every project brainstorming session, and every word they write. It is a testament to their incredible spirit and the incredible support from our dedicated mentors.

As we look ahead to the next phase of the program, I am filled with anticipation for the wonderful projects our Fellows will create. The combination of their creativity, intellectual rigor, and compassionate hearts holds immense promise for the positive change they will bring to our communities.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the parents, educators, mentors, and partners who have made this program possible. Your unwavering support and belief in the power of literature as a catalyst for change have set the stage for an extraordinary journey.

Let us continue to nurture the passion for storytelling, social impact, and personal growth within our FELLOWS community. Together, we can inspire a generation of empathetic, articulate, and compassionate individuals who will shape a brighter future for us all.

With boundless gratitude and excitement,

Chidi

Founder and CEO, NewComm PROJECT

RESOURCES THAT HAVE INFORMED OUR WORK THIS WEEK:

Sandra Cisneros: "It's only when I write poetry that I explore"

• The writer discusses her revealing new book of poetry, “Woman Without Shame,” her peripatetic life, and that infamous blurb for “American Dirt.” “A poem is never done,” the writer Sandra Cisneros told me in July, over dinner at La Posadita, a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende, the Mexican city where she’s lived for almost ten years. [...] We had met to talk about her new poetry collection, “Woman Without Shame”. The sixty-seven-year-old Cisneros is the author of short stories, personal essays, novels, and three previous poetry collections. But she is best known for “The House on Mango Street,” a semi-autobiographical novel in vignettes that conjures a hardscrabble childhood in nineteen-sixties Chicago. First published by Houston’s Arte Público Press in 1984, and reissued by Vintage in 1991, it has become a coming-of-age classic, one that’s read in classrooms across the country and has sold more than six million copies. […]?“It’s more my journal than my journal. My journals are like hieroglyphics. If you look at my journal, you won’t understand a phrase or a name or a quote. It won’t explain where things come from. It’s only when I write poetry that I explore”, Cisneros says." / New Yorker

Using Theatre to Promote Healing and Justice Around the World

• "Professor Brent Blair understands that theatre is an art form that democratizes dialogue – and that can change the world. On his recent sabbatical, he traveled to Rwanda to research the power in working with communities to rewrite their narratives – creating space for healing and the possibilities for justice. Since 1991, Professor Blair, who is the founding director of SDA’s Institute for Theatre & Social Change, has been practicing Theatre of the Oppressed, a form of activist theatre [...]. In this work audience become active members of the performance, acting out parts in plays dealing with real-life scenarios of suffering, political oppression or injustice. The effect can be radical: participants can gain greater empathy, experience healing, or become motivated to make social changes that otherwise. [...] “Theatre of the Oppressed is traditionally dedicated to the notion that social transformation is material,” Blair explains. “However, a lot of people I’ve been working with are people of faith.” Blair points to Rwanda as an example of where faith plays a complex role, both in pain and healing. Many of the perpetrators of the horrific genocide there were people of faith—but the victims of the genocide today are also spiritual, and faith is an important part of their healing." / Dramatic Arts

Book Launch of "Frontera Común": Defending Human Rights between Colombia and Venezuela

• "Today, Civil Rights Defenders launches the book Frontera Común (Shared Border), which gathers six?experiences of human rights defenders who risk their lives along the dividing line between Colombia and Venezuela. It is written in Spanish and contains personal stories from human rights defenders in the region, as well as recommendations on how to address the region’s problems.?The border between Colombia and Venezuela is one of Latin America’s most complicated places to defend human rights. It is a territory marked by multiple open wounds, unresolved historical tensions, and latent violent conflicts. At the same time, there are ancestral ties, struggles for justice, social processes, and binational roots that, amid the deepest diversity, make this place a common space.?The book, Frontera Común, gathers the experience of those who defend life and rights in this hostile place. [...]??“In the years we have worked in the border region between the two countries, we have been impressed by the resistance of women, indigenous peoples and farmers and their ability to stay in the territory despite all the violence. This book portrays the path we have taken to build ties between civil society in Colombia and Venezuela,” says Erik Jennische, director of the Latin America Department at Civil Rights Defenders [...]." / Civil Rights Defenders

Two Bronx Hospitals Receive New Art Murals as Part of Citywide Art Expansion

• "Two Bronx NYC Health + Hospitals are about to get a new splash of color, as several artists across the city will create 20 new murals for the NYC Health + Hospitals’ Arts in Medicine program, the largest public art collection in the city with more than 7,000 pieces of artwork. [...] In total 10 artists have been selected for the project, including a Bronx-based artist Tijay Mohammed, who is designing a mural for Harlem Hospital Center. [...] The new murals are a part of the next wave of art projects for the NYC Health + Hospitals’ Community Mural Project, which launched in 2019 and had 26 murals highlighted in?Healing Walls: New York City Health + Hospitals Community Mural Project 2019-2021. […]?The health system’s public art collection includes historic murals commissioned through the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, paintings, mosaics, photographs, sculptures, installation art and murals. The pretense of art in hospitals, according to studies and city health officials, can reduce feelings of anxiety amongst patients. The artwork is also designed to alleviate the city’s health care workers experiencing burnout from a marathon pandemic and those working in low-income communities, which the health system states is the bulk of their patient populations." / Bronx Times

FEATURED CONTENT:

From YouTube: Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins explores Kerry James Marshall’s "Black and part Black Birds in America" with PROGRAM host Helen Molesworth

INSIDE NEWCOMM:

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