On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, PTC celebrated National Poetry Week by hosting a Chalk the Walk event. I confess, Dear Reader, that I stole this idea from my good friends Hope Coulter and Rebecca Resinki, who teach at Hendrix College. Back in March, Hope mentioned the activity to me and I knew right away that I wanted to do it at PTC. The whole concept is brilliant: have students use sidewalk chalk to write lines of poetry around a central location on campus. Many, many thanks to Hope and Rebecca for this!
Both faculty and students rallied around our event, and we were lucky to fit it in between storms. However, Tuesday night's rain washed the slate clean for Wednesday students. Not a bad thing, but it will be fun to see what two day's worth looks like in the future.
Here are some pictures of the event.
All thanks to my colleagues and the students at PTC for making my dream a reality!
11 comments:
Thanks for the shout-out! It makes me happy to read these even online. Stephen Greenblatt said, "I am constantly struck by the strangeness of reading works that seem addressed, personally and intimately, to me, and yet were written by people who crumbled to dust long ago." Somehow writing the words of these poets in ephemeral, soon-to-be-washed-away-by-the-next-rain chalk has the same striking effect. Happy Poetry Month to all.
♥!
Hope, well you deserve the shout-out and more. I agree about the "striking effect" of the chalked lines.
Suzanne, thanks!
So that's where you were!! So...is it OK to keep stealing?! That would be fun around here, too! Flash mob sidewalk poetry!
Yes, Kathleen! Steal away!!!
I, too, plan to steal! We have a poetry event on Tuesday--perhaps I'll send the students out with chalk.
I know that I'll write "April is National Poetry Month" on the walkway to the building's main door and the location of our event.
Fun!
Yay, Kristin! Perhaps this concrete (hah!) activity will go viral.
Cannot resist the urge to say: Yay, poetry!
Molly, I second that emotion!
That's wonderful! What a nice idea, whoever thought of it.
Thanks, Sarah!
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