Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age
A portfolio project led by Mariana Parisca, Story Stitchers Artist in Residence
On view by appointment at
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.
Ambulatory Mess
By Abby
Grade 10
c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015
I am an ADHD spider monkey!
I wonder why people stare down at people who are suffering.
I hear nervous tics and sensitive noises that make me want to roar.
I see shaking legs to the beat of a skrillex song.
I want to run away to a place where its calm and noise free.
I am misunderstood and labeled.
I imagine normality and happiness.
I feel the bleeding pain from the same hole where music comes from.
I touch the shaky arms and the pencil rolling between my fingers.
I worry that I will become my mother, with nothing left but scraps about the old days.
I cry to the people who believe in change to make education a success.
I understand that I am not an illness.
I say to the pain that I go through, “Bring it!”
I dream of a place where there’s peace and quiet.
I try not to be an attention seeker.
I hope I can live with normality and realism.
I am a walking disaster of confusion.
