Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age
A portfolio project led by Mariana Parisca, Story Stitchers Artist in Residence
March 2-25, 2017
Spoken Word March 25 4 PM
7513 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton MO 63105
Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age is a time capsule of teenage voices combined with adult artists living in St. Louis in 2015, all reacting to a critical and unique time in the history of race relations, gun violence, police roles and community relationships in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Don’t Shoot, Listen
By Rachael
Grade 10
c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015
How do I feel safe
when cars are more regulated
than guns,
When mental illness is a stigma
Instead of a treatable disease,
and when checking a background
before handing out a lethal weapon
Suddenly became an invasion of privacy?
Understand, I don’t want to take your gun away
really; I don’t want your gun.
I just want my blood to run coursing through my veins,
not onto the pavement.
I want my children to go to school
to learn how to create,
Not how to destroy.
And I want to stop feeling
like all the stripes on the American flag
should be red.
So please- don’t shoot- just listen.
