Author: Saint Louis Story Stitchers

Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age

A portfolio project led by Mariana Parisca, Story Stitchers Artist in Residence

March 2-25, 2017

Spoken Word  Performance March 25 4 PM

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

Le Poids                                                                                                                         

By Yansen                                                                           

Grade 7

c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015                                                                                                           

I can’t breathe. All that’s happened in the last week leaves me momentarily breathless. I still hear the news reporters making their questions gunshots against the quiet area. I wish I wasn’t getting older. I know that once I’m 18, then I’ll have to deal with everything by myself. For now, I still can’t believe what’s happened. People may think the racial differences reside in the past, but the sad truth is they’re not. Growing up in this environment leaves you with a lot of thoughts, both good and bad. It leaves you with baggage that can’t be thrown away. Your silent dream you know as reality suddenly shatters into a nightmare. 24/7 there are people trying to relate, trying to get an inside scoop, and televising my home all over. If the problem was slightly different, would it matter at all? No matter, I’m a minute older than I was before. Don’t waste time on something you can’t control. I’m at my birthday party. I’m becoming an adult. The stage beckons me to give my speech, but my throat constricts. All of a sudden I’m crying. Big sloppy tears roll to the floor. The whole world caught up in something where I am. This is supposed to happen to someone else. Unfortunately, I’m someone else to someone else. Wiping my tears away, I start to trudge on stage. I’m free of anything to hold, but my shoulders sink from the weight of the past.

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

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

My Passions

By Khadijah 

 Grade 5

c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015

Imagine flying high above Missouri; you can see the whole state. Then you quickly drift down to see the city, then roads, then cars, then people. Suddenly, you drift toward a girl who feels dorky, but is surrounded by friends. That’s me, Khadijah. I sing. I am a good singer and I sing loudly. It’s my connection with St. Louis. When I sing, I put my whole heart into it, and, sometimes, I discover something I didn’t know about myself. Like how I can make up an entire song by just thinking about my day. I will think about the problems I had to deal with that day and spill it into a song. Sometimes I sing too high and my voice breaks. Other times, I pour tunes out with a pretty vibrato that soothes my heart. My favorite style of music is traditional music from India. When I’m stressed, I play the distant songs in my head and immediately relax.

I also have a deep connection with the outdoors. I love the way the wind blows my hair and makes me feel at home.

My favorite thing in the world is mixing those two things together. I go outside and pour my heart out as I sing and sometimes end up lying on my driveway, looking at the clouds, just singing.

And so my connection with St. Louis is through singing and nature. They are how my spirit of St. Louis shines through.

Written March 18, 2017 by Aniya, Stitchers Teen Council Co-Chair

The definition of sportsmanship is your conduct while facing fortune and adversity in activities. Sportsmanship helps define the character of your team, and most people strive for nothing but their best performance, but this includes your best attitude. It feels great to win well deserved games and even greater to win when all odds are against you.

In softball the best games are when your opponents are bigger, stronger, and faster than you. But a fundamentally sound team that can execute well can make great plays, preventing a blowout. Skilled execution may keep your opponents on their toes and your team in the game but sportsmanship will help your team finish the game strong. In the first inning it may have been only one teammate encouraging the rest but you’ll need everyone picking each other up by the sixth inning. When the entire team possesses good sportsmanship even bad calls and mistakes can’t take you and your team out of the game.

Your sportsmanship is not only evaluated in games; practice is where sportsmanship is transcending. When you are able to dig deep even for the faults of others, your team will follow your sportsmanship. Coach could say “give me twenty laps” and without hesitation your up and ready, waiting for them to say go. Your coaches know what it takes to win so the only time you face adversity can’t just be in games. You must already know how it feels and what it takes for you to push through, and that takes place in practice. Even in good fortune staying humble shows you have good sportsmanship. Pick your opponents up if they fall, compliment them, and don’t brag especially when they are clearly the underdog because as long as you strive for great character in addition to a great performance your sportsmanship will always be in good standing.

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

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

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

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

I Just Want To Be Loved 

By Emeara 

Grade 12

c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015

I just want to be loved.

But don’t nobody love me.

When I walk down the street everybody judges me.

Sometimes I just need a hug.

But don’t nobody love me.

My brothers doubt me

And my parents down me.

They probably don’t even care that I’m a hundred miles away

And feel like throwing my life down the drain.

Pain.

The only thing red and bold on my face.

That’s probably why people don’t mind sparing change.

But I’m still trying to figure out how to change.

So that Mama and Daddy will love me

And my brothers can start treating me like a princess

And stop letting their friends touch me.

But who am I kidding.

I’ll never be what they want me to be.

Now I’m just homeless.

Tired in every way you can think of.

Hungry cause one hamburger and a bottle of water three times a week ain’t gonnna cut it.

I probably should have thought about that before I ran away.

I wanna go back home.

But I don’t know where that is anymore.

I don’t even know how that word feels.

It seems like ever since I told my Mama that I was being touched her love changed.

And Daddy looked ashamed every time he looked my way.

My brothers just laughed and said, “I knew things would change.”

They think they know everything.

I bet they don’t know today’s gonna be my last day.

I’m tired.

And convinced there is no place that will accept me for who I am instead of telling me to change.

I just make it easy for everybody.

So when you see my Mama and Daddy,

Tell them they can live how they always wanted to live.

I don’t want to hurt them no more.

I just want to be loved.

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

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

Coming of Age – Revolving

By Antigone 

Grade 6

c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015

Everything revolves in an open door

People come and go

You grow

Toys get old

Nothing is the same ever

You have to constantly fight to fit in

To hold your place in the general murmur

Pretend to be the same

Suppress your individuality

And

Blend into the background

Don’t stand out too much

Know your place

Stay there

It’s the same in society

Bow your head

If you can help it

Don’t talk at all

Blend in

Don’t get noticed

A rule that is consistently hard

Your friends talk about retaliation

It amounts to nothing

The school you attend exposes you

But only exposes to the vague idea

Their side

You know that there is more feeling

But there is no evidence

Only the pictures could be anyone’s

You sink into the background again

You sink into the music your passion

You sink to acting

You sink back to invisibility

Pretend you know nothing

You have to dance the way you want to when no ones watching

And even then they catch you

Tell you to stop

The things and people you love disintegrate

And your world is held together by threads

You can’t sing cause they laugh

Scared cause they know that this

Glimmer of joy

Is just that

A glimmer

You dance cause you’re supposed to do

Your laugh rings high

And

Suspiciously false

Gradually things lull back into a blur

Get up

Get ready

Go to school

Come home

Do chores and leisurely activities

But there’s always something in the back of your mind

That is sore

Something aching

Aching to learn create dance to remember

But you can’t

Every movement is extreme pressure

Extreme pain

Extreme agony

You are filled with if onlys

If only they would let us see

If only you remembered to do this or that

If only they trusted us

If only they let us out there

If only they would listen

The door still revolves

Written by Christian Korta

Christian is a Fall 2016 Master of Architecture Graduate from Washington University in St. Louis. He now lives near Portland, Oregon, and is working at LSW Architects.

This past semester, I organized an independent study with Story Stitchers, plugging in with the team to work with high school students on the brand and image of their music label and the development of the Trap Life board game.

While pursuing this opportunity at an academic level, I had not expected it would personally impact me as strongly as it did. I am now living 2,000 miles away from St Louis, in the rainy city of Portland, but still reflecting on the experience and focusing efforts in guiding the completion of the board game.

St. Louis is a divided city. It’s not all doom and gloom, but behind the veil of a city that many people love and call home are racial, socio-economic, political, and cultural barriers that are very real challenges having developed over long periods of inequality. These are big words and big challenges. Going into Story Stitchers as a graduate student, these were the big words floating through my mind as I would brainstorm what I wanted to tackle that semester in my own little way.

However, those words are not at all the best way to describe what I experienced and accomplished that semester. Bigger than big words and big ideas, my experience at Story Stitchers was about relationships… and I should have expected this! It is baked into the very name of the organization: Story Stitchers. Truth is, we can talk about the big issues all day long, but unless we make the effort to dive into personal relationships, and take a crack at stitching our individual stories into a colorful tapestry, then all we are doing is just talking. Let’s tackle the big issues, but not forget that the foundation of all good work is good relationships.

Take five minutes to scroll through Facebook, and read the hundreds upon hundreds of charged and nasty words that people have for each other. These people don’t even know each other.

We have to bring our stories together.

And for me, this happened through Story Stitchers.

Through working with Susan, KP and his family, and the many other individuals working diligently, we developed friendships that I am confident will continue on through our lives. When I would find myself in a position of stress at school, it was a breath of fresh air to walk through the doors of the storefront, and find the smiling faces of friends on the other side, energized for the next bit of fun we would have together: celebrating birthdays, photographing, brainstorming the board game, or just taking a quiet moment to talk about life.

So now I am here in Portland. But it is not done yet- we’ll have more updates on the board game soon! And I am sure the completion of the Trap Life will only be the beginning of a future life together and abroad.

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

Bruno David Gallery                                                                          

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.

Touch the Sky

By Saivion

Grade 6

c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015

Don’t try to put a ceiling on my sky;

Don’t try to limit how high my dreams can fly,

Another 187 in my neighborhood… everyday dreams die,

I’m infusing my dreams with own perception of reality,

I’m struggling everyday to be all I can be,

In a world who wants to see the end of me.

Black lives matter? But the sidewalks are covered in blood splatter.

Black blood spilled on concrete,

Black bodies look like me dead in the street.

Trying to please my momma and I don’t want to be my father but the system is fighting against me,

I am 12 years old will I be gunned down for having fun with a bb gun?

Found guilty before the trial people screaming “yes he’s the one”?

Young, gifted and black wearing a hoodie walking from a corner eating skittles is subject to killed,

Like a strange fruit hanging from a popular tree… a modern 2015 Emnitt Till.

Don’t tell me my dreams aren’t heaven sent!

You may have written the book but I’m the one selling it.

I’m Muslim so I ain’t giving up dreams for Lent.

For every sound of a jail cell close,

For every tear from a mother’s that falls,

“ Momma, watch me!” Your baby boy stand tall.

My dreams can only be limited by me!

Defined by me!

Followed trough by me!

And realized by me!

Don’t try to but a ceiling on my sky,

Try to limit how high my dreams can fly,

Another 187 in my neighborhood… every day somebody dreams die.

Story Stitchers opening night, March 2, 2017.

L to R: Charlotte Gordon, volunteer; Susan Colangelo, president; Rachael, Teen Council; K.P. Dennis, artist in residence; Mariana Parisca, artist in residence; Juwuan, Teen Council; Taron, Teen Council; Gail Rock, Board member; Sandra Dennis, teen parent; Yuwei Pan, Wash U student and volunteer.

The exhibition will be on view through March 25th. Check it!

A short spoken word performance will be presented on March 25^th, 2017 at 4PM.

BRUNO DAVID GALLERY
7513 Forsyth Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri 63105 USA
Phone: 1.314.696-2377
Public Hours: Wednesday thru Saturday: 10 am to 5 pm
Also open by private appointment

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. The project has been led by Mariana Parisca, Story Stitchers Artist in Residence. The project eloquently puts a megaphone to unheard voices, generating new respect for minority youth and brushing implicit biases away. Contributing artists including Heather Bennett, Michael Byron, Carmon Colangelo, Addoley Dzegede, Ann Hamilton, Kahlil Irving, Buzz Spector conducted process-based workshops with youth and donated original art to the project.

The project contains an edition of 10 portfolios, each containing 30 archival digital prints. Each portfolio is housed in a handcrafted archival box created by Saint Louis Story Stitchers artist-in-residence Mariana Parisca. A limited number of sheets of images are available. Proceeds benefit the ongoing work of the Saint Louis Story Stitchers.

Mariana Parisca, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art with a double major in Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis in 2015. Parisca joined the Saint Louis Story Stitchers after graduation in 2015 as an artist in residence.

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.