Jia Johnson
Photo by: Caitlin Lee-Hendricks
On Friday, November 11th, the Creative Writing Seniors had their Encyclopedia reading, titled Encyclopedia of the Sprouting Lilies. The encyclopedia reading is a collection of creative nonfiction pieces ordered from A-Z about their lives. With, Annabelle Smith, Kidney Shilling, Haoua Saley, Ethan Yamashita, Cass Cosens, Shayne Snipes, Brielle Coffman, and Tien Nguyen as the authors they performed their group encyclopedia. For the past 2 1⁄2 months, they have been writing this work, which totals around 50 pages. This is a huge accomplishment for them both as writers and as seniors at the school.
Throughout the reading there were touching entries by Brielle Coffman and Ethan Yamashita, they thanked their previous creative writing teachers Mrs. Anderson and Mrs. Fishow. The writers spoke about how not just the program shaped them as writers but their teachers as well.
They talked about their friendship and learning about one another with entries about first impressions or failed ear piercings. An example of this is entries by Annabelle Smith and Ethan Yamashita talking about how they are the “parents” of the senior group. They mentioned certain instances and how they had to navigate all the problems the group has.
In addition to the pieces about the class and general group pieces, there were also plenty of entries about individual interests. Examples of this are Shayne Snipes Boxing Is A Lifestyle entry and Ethan Yamishita’s Cards entry. Each of the writers showcased a distinct writing style unique to them. A lot of them shared very personal things about family, friends, and other topics close to them.
On a less serious note, the writers also read more lighthearted pieces including interactive ones. For example, Goodnight to Everyone Except written by Cass Cosens was read as a ‘put a finger down’ challenge. There was also an entry about the letter Q written by Ethan Yamashita and an in-depth look at Annabelle Smith’s feelings about Pluto.
The Seniors did such an excellent job and we are all so proud of them. The book format of their encyclopedia Encyclopedia of Sprouting Lillies is currently in the works to be published by Barnes and Noble and I greatly encourage you to purchase one.
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