INTRODUCTION STUDENT BODY OF WORK
Each week, the teacher or the Workshop Leaders Bring to our class A new poem Which we read and analyze With our fine-tooth comb. We make love with thought...Word Written, Spoken, Read, Heard —CHARDELLE IMANI LASSITER
In her poem, ASC Poetry Leader Chardelle Imani Lassiter summarizes the process by which ASC’s weekly Creative Writing Workshop promotes engagement and healing. Through poetry, participants transform silence into communication, fear into courage, and isolation into mutual support. For people struggling with HIV/AIDS, recovery, homelessness, and other challenges, the workshop is a place of contemplation, intellectual stimulation, and creative community. It’s also a place where leadership is nurtured. This summer, for the second year in a row, workshop members who have been trained as Poetry Leaders ran the class on their own. Many thanks to Shurland H. Aird, Chardelle Imani Lassiter, monté, and Rufino Colón for keeping the creative fires burning all summer long. Regrettably, along with all there is to celebrate, there is also sad news to report. This year, our group lost two beloved participants: Sherry P. and Erik R. Nusom. Sherry was an ASC Peer Educator and Poetry Leader. She attended the first Creative Writing Workshop back in 2000, and nearly every class over the next six years. She passed away in March 2007, and we miss her dearly. Erik—another longstanding participant—passed away in October. Erik’s striking poems garnered admiration and awe, and his contributions to the group’s discussions were deeply enriching to all. We’ve reprinted some of Sherry’s and Erik’s work in this issue to honor and remember them by. I know you’ll be moved and inspired by their poems, and by every poem you encounter as you explore this new issue of Situations.
Gerry Gomez Pearlberg Workshop Leader P.S. To learn more about ASC and its Creative Writing Workshop, and to read interviews with some of our poets, visit www.ascnyc.org.
SITUATIONS 5
