The Where I Live Alphabet Poem

Anger

Beating

Cursing

Dying

(d)Egenerate

Fighting

Gangs

Hurting

Invite people to gangs

Jumping people

Killing

Learning how to kill

Mean

Never stop

Our lives are ruined

Popping Pills

Quiet people get killed

Robbing

Scare

Terrifying

Understanding how people die

Voices screaming

Worst

Xray bodies that are getting hurt

You are scared to let your kids out

Zoom goes the police cars.

by Markiesha Shaw

Fall in Love with TRACE in October and November

TRACE isn't only a summer program. In fact, youth from all over the city are taking advantage of TRACE's October and November video and audio training sessions. Every Thursday, youth are invited to drop-in and learn how videographers, filmmakers, and music producers make movies, documentaries, and music.

Highlights
Camera angles
Capturing ambiance
Editing video
Editing audio
Creating audio slidecasts
Publicizing work on social networks


We hope to see you at Cornell Square Pak on 51st and Wood at 4:30 pm - 6:30 p.m. this Thursday.

New TRACE Promotional Video - Check it out!!!

Cornell Square Park week 4

This was week five of Trace. We got a lot of work done on our project. We also had a little fun while we were at it. We completed our radio piece and were able to make visual art, such as posters and CD covers to go with the piece. We really worked hard to complete the piece. We had to record different voices, narrations, and edit the interviews we recorded. This week we also worked on keeping the park clean by collecting trash. While we collected trash we identified different insects and parts of nature in the park.

During week 5 we went to the Daniel J Nellum boys shelter where we explained to the boys what trace was and how they could get involved. We also explained what our radio piece was about and asked them if they had ever experienced adultism. They all said they had. While there we had a pizza party with the boys and just got a chance to talk to them. Outside of all the hard work we’ve done it was nice to be able to chill and still do work as well. This was a very productive week for the Cornell Square Park Tracers.

Week 4: Preparing Final Project - Bessemer Trailer

During week four, we were really prepping for the final project, which was a lot of hard work.  In my section I was editing the different things that we have done throughout the whole program.  I edited when we were making work songs for when we garden, giving a tour of our garden, a time when we were acting out scenes if we were at a  dinner table with different scenarios, and when the girls were in the “sweat shop” sewing up aprons. We also transcribed our interviews, where we interviewed different people on their family recipes, which were very hard, and tedious, some people were still doing their interviews, which made us have a setback.

Also last week a group of TRACERS made aprons for the final presentation. I was a part of the group and cut out aprons, ironed pockets, sleeves, etc. The aprons will be worn during the cooking show. We cut white and green fabric into aprons and sewed those using machines and added different decoration by hand with fabrics such as lace. We learned how to refill a bobbin, replace the thread, and use different stitches. Because the room was so hot, we worked hard to complete our aprons and titled it the “Sweatshop”.

On Friday of last week all of the Bessemer Park TRACERs planted our own plants that when we leave we can take it home with us when the program is over with. Also on Friday we also learned another way to plant in your house by using household’s products like a bucket, an old can, but with those you have to make sure that you put holes in the bucket so that the water can drain out, but these are ways that we can plant inside just in case your soil outside isn’t healthy. We got hands on experience on how to do it just in case we want to do it at home, which was very helpful because I was thinking about doing it myself. Friday we also got to use an earth box, where it’s another way to plant plants without having to go outside. Our trailer was a very fun thing to do for me because it’s interesting how a movie editor does it. Kris and I, Theresa, worked on the trailer where we took pieces of our videos we have token over throughout the program, pieced it together and made this great trailer.

WEEK 3 - BESSEMER:...

Trace is an avenue that has allowed teens to voice their opinions and channel their creativity.    

As Trace participants (at Bessemer) we have been engaged in many teambuilding activities and educational fieldtrips.  In the third week of Trace we visited two museums, a farmers market, had a discussion regarding freedom and actively contributed to a relationship workshop with Shonettia and improv activities.

To begin our week, we had a long discussed addressing the question What is Freedom?  We touched on aspects of freedom and oppression and how they affect us daily.  Later that morning Mama Zahra orchestrated the improv activities  we participated in.   The theme of the improv activities were:  Conversations that happen at the dinner table.

The next day we visited the Chicago History Museum in which we learned about different cultures and adversity many ethnic groups faced.  In addition, we went to a farmers market a block down from the museum and were introduced to unfamiliar foods.  We also were given insight into understanding why farmer markets are in certain areas.

At the  nature museum we visited the butterfly haven and listened to a presentation about the opportunities the museums offer. The next day Shonnettia facilitated a relationship workshop in which we engaged in a conversation on the various types of abuse that occurs in relationships and later played a teambuilding game.

West Pullman Week 3

               This past week at West Pullman was a learning experience. We received visits from Shonettia and Zahra again. The visits were informational, productive, and fun. We brainstormed lots of ideas for our final performance. We're confident to say that this performance will be very enjoyable but at the same time informative. We couldn't have made it this far without their help.
 We also went on three trips in one day! Those trips included the History Museum, the Farmer's Market, and the Nature Museum.
              At the History Museum, we gathered lots of facts about the struggles of our ancestors. But everything we saw wasn't sad. We went to the Chicago Jazz & Blues Exhibit where they had the different artists and their hit songs. We also got on the first model L-Train. We also got a chance to have our pictures taken and displayed on a video pillar with powerful word like Faith, Defend, Act, and Fight.
              Then, we were off to the Farmer's Market. There, we walked around the market observing different farmer's products and some of us even tasted some of the different vegetables and food. They were really good! Then we talked with Emily about gardening and what we thought about the food. We also visited the Growing Power booth. Growing power is a farm that employs youth to help with gardening. We had a trip with them a while back and we were more than happy to talk with them again. 
              Last was the Nature Museum. From the time we walked in the door to the time we left there was never a dull moment. Everything was so fun and exciting and we were all eager to know about all of it. They had cool things like Water works under staircases, dead animals that were stuffed to appear life-like, and the headline of the trip was the Butterfly exhibit. They had 100s of different butterflies. They gave us a sheet on how to identify the different butterflies. We also witnessed the first flight of about 40 butterflies. Then all the parks went into a classroom and talked about the final projects and how they were coming along. Some of us even went outside with the camp kids and interacted with them for a little while.

            We also went into the savannah and did stewardship. And on Friday, Inferno came and a few of us were able to record poems and songs. I think it was beneficial for us to do the songs and poems because it gave us a chance to let our feelings out and tell people how we feel and what we go through. Last week was really a week of progress and we was the West Pullman TRACErs have achieved alot in this last week. Now its on to the next week as a West Pullman TRACEr. Lets see what's in store for us.