Beans & Jeans, Springs & Sings: Lowell Elementary Poetry and Song 2023
Welcome to Beans & Jeans, Springs & Sings: Lowell Poetry and Song 2023, produced by Lowell Elementary School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center. This web page and our anthology of the students’ poems is the culmination of a project with Lowell second grade students during the spring of 2023.
In this project, the students worked with Jack Straw’s professional writer Sierra Nelson to write their own poetry. Vocal coaches Meg McLynn and Stephanie Roman visited each class to help the students practice reading their work aloud. Musician Tito Ramsey then wrote a song inspired by the students’ poems, with special verses for each class.
The students came to Jack Straw’s studios and recorded the poems with vocal coaches Camilla Kintana, Meg McLynn, Stephanie Roman, and Rob Witmer, and engineers Daniel Guenther and Ayesha Ubayatilaka. Each class also recorded their version of the song in the studio with Tito and our engineers.
Lowell Elementary Poetry & Song 2023 was produced by Lowell Elementary School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center with the generous support of the Washington State Arts Commission, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture and The Creative Advantage, Rodrigues Charitable Trust, and individual donors.
The Jack Straw artist team included writer Sierra Nelson; vocal coaches Camilla Kintana, Meg McLynn, Stephanie Roman, and Rob Witmer; musician Tito Ramsey; audio engineers Daniel Guenther and Ayesha Ubayatilaka; photographer Sherwin Eng; designer Levi Fuller; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to the second graders of Lowell Elementary and Lowell staff.
We especially want to thank 2nd grade teachers Bree (Bryanna) Pearson, Alvin Delgado, Delight Hailman, and Erick Hammen; Special Education teachers Broc D’Antoni, Cece Pardo, and Toby Steers; Special Education Instructional Assistants Karamo Kanny, Ava Gallion, and Ava Anderson; TIPS tutors Jenny Joyce and Stephanie Spiekerman; music teacher Shelby Leyland; principal Chelsea Dziedzic; and Administrative Secretary Tammy Watson, who helped make this project possible.
Artists
Sierra Nelson
Sierra Nelson is a poet, lyric essayist, collaborative performance and installation artist, and teacher. Nelson’s books include The Lachrymose Report (PoetryNW Editions), collaborations with visual artist Loren Erdrich including…
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Tito Ramsey
After a six-year run in New York City as the frontman of indie dance band LEGS, composer and performer Tito Ramsey is back in Seattle writing crisp pop songs…
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Camilla Kintana
Camilla Kintana is an actor in Seattle, Washington who recently played Kayleen in Gruesome Playground Injuries, directed by Michael Nevárez, and Thaisa in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, directed by…
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Meg McLynn
Meg McLynn is a Seattle-based actor, vocalist, and teaching artist who loves sharing her passion for performance with students of all ages. She is a member of the vocal…
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Stephanie Roman
Stephanie Roman (they/them) is a Mexican American actor and teaching artist based out of Seattle. Their training began at PCPA – Pacific Conservatory Theatre in California, and they later moved…
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Rob Witmer
Rob Witmer is a composer, musician, and sound designer from Seattle, Washington. He studied arts and technology at the Evergreen State College, where he received his Bachelor of Arts. Rob…
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