Melinda Palacio
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| Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Preps the Contest Winners |
What would have been the welcome sound of rain falling on
trees, rooftops, and pavements turned into an unprecedented disaster. Half an
inch of rain in five minutes fell on Montecito. The death toll has reached 20
and there are still two missing.
While mud emptied out an entire city and turned the 101
freeway into an impassable river, those who lived west of Milpas in Santa
Barbara were spared the horrors of having their community swept away. Santa
Barbara was sparsely populated for the duration of the 101's shutdown and the
isolation of both Montecito and Carpinteria. On the Santa Barbara side schools
and businesses went on as usual as people felt an eerie sense of survivor's guilt.
Many who didn't heed voluntary or mandatory evacuation orders were able to ride
out the fires and storm from the comfort of their homes. This was not the case
for people who lived and worked in Montecito. What was it like to wake up in
Montecito to find no neighbors on your street? Read T.C.Boyle's account in the
New Yorker.
What should have been an all-inclusive celebration in honor
of Martin Luther King, turned into a much smaller celebration because people
from Montecito, Carpinteria, Summerland and beyond could not get into Santa
Barbara due to the total shutdown of the highway.
Every year, I have had the pleasure of assisting Sojourner
Kincaid Rolle with Santa Barbara's annual Dr. King celebration. One of the
highlights of the program, held at the Arlington Theater, is the Essay &
Poetry Contest. Local youth and teens, ages 6-18, participate. This year, the
missing participants, parents, and audience made it clear that a disaster had
befallen the community. The march from De La Guerra Plaza to the Arlington
Theater was also cancelled due to lack of available police.
The program at the Arlington began with a moment of silence
in honor of the mudslide victims. The MLK celebration continued and names of
the winners of the poetry and essay contests were announced. Many of the
students also had difficulty turning in their contest entries because the
Thomas Fire had upended their lives. The deadline was extended until just days
before the celebration due to the many school closures from the fire preceding
the mud slides. One student from Carpinteria High School, Max Coppel, lost all
of his poems in the fire, but managed to rewrite his entry for the contest and
took 3rd place for his poem, "Life in America Has Changed," along
with Jeanette Fantone and her poem, "For the Opressed," also from
Carpinteria High. The winner was Kundai Chikowero from Dos Pueblos High School
for her poem, "Follow the Legacy."
2018 Contest Winners
Essay
Ages 13-18
1st Michelle Qin "The Human Right" Dos Pueblos
High School
2nd Gabriel Ohedo "Martin Luther King, Jr."
Carpinteria High School
Ages 6-12
1st Olivia Battles "Speak Up" Roosevelt School
2nd Noah Zakrzewski "MLK" Monte Vista School
3rd Noah Slotnick-Lastrico "MLK" Washington School
Connor MacPherson
"MLK" Montessori Center School
Poetry
Ages 13-18
1st Kundai Chikowero "Follow the Legacy" Dos
Pueblos High School
2nd Hali Schwasnick "Colors" Carpinteria High
School
3rd Jeanette Fantone "For the Oppressed"
Carpinteria High School
Max Coppel "Life in American
Has Changed" Carpinteria High School
Ages 6-12
1st Zachary Horne "My Dream for Our World"
Roosevelt School
2nd Aspen Newhouse "Democracy" Montessori Center
School
3rd Tessa de Albergaria "Living a Nightmare"
Roosevelt School
Tali McPeters
"Democracy" Roosevelt School
Quinn
Davis Roosevelt Elementary
Thank you, Melinda. This year's celebration of the King Holiday was indeed a challenge. We are grateful for the students who submitted entries in the midst of a disaster that affected all of our lives, We are especially grateful to the teachers who persisted in making sure that we received the work their students had produced and for the parents who delivered work even when the schools were closed.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of gratitude, you, too, are due a cup of thank you for making it home to Santa Barbara from your various road journeys to help with the Poetry and Essay component every year. Its wonderful to introduce a nationally-known and experienced author to the young people. Your coaching help with the winners prior to their on-stage readings is invaluable. I'll be sending your "La Bloga" to the teachers and to the students. Onward and upward, Sojourner