Southeastern Louisiana University

National Writing Project publishes SLWP anthology of Katrina writing

Contact: Christina Chapple

11/30/06

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Caption ...
ANTHOLOGY OF KATRINA WRITING – Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project Director Richard Louth, a professor of English at Southeastern Louisiana University, is pictured with a display of SLWP’s anthology, “Katrina: In Their Own Words,” at the National Writing Project annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn. NWP supported the printing of the anthology and has distributed it to writing project sites nationwide.

     HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project has been highlighted in two new publications by its parent organization, the National Writing Project.

     “Katrina: In Their Own Words,” a SLWP anthology featuring the writing of 50 area teachers and students ranging from Southeastern freshmen to kindergarteners in storm-impacted communities, has been published with National Writing Project support. It has also been showcased at the NWP’s November annual meeting in Nashville, Tenn., and distributed to 195 writing project sites nationwide.

     SLWP is also one of seven writing project sites featured in the National Writing Project’s annual report through a story on Covington High School teacher Margaret Westmoreland, an SLWP teacher consultant since 2002. Westmoreland is currently enrolled in Southeastern’s English master’s degree program and is SLWP’s communications coordinator.

     Founded at Southeastern in 1992, SLWP creates opportunities for experienced teachers to share classroom “best practices” through summer institutes and in-service programs. Teachers who attend SLWP programs become teacher consultants, networking and sharing their expertise with fellow educators.

     “We really have something to be proud of here,” said SLWP Director Richard Louth, a professor of English at Southeastern. “The anthology represents the first time that NWP has recognized the work of an individual writing project site in this way. We are also gratified that one of our teacher consultants was featured in a publication that is not only sent to every NWP site in the nation, but also to benefactors and members of Congress.”

     Louth said that “Katrina: In Their Own Words” was the outgrowth of SLWP’s radio program by the same name, which was produced within months of the devastating August 2005 storm by Todd Delaney, interim general manager of Southeastern’s public radio station, KSLU.

     "The initial intent was to create an opportunity for students and teachers to write and share their reflections about the hurricane in order to begin the healing process,” Louth said. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for their voices to be heard, first in the classroom, then through a blog, then a radio program.”

     Writers from kindergarten to college age along with their teachers contributed to KSLU’s “Katrina: In Their Own Words” radio program, which aired in January 2006. Southeastern English faculty brought the project into their classrooms by assigning students to write essays or poetry, and, in Louth’s case, song lyrics. The lyrics were put to music by SLWP teacher consultant and musician Robert Calmes, who performed several of the songs during the program.

     “Because of the wealth of material, as the one-year anniversary of Katrina approached, we decided to create this anthology,” Louth said. “The anthology features pieces from the radio show, additional blog entries, and more recently solicited writing and photos.

     “The pieces included in this anthology are simultaneously similar yet diverse,” Louth added. “The first impression one might gain is how many people shared common experiences -- surprise at the fury of the storm and how it disrupted their lives; being forced from one’s home; living without proper shelter; and realizing for the first time how much we take for granted things such as home, family, job, traffic, water, phone, food, electricity, tomorrow.

     “These pieces clearly illustrate a shared sense of surprise, awe, anger, fright, grief, and relief,” he said. “It is important for readers across the country to understand that there was a larger-than-life, shared experience here that no one who experienced it will forget, even those who experienced it 100 miles away from New Orleans.”

     The NWP 2005 annual report, “Encourage Writing,” highlights seven of the National Writing Project’s 195 sites. The feature on Westmoreland recounts how she “learned the value of writing as both a practice and expressive tool” by communicating with her students by e-mail following the storm and through writing assignments when classes resumed at Covington High School early in October 2005.

     “Some students were still in shock and very angry,” Westmoreland said. “Writing helped them make sense of their experiences.”

     She said SLWP also provided her and her fellow teachers with strategies for using writing “to deal with loss and the rebuilding of lives.” Westmoreland is one of six SLWP teacher consultants at Covington High School and among more than 200 teacher consultants who have participated in the Southeastern-based program in the past 15 years.

     Louth said the Katrina anthology was offered for sale at the National Writing Project meeting and at a book fair sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English.

     “NWP is planning on sending money from the sales of the books back to the Gulf Coast area in order to help out students and teachers,” he added. “I was told it was the best selling book at the NWP booth.” He said NWP Executive Director Richard Sterling praised the book and SLWP’s work during his annual meeting speech.

     “The deceptively simple idea that writing can make a change in ourselves or the world around us led Richard Louth and his colleagues to produce this anthology,” Sterling said in his speech. “Woven into the simple phrase ‘writing for a change’ is the thread of an idea -- writing to make a change. The Katrina writing is just one example: in this case, one clear purpose was to begin the healing process, but the purpose was also to allow many voices to tell their own stories.”

     Louth said the anthology, which sells for $15, can be obtained through the Southeastern Louisiana Writing Project by contacting him at SLU 10327, Hammond, LA 70402 or rlouth@selu.edu. Checks should be made payable to the Southeastern Development Foundation.

     The radio program on CD is included in the anthology and can be heard online at www.selu.edu/kslu/katrina.mp3, while the NWP annual report is available on the NWP website, www.writingproject.org.