Art

Local teen poet wins gold medal at national arts competition

LOUISIANA WEEKLY — When Lusher Charter School senior Raven Little began writing poetry in a seventh-grade creative writing class, her work covered many of the usual subjects in a teenager’s life, like love poems and sports. But after a while, 17-year-old Raven’s focus shifted as she matured and became more aware of the troubles causing strife, disunity and injustice in the society around her. She soon felt the need to tackle those social, political and racial challenges.

Published

6 years ago

April 3, 2019

Oakland Post

By Ryan Whirty

When Lusher Charter School senior Raven Little began writing poetry in a seventh-grade creative writing class, her work covered many of the usual subjects in a teenager’s life, like love poems and sports.

But after a while, 17-year-old Raven’s focus shifted as she matured and became more aware of the troubles causing strife, disunity and injustice in the society around her. She soon felt the need to tackle those social, political and racial challenges.

She simply felt she had to.

“I realized there we bigger things I started to care more about,” she said, “and I wanted to shine a light on them.”

Raven gradually built up a strong portfolio of her socially conscious poetry, with encouragement from creative writing teacher Brad Richard, who noticed her talent and her passion for writing.

“Early on she had a great imagination, but most of all she really cared about her writing,” Richard said.

With such support, Raven entered her portfolio in the 96th annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition, and it ended up receiving a Gold Medal and being picked as one of only 16 received entrees to earn top honors.

From the portfolio’s title, “In This One, the Black Boy Only Dies Once,” through to its conclusion, the eight-poem work reflects years of dedication to sharpening her craft and incorporating themes of racial justice, equality and awareness of the world around her.

She said that hopefully, while the work describes her own situation, other people of all backgrounds can be inspired by it.

“It’s all about religion, who I am and my place in America as an African American, but it can be applied to anyone,” she said.

Raven said with her portfolio, she ponders serious questions about race and identity. “I try to figure out whether I’m free or trapped in America, and if I feel discriminated against,” she said.

Richard said Raven’s writing taps into very personal emotions and experiences, but he added that she’s also keenly studied other contemporary writers and applied what she learned from them into her work.

“Her style is contemporary and conversational, but it’s also very nuanced,” he said. “There’s a lot of it that’s very understated, but she’s also able to address something directly.”

This year, students in seventh to 12th grade from across the country submitted more than 340,000 works of visual art and writing. The contest is supported by the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists and Writers.

“For 96 years, the Awards have recognized the creative promise of individuals like Andy Warhol, Kay WalkingStick, Sylvia Plath, Stephen King, Richard Avedon and Zac Posen, and today we honor more than 2,700 teens as they receive national recognition in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards,” Alliance Executive Director Virginia McEnerney said in a statement. “These students join a legacy of teens facilitating important dialogue through their art and writing, and we celebrate their creativity and innovation as the next generation of great American artists and writers.”

Raven’s selection as one of the competition’s 16 best entrants includes a $10,000 college scholarship in addition to the recognition of her talent. Raven said she was surprised with how well her portfolio did in the competition.

“It’s exciting, and it was completely unexpected,” she said. “I didn’t think my portfolio would get that far. But I’m very proud of my work. I’ve been writing for a long time, and it’s uplifting to receive an award for it.”

As she approaches graduation, Raven said she’s looking at several universities to further her education and writing, such as the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Xavier University and Southern Mississippi University. She hopes to major in journalism and creative writing, but she’s also keeping pre-law as a possibility, too.

At this point, Raven is keeping her goals modest but with a desire for further success.

“I want to keep writing,” she said. “I hope I can get published. But I realize I might have to do something else until that comes along.”

Richard said that the Scholastic Award and the recognition that comes with it should give Raven a big boost and help open up collegiate opportunities and beyond.

“As a writer she could go just about anywhere she wants to,” he said. “It’ll be interesting to see how she does.”

This article originally appeared in the Louisiana Weekly.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

She Educates People in a Man’s World

Don't Miss

Birmingham students get seat at political roundtable in D.C.

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

4 weeks ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.