Archive for the 'WriterMentor' Category

October 11, 2009 | Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me,The Gurl House,WriterMentor

This week at The Gurl House: TISSUE FLOWERS

I remember making these tissue flowers in Girl Scouts. Or it might’ve been Brownies, but it was a good memory for me. We only had 4 girls today and it was interesting to see how they all interpreted the project. This is our 4th week with the girls and I’ve discovered a Piglet and a Tigger. One of the girls will make something, but is quick to say “I don’t like it.” She was trying to make her flower look like that one flower with the rough, uneven edges. She didn’t remember the name of it (none of us did, for that matter), but she remembered what it looked like. I never would’ve thought of that; to make my flower look like a rose or a carnation or a daisy (which are my favorites). The flowers are easier to create when you use 5 pieces of tissue and a couple of the girls would experiment and use only 2.

Em would tell us one way to make them, but one of the girls had been taught to create them in another, easier way. The way she learned it seemed to work better for her and she was less frustrated. Depending on who we have, I notice that the girls will do the activity-du-jour, but they’ll find something else to create. In this case, making tissue flowers turned into glittery tissue name plates. Such creative minds! I told them I would hang it in my cubicle at work.

October 4, 2009 | The 4-1-1 on Me,The Gurl House,WriterMentor

This week at The Gurl House: BEAD IT UP

We only had 4 girls today and it was interesting to see how they went about choosing the beads. They used certain colors and shapes (hearts, suns, flowers, etc). One of the girls made it clear that each bracelet she made meant something to her. When she asked one of the other girls to make her one, she said, “Have it mean something, okay?” The girls sat around and talked about all the different bracelets they’ve made, how hard it was to find certain types of beads, and how expensive certain types of beads are. Which I never knew, seeing as how I’m not a bead person. The only jewelry I wear is 3 rings, one of which is my wedding ring. I had wanted this session to be more than just sitting around “just beading”. I had wanted to include lettered beads–so they could make a bracelet or necklace with their name or a special word–but there was none available. The girls had mentioned the lettered beads, too, so if we ever do this again, I’ll have to bring those.

The stretchy string was the most popular, since it allowed for more give. But the other string I brought, a shiny, patent leather-looking material, brought back memories of the popular handmade keychains from the 80′s. I remember making them during Girl Scouts. No one could really remember how to begin, at first. But one of the girls was determined and got one started for both her and Emily.

The girls look forward to us coming every week and I’m reminded of this when one of them says, “I wish you guys could stay all day. I could bead all day.” I actually did stay an extra 30 mins so that one of the girls could finish her 9th bracelet! LOL. We had a good time. I even made myself a bracelet but it broke later that day. LOL.

September 26, 2009 | The 4-1-1 on Me,The Gurl House,WriterMentor

This week at The Gurl House: DRAWING FROM THE HEART

Instructions:

Part One: On a piece of paper, draw a line or a squiggly line then pass it to the person on your left. Draw for 5 minutes.

Part Two: Take another clean sheet of paper and divide it into 4 quadrants. Listen to 4 different songs and draw your interpretation of the song.

We started out with 6 girls; the same 5 girls from last week and a new one. By the end of the project, we were down to 3, then 2, but we had fun. Emily brought her iPod and the docking station. We got around to 3 songs before the docking station crapped out on us, but that’s all right. We still had fun. So we did. I really, really, really wish I could post today’s project. Unfortunately, I’ll never be able to, so I hope I did my best in describing their work. It’s amazing what these girls can create out of a straight or squiggly line.

During the final pass around, I traced the outline of my left hand and we kept passing it around between the 4 of us. At the end, my “hand” had polished nails, two rings, a bracelet, a tattoo, and a volleyball being spiked over a net (I’m hanging this one in my cubie at work). One of the girls is like me and likes to write. She wrote the word LOVE and we passed it around. By the time we were done, there were words like babies, peace, unity, responsibility, work, play, grace, all the names of the girls who participated today and many more.

The girls that didn’t want to keep their pics, I took home so I can make a book out of them. I wanted to show my hubby what my girls did today, explaining the process. “She’s not a very good artist,” he said of one drawing. I got mad and snatched the two pics away. I didn’t show him the rest. I understand that he’s entitled to his opinion, that it’s his interpretation. But I was too mad to tell him that it’s not about my girls being good artists. And it’s not about showing them how to be artists. It’s about expression and drawing what you feel. That there’s no mistakes, no good or bad, no stupid in art.

I realized something else today: I’m protective of my girls.

In spite of his comment, I’m making a difference in someone’s life and I was reminded of that today:

One of the girls showed me three poems that she’d written and another asked, “Why can’t you guys come everyday?”

September 21, 2009 | The 4-1-1 on Me,The Gurl House,WriterMentor

This week at The Gurl House: I WANNA BE A SUPERHERO

Instructions:

~ Create a superhero
~ Name your superhero
~ Can have multiple powers

We had 5 girls today and we got to know them a little bit by asking what their favorite T.V. show while we took attendance. I was a little bit nervous, so I’m glad that Emily’s with me to pick up the verbal slack. So to speak. You have these little ideas that you think about doing the night before and then when you get there and assess the situation, you realize it’s not going to work. I’m a big fan of the movie X-MEN. Or any movies that involve superheroes, for that matter. Whenever I watch these movies, I think to myself “I think it would be cool to have (insert special power here).” I wanted to see what the girls could come up with.

I brought magazines for them to look through, to see if anything came to mind for them. One girl’s creation could put people to sleep by blowing bubbles. Another had an environmental twist that could relax the mind and the body. Others just found random images they liked. So, it seems that not everyone thinks about having special powers. Then again, the will to get through the day and deal with difficult situations seems like a special power.

September 3, 2009 | WriterMentor

Emily and I toured The Gurl House this evening. We’ll be working with girls, ages 13-17. 10 girls live in the house, but I don’t think we’ll be working with them all at once. Although I could be wrong. We start going every Saturday morning starting the 19th. Em and I are looking forward to getting started.

And I hear the girls can’t wait to get started, too.