Mentors in Print: Poetic, Literacy and Autobiographical Resources

1. Mentors in Print:Poetic, Literacy and Autobiographical Resources

2. What does it Mean to “Write” in “Letters to Ms. Em?” • “Being part of the problem isn’t where I want to be. . .I’m keeping my mouth shut and my pen on the paper.” • “I’m honored to write a poem to them and for them. • Thank you for the book. . .you are right about staying in the now and planning for the future.

3. “Mentor” (In Print-3 levels) • “Which brings me to the reason why I’m writing this to you all; having a plan upon release is a must. Having a back-up plan on top of the original plan is borderline genius. (p. 252)

4. School • School and I didn’t mix at all. How could it when I could only think about the upcoming weekend. So without concentration, there could be only one thing to do. That was act out, and act out I did! I tell you I did everything besides come out and say the words, :My life at home is out of control.” (Alternative perception) What is the traditional perception of a student acting out?

5. School cont. • The very first time I went to the office, I was kicked out of school. . .What I do know is that those people didn’t care.They let me back into school after three days, and didn’t ask not even one question about it. Not even when I was kicked out again, a couple of months later. • Private School-made up for two years in one year. • School for Boys: • These people wanted to know what the hell was going on . . “No we aren’t talking about your crimes.” But I was apprehensive at first until they asked me to tell my story.

6. What is Poetry? • A chapter has to end Dana, then you go on to the next chapter. I use my poems to cheer my up. . .Sometimes I find myself in a rut. . .so I read what I wrote and later on things are cool because my focus is ahead into the future and dwelling on the past will only hold me back. A person . . Has to search deep inside to find out what the problem is. I did this and found that I wasn’t dealing with the past, I was dwelling on it and reacting in a negative way causing others grief. • When everything seemed hopeless, when my thoughts were stuck on being miserable, I wrote a poem. Then I wrote another.

7. Alternative Perception-”Realistic?” • Finally, I began to understand what Ms. Em was trying to accomplish. She recognized that I had one day been deeply rooted in the street, but she also saw that there was a side of me trying to surface and her synopsis was: “That’s who I was destined to be.” OK. I understood, but surely she couldn’t mean right now. . .

8. The importance of being “unrealistic” • What I wanted those Harvard grad students to understand, what I wanted everyone who reads this book to embrace, are the simple principles that have guided my life and enabled my success; that all of us have the potential to make our dreams come true, and that one of the greatest obstacles blocking us from realizing that potential is that we believe, or are told, the things we want most passionately are impractical, unrealistic, or somehow beyond our reach.

9. “Typical” • In my eyes things were typical-Abusive step-father. . .the loss of numerous peers. . .who died becuz of gun violence. Like I said, it’s typical • What does this mean for teachers, if such a thing is “typical?”