Day Four. Facilitator Reflections.

Note: Shannon was one of two facilitators Talking Drum Bookstore workshop.

Last night went GREAT! I'm so glad Devon was there. :-) I had 24 people and one dog in my group, add Devon's 10 for a total of 34 and a dog! Wowza!

It was tense to start and we were both asking "how will we get through this?" And then that magical moment occurred when everything shifted just a little and everyone was suddenly laughing and enjoying their time.

We had a great diversity of people, ethnically and in age. There were some high school students and some people in their 70s. And of course, Miles the dog, who knows how old he is?!? He did get to be the grateful subject matter for the list poem. His person wrote "I never feel that I should be doing anything else when I am petting Miles." What a lucky dog!

Also, there were several people there who spoke English as their second language. I thought it was going to be hard with one who seemed to need more help understanding the prompts and the workshop structure. I talked to him at the break and found out he has only been in the country 10 days! He is from Libya and is in a language school here. He struggled at first, but in the second half he shared both pieces he wrote! And they were great and also demonstrated his grasp of the language. I did tell the group after he read that he'd only been in the country 10 days and the whole room applauded and started heaping encouragement and praise on him! It was lovely to watch- he blushed but was obviously pleased and said thank you over and over :-D

I think this was my favorite part--to see the workshop making magic for someone new to the language. He was very brave to share his writing and experiment with the nuances of language, and what a great place to do it, such a supportive environment grew there in just two hours. There were many examples of people giving each other boosts and support who were total strangers when they arrived.

I also loved hearing the young people read their writing, so tentative and completely thrilled with themselves when they were through!

Anyway, many many thanks for this great opportunity. It was a very special night and the magic of community building was so palpable as to be almost unbelievable, and very inspiring and energizing.

-sd