VWrite!

During our last post I mentioned that I was going to be a part of a mentoring program through Open Books, a non-profit literacy center here in Chicago. Well, on August 29, I drove down to south side Gage Park High School for a meet-and-greet with the junior class that our group is mentoring. And I got to meet my mentee, a very cool girl named Angelica. There were tons of pictures from that night, so check them out on the Open Books Flickr page.

Angelica (who, I am thrilled to report, is excited about our blog and will be writing an Archipelago guest blogger very soon) is pretty snap-tastic. Here are some of the things I learned about her:

• She's lived in Puerto Rico and Florida as well as in Chicago
• She's in the drama club and might want to study theater in college
• She loves to read manga and watch anime
• She has made many a hair-dying experiment
• Her family owns a restaurant in Humboldt Park

There's so much more, but I'm going to wait for her to talk about herself for herself.

Because of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, CPS has been out of school, so that means that Angelica and her classmates have been a bit at loose ends. She's been hanging out with her friends a lot, but I invited her to come to my school with me last Friday to give her something fun to do (and by something "fun" I mean road tripping out to McHenry County and hanging out in my English class. She was overwhelmed with fun. Seriously. Flabbergasted by Fun.)

Well, we did have a terrific time. The trip out there was great. We ate donuts and listened to Angelica's iPod, which is full of hip young-people-music that she had to constantly explain to me (very patiently, I may add). I now have a very long playlist to investigate. She was, no surprise, also great in my class. She talked to some of my students about the assignment they were turning in, and she got to ask them what they thought of the school. She listened and watched the students do their group MLA documentation presentations (and if that's not raw excitement, I don't know what is), and then while they took a quiz she started to read the book our class is reading, Columbine by Dave Cullen. In fact, she got through more than fifty pages of it in about an hour. She is obviously a bookworm, which is just one of the reasons I like her so much.

After my class was over I took her on a campus tour, but I completely forgot to take any pictures, which really stinks because we went to the green house, the auto lab, the book store, the library, and about ten more places that would have been great photo-ops. So, close your eyes and picture her there.

I did remember, though, to snap a picture of her after we ate some lunch in downtown Crystal Lake. I think she was kind of in awe of what was considered a "down town." And I mean that she thought it was quaint and adorable and she could fit it in her pocket.

Angelica in front of the clock in downtown CL

This week, the Gage Park kids are still out of school (though here's hoping to classes resuming mid-week!), and I'm hoping to talk or e-mail with Angelica soon to make more plans. We've got to schedule a visit to Columbia College in the city and we've got to talk about the book we're reading together, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. In fact, if we have time this semester, we're going to read all three of the books from Clare's Mortal Instruments series.

But for now, you can look through the Flickr pictures and look forward to a post from guest author, student extraordinaire, and possible future theater producer, Angelica!