Congratulations to Rainbow students Cady in second grade, and Isabella and Kafira in fifth grade! Earlier this year these young artists submitted poems and paintings to River Link‘s ‘Voices of the River Art and Poetry Contest’. And then just a few days ago, on Saturday morning, they were honored with their awards at RiverLink’s Earth Day Kids Festival! As first place winners, their art stood out to the local artists acting as judges for its design, composition, and originality. This year the PreK through 12th grade students who submitted their art were invited to make art in answer to the question, how are you connected to your watershed? Thank you so much to River Link for your support in connecting our love of the Earth with our passion of the arts.
After a lengthy process of writing, editing, and submitting her stunning poem, The Bloom of Peace, to the WNC4Peace Poetry contest, Kafira Adams was presented with the Issac Colemen Poetry Peace Award last Saturday at the Center for Art and Spirit. Kafira is a current 5th grader at Rainbow Community School. She turns to poetry under every life circumstance. When asked why she writes, Kafira responded, “I write when I’m happy, sad, mad, bored. I write poetry all the time, really, whenever I’m feeling anything at all” Her fourth grade teacher, Susie Robidoux, who supported Kafira in writing and submitting her poem last spring, affirms Kafira’s passion for poetry, “She really knows who she is as a writer. When I suggested a small edit here or there, Kafira advocated strongly for her choice.”
At the awards ceremony, Kafira and Susie were joined by the two remarkable Peace Makers of the Year recipients, Holly Roach and Delores Williams. These inspiring women were being honored for their social justice work within Asheville’s chapters of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and Black Lives Matter respectively. At the heart of WNC4Peace, lies a drive to attain peace through justice. Kafira’s Poetry award is named in honor of Issac Coleman, himself an activist as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960’s, and later in life the founder of Read to Succeed.
Kafira demonstrated her understanding of the connection between justice and peace in her Author’s Notes. She writes, “As a seed, it is hard and difficult to take the risk to grow. This is similar to the challenges that people face in life that encourage them to act with peace” The path to peace is full of challenges and tests. Kafira’s poem begs the question, how can we encounter these challenges and these injustices with the same resiliency and grace with which a seed is urged to grow into a sprout? We are very proud of Kafira’s beautiful writing and her commitment to peace. As a school we are honored to teach children like Kafira who know they have something valuable to share with the world. In expressing her creativity and giving voice to nature’s inherent intelligence, Kafira has herself become the very thing she writes about: “a symbol of peace… a reminder for the world”.
The Bloom of Peace
by Kafira Adams
The seed is planted peacefully not knowing what is ahead.
Not knowing what it will become.
The seed sleeps quietly dreaming about peace.
It is awakened abruptly as it hears the cracking of its outer pod.
Scared and unsure what to do next,
It hides.
Thinking about mother earth, the seed trusts the future.
Pushing through the soil, it emerges gracefully.
Suddenly joy and happiness burst through the sprout
As it feels pride in its accomplishment.
Thinking back
It falls into sleep.
Days pass as nature protects and helps the spout grow into a bud.
Thinking that time should not be wasted the bud tries to burst
But is not ready yet.
It waits patiently in the sun knowing the right moment will come.
Knowing that it will be soon.
It sits.
The time has come.
The bud bursts into bloom
A beautiful bright rainbow
For all to appreciate.
Done with its journey the flower sits and smiles at the sun.
A symbol of peace…A reminder to the world.
Author’s Note:
This poem was inspired by the idea that nature is a great symbol of a human’s journey of walking a peaceful path. As a seed, it is hard and difficult to take the risk to grow. This is similar to the challenges that people face in life that encourage them to act with peace. However, if we act together, (much like how a flower depends on the soil, water and sun) our struggle is more manageable. Even though the journey is hard, it is worth it to get to peace. In the end, the beauty is seen and felt by all, like a flower’s bloom.
In their first trimester electives, Omega students had the choice to take either Home Economics, Theater of the Oppressed, Advanced Art Techniques, Creative Writing Workshop, or Choral Explorations. These four brave 7th and 8th graders chose to deepen their understanding of vocal technique, harmony, and choral arrangement in Choral Explorations with Sue Forde, our wildly creative music director. They performed their original song “Love is More” to an amazed audience during our Annual Winter Program. The Jaegens’ insightful lyrics and playful melody delighted and inspired all in attendance. Love is overused, abused, confused with admiration, attraction, creation, temptation, obsession, emotion, relation, confusion, delusion… The song starts with this somber note on the misuse of Love and then continues to motivate us to build a new and more compassionate relationship to Love itself.
Billy Goodrum, acclaimed composer and musician, as well as long-time Rainbow parent, worked with the seventh grade to create an originally written and composed song for last year’s Winter Program. In intensive song writing workshops, Billy first worked with the seventh graders to write a collaborative chorus that could serve as the songs steady heartbeat. Students thrived in their creative process as they gained the skills to express their truth through song ultimately agreeing on the title, “Love is Action”.
Teachers and staff gathered together to sing the final song of our Winter Program. After a night of love made visible by the the children’s heart-centered creativity and authentic expression, this cumulating song genuinely expressed our response to what we had seen that night. Musical Director, Sue Ford, in collaboration with the classroom teachers and parents had helped our students to create an entire show of originally written songs on the theme of love. As teachers and staff we were blown away by what our students had accomplished and were truly “full of love” that night.
Video created by Michael Valentino
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