El Año Cuando Cambió Todo: Poesía de Denny 2021
Welcome to El Año Cuando Cambió Todo: Poesía de Denny, produced by Denny International Middle School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center during the winter and spring of 2021, in tandem with our new program at Mercer International Middle School. This webpage, our audio recordings and anthology of the students’ poems, and a virtual event featuring Mercer and Denny students reading their poetry and music inspired by their work, are the culmination of a project with Jack Straw artists and students from the eighth grade Dual Language Spanish Immersion program at Denny International Middle School in Seattle, Washington. In this project, students in Liz Olsen’s class worked remotely with Jack Straw’s professional writer Raúl Sánchez; vocal coaches Brenda Arellano and Marco Adiak Voli; and audio engineers Joel Maddox and Ayesha Ubayatilaka to write, perform, and record their own poetry. Jack Straw musician Abel Rocha then wrote new songs inspired by the work of these poets. Jack Straw has worked with Denny students since 2012 to help them create and share their stories and poetry and build respect for each other’s experiences.
In addition to these audio recordings, we published an anthology of the students’ poems, both in the original Spanish and translated to English.
Bienvenido a El Año Cuando Cambió Todo: Poesía de Denny, producido por los estudiantes de Denny International Middle School y el Centro Cultural Jack Straw durante el invierno y la primavera de 2021, en conjunto con nuestro nuevo programa en Mercer International Middle School. Esta página de internet, nuestras grabaciones y antología de los poemas de los estudiantes y un evento virtual en el que los estudiantes de Mercer y Denny leen su poesía y música inspirados en su trabajo, son la culminación de un proyecto con artistas de Jack Straw y estudiantes del octavo grado del programa de inmersión en español en Denny International Middle School en Seattle, Washington. En este proyecto, los alumnos de la clase de Liz Olsen trabajaron de forma remota con el escritor profesional de Jack Straw, Raúl Sánchez; los entrenadores vocales Brenda Arellano y Marco Adiak Voli; y los ingenieros de audio Joel Maddox y Ayesha Ubayatilaka para escribir, interpretar y grabar su propia poesía. El músico de Jack Straw, Abel Rocha, escribió nuevas canciones inspiradas en el trabajo de estos poetas. Jack Straw ha trabajado con los estudiantes de Denny desde 2012 para ayudarlos a crear y compartir sus historias y poesía y fomentar el respeto por las experiencias de los demás.
Además de estas grabaciones de audio, publicamos una antología de los poemas de los estudiantes, tanto en español original como traducidos al inglés.
El Año Cuando Cambió Todo: Poesía de Denny was produced by Denny International Middle School students and Jack Straw Cultural Center with the generous support of the Washington State Arts Commission, the City of Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, The Harvest Foundation, The Creative Advantage, and individual donors through DonorsChoose.
The Jack Straw artist team included writer Raúl Sánchez; vocal coaches Brenda Arellano and Marco Adiak Voli; audio engineers Joel Maddox and Ayesha Ubayatilaka; musicians Abel Rocha and Trio Guadalevin; education programs associate Alyssa Keene; designer Levi Fuller; and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Denny student Elizabeth Palma Alvarado created the cover art. Special thanks to the students of Denny’s eighth grade Spanish immersion program and Denny staff. We especially want to thank our partner teacher Liz Olsen, as well as these poets’ previous Dual Language teachers, Paty Gómez and Leticia Clausen, Art Team Leader Lida Enche-Keene, Librarian Jeff Treistman, Administrative Secretary Mary Wilson, and Principal Jeff Clark, who helped make this project possible.
Artists
Raúl Sanchez
Raúl Sanchez is the former City of Redmond Poet Laureate 2019-2021. He teaches bilingual poetry. He runs the Poetry in the Park bi-weekly readings at Meadowbrook Pond…
READ MORE >
Brenda Arellano
Brenda Arellano is a performer and devisor based in Oakland after almost a decade in Chicago. She was a company member with the Chicago Neo-Futurists and she recently performed…
READ MORE >
Marco Adiak Voli
Marco Adiak Voli is an actor, creator and collaborator originally from Nicaragua, now based in Brooklyn, NY. He has studied at Cornish College of the Arts (BFA in Original Works…
READ MORE >
