Kelly Richards told a group of six middle and high school students that writing allows people to dump their brains by expressing emotions through words.

Richards, a clinical therapist employed by Syracuse University, acknowledged that this is a challenge for adolescents because adolescence is filled with anxiety and confusion when a person’s body changes and the world starts to unfold itself, she said.

This is what inspired Richards to host the “therapeutic journaling” workshop at the 2015 Writing Our Lives conference on Saturday at Danforth Middle School in Syracuse. About 30 students and 20 volunteers worked together during the conference to create a community based on writing.

“Writing encourages honesty within ourselves,” Richards said. “A key aspect of living is to be true to yourself and accept who you are.”

The students, who were primarily students of color, were from several districts throughout Syracuse and from a variety of charter schools, magnet schools and public schools.

The facilitators of the workshops were professionals from an array of different studies. The facilitators’ professions range from full-time artist to SU professors who teach poetry to graduate students.

The Writing Our Lives conference takes place in Syracuse every year with a different theme. This year’s theme focused on the hashtag “#BeFree.”

The conference was founded by Marcelle Haddix, director of the Reading and Language Arts doctoral programs at SU’s School of Education. Haddix said she founded “Writing for our Lives” because she was concerned about the literacy practices for urban youth, especially children of color.

In addition, she said she wanted to remove the stigma against writing. Haddix said academic writing is often viewed as tedious with ridged points of what to argue, and added that her goal was to bring the humanistic aspect of writing into the spotlight.

“Reading, writing, any discipline is about the human experience — what you can bring to the table and what you can connect with,” Haddix said.

Haddix said she feels school kids and teachers don’t have enough opportunities to experience each other’s lives through writing, and added that in the future, she plans to coordinate with the Syracuse City School District to provide transportation for more students to attend the conference.

“Writing provides an escape and helps me cope through difficult situations,” said Sophia Liew, a freshman at Jamesville-DeWitt High School in DeWitt. “Writing has been the only constant variable in my life and it turns my experiences into art.”

The workshops offered a diverse collection of comic book writing, spoken word, poetry performances, photography, fan fiction, autobiography and music lyric literacy.

Yakira Crawford, a senior at the Syracuse Academy of Sciences Charter School, was one of about seven or eight students who shared a piece of writing during lunch. Crawford shared a spoken word piece.

“Everyone around me says I won’t make it, but every day I’m making it,” she said.

Yvesse Adul-Malak, a part-time instructor at SU and a PhD sociology candidate, volunteered her time at the conference because she said she wanted to give back to the community. She said writing gives young kids an outlet to vent, and helps them take a step back and reflect on who they are.

“They need to communicate with one another to realize they’re not alone in these situations,” she said.

Published on November 8, 2015 at 9:42 pm

Contact Thandar: tpzone@syr.edu