Deep Speaks! Book Launch & Literary Reading When: 6:30 p.m., Monday, Feb. 3 Where: Savannah Theatre, 222 Bull St. Cost: Free
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Publication serves not only as a mighty incentive to keep kids interested, it provides tangible validation of their deepest selves. “When they see their names and their stories in print, the kids get really pumped,” says Dasher, who took over Deep’s daily operations last summer from founder Catherine Killingsworth, who is now teaching at Savannah Classical Academy. “They see that they matter.” The writing can also dial into hard emotions for these kids, diffusing their anger and fear into workable prose. For too many of them, the prejudice and judgments aren’t just adolescent imaginary neurosis but real bullying, and often the page is the only place to put the pain of feeling “furious, forgotten, insulted,” as DeepKid Alayna Williams writes in her poem “Tape”: People don’t treat us right because we’re a different color than what society calls normal, or larger than the average person. We get cast away. Alayna will read “Tape” on Monday with the other Deep laureate finalists, each bravely bringing the self they’ve excavated and carefully honed, a holy offering that clears space in the hell of middle school for the next crop of DeepKids. If they’re still eligible, most will sign up for Deep again. In addition to studying the craft of writing (which does not, often to their surprise, include emoticons,) these young authors are learning a valuable lesson about being human: That there’s something about owning our weirdness—a term that encompasses all the ways we imagine ourselves different from others—that can somehow neutralize the bad stuff, imaginary and real. It also helps us not to take ourselves too seriously. Back at Lulu’s, it’s almost Dasher’s turn to read at the Low-Brow Literary reading, and she shows me a passage she’s highlighted of a rotten romance novel she picked up at a thrift shop for a quarter. I catch the snortworthy phrase “nether lips.” She nervously adjusts her glasses. “Do you think it’s too weird? Not a chance. cs
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with no students present, they are taking turns reading “low brow” literature—including but not limited to arrogant celebrity tweets, James Franco’s poetry and excerpts from Miley Cyrus’ autobiography—just for kicks. These folks can handle weird. They’re also comfortable enough in their own skins to go back to one of the scariest places on earth and convince a bunch of teenagers to take their pens out of their mouths and put ink on the page. As far as I’m concerned, they are literally (and literarily!) saving the world. While the Deep mentors—called fellows—teach technical essentials like appropriate semicolon usage and how to avoid clichés, they also have a super secret mission: To show kids they’re not the only ones with awkward, embarrassing parts of themselves lurking under their hoodies—and that accessing those most vulnerable, truest selves can generate the best, most authentic writing. In other words: Weird is where the juice is, baby. While the fellows are brave, their students are even braver, since middle school is basically the worst thing that ever happened to anybody. This isolated, self-selecting chamber of social torture seems like the last place 13 year-olds would want to share the naked creativity of their precious kitten souls, but the bond forged among DeepKids supersedes the regular Mean Girl horrors in the hallways. “We create a space within a school that feels different, it feels safe,” explains Deep Executive Director Joanna Dasher, herself bearing a lovely pair of horned-rimmed, tortoiseshell frames. “And when kids feel safe, they can write fearlessly.” “Original, vivid and fearless” is how Dasher describes the kind of awardwinning writing Deep produces. Nominated for the five-year-old program by their language arts teachers, DeepKids meet with their fellows once a week after school through the spring and fall semesters, responding to prompts and refining their work. The best of their stories and poetry are polished and then published in a real, live book. And as if putting their personal stories out into the world isn’t terrifying enough (*gulp*), some of these courageous kids will tell their stories out loud at the latest Deep Speaks! Book Launch this Monday, Feb. 3 at the Savannah Theatre.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF DRAGONFLY PHOTOGRAPHY
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