**GABRIELLA'S POSTING:

Hearing the laughter of the adults and children fill my ears. I’m different.

I’m colored.

Why can’t I be like the rest of the kids?

Is being colored bad?

My mind starts racing faster and faster.

I look around trying to find the only person that can give me my answers.

Nanny.

I waited and waited until the sun started to slowly rise down.

There my nanny was waiting for me.

I start to run up to her feeling relieved.

She smiled and asked about my day.

I ignored the question and quickly blurted it out: Are we different?

Nanny took my hand and walked us home answering all my questions that evening.

Nanny?

Yes child?

Why are we different?

As Nanny uncovers the truth different thoughts come raising through my mind. Are there more like me? Why did god choose me as the outcast?

So many questions pile through my head. I thanked nanny and went off to bed without any smile on my face. Looking back Nanny sees Janie’s sad face going off to bed. She could tell Janie isn’t happy with whom she is. A Black Woman. **

ADISA'S POSTING: THE ILLUSION OF MALENESS

Your jaw clenches

You can feel your face redden

Their laughter rings in your ears

And there she stands

Smugly

Knowingly

How dare she?

A warm summer's day,

You couldn't have been older than five

You can't remember the reason,

But you remember the pain

The torrent of blows

The agonizing stinging

How much you wanted to cry

And how when you tried to,

He slapped you harder

And barked those most painful two words,

"Man up"

This time it was cold,

You were around eleven

Again, the reason escapes you

But you remember coming home upset

On the verge of tears

And when he saw, he snarled

Aggressively questioning you

As to why you think it's ok to cry

Did he fail to teach you how to be a man?

Frustrated, tears began to stream down your face

A stinging pain,

You fall to the ground

"Man up"

Sixteen this time

Her casket lay open majestically

The women cried,

The men were silent

There was nothing more you wanted to do

Than to cry

To just once be able to bask in your emotions,

To not violently stuff them down

But by now you knew

Men don't get to acknowledge their feelings

And you were a man now

And now here she stood,

With the audacity to insult your manhood

Your image

A man makes people respect him

Through any means necessary

And now here she stands

In defiance of that

Sparking the others to question that respect

How dare she?

She will never do this again

You think to yourself,

As the years of bottled up emotions spill over,

Finally ready to be used in service to your manhood,

As opposed to being an obstacle to it

You walk away,

Remorseless

If you are to be a slave to the monster the world made you,

Then so shall the world

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Here I can write a commentary on this passage.

The annotations for this page represent the work created by a group of 12 students from 9th, 11th, and 12th grade who participated in our school's Literacy Unbound "minimester." During this micro-course we spent four days investigating Kate Chopin's short story "The Story of an Hour" through different modalities. Each day was devoted to a different modality.

The first day was focused on dramatic representation of the story through reader's theater techniques taught to us by our guest artist Stephen DiMenna. Students used embodiment and vocal techniques such as formations, choral readings, and transitions to explore ideas within the text.

The next workshop was on Soundpainting with our musical guest artist, Aakash Mital. Soundpainting consists of collaborative improvisation under the guidance of a single "soundpainter." For this workshop, students were taught gestures used to direct the ensemble in their improvisatory techniques. Students would step into the sound painting box and then spontaneously direct the ensemble to improvise under the directing student's guidance. Again, they focused their directorial choices through the lens of the short story.

Our third workshop was conducted by Ariel Robinson. She brought in different material arts and had the students experiment with the possibilities of the materials as a means of exploring the ideas of the text.

Our final "workshop" was a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Students wandered through the museum looking for pieces of art which they thought represented important aspects of the text. They then created ekphrastic poetry that placed the text and the artwork into dialogue.

The annotations of this page represent the student work created over the four days of this "minimester."

Again, she turns to God for psychological and spiritual strength in the face horrific events. Throughout history, people have sought spiritual refuge in the face of traumatic events, and this refuge often appears in the form of music or art. An example of this phenomenon is the tradition of African-American spirituals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxVlkltjHb4

https://youtu.be/X6-AGydXcBY

https://youtu.be/jOmJx3npGEw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk&list=RDuT3SBzmDxGk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJxgoMPuY9Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEV4OYz3sIQ

What do you think of pedagogical annotations?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_kum1fylAI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87SJULBO4pg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhRmCC_Gq0k