If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know all about Quebec Roots, a Blue Metropolis Literary Foundation educational program. Teams composed of a writer and a photographer visit English-language schools across the province of Quebec, and help a group of students at each school produce a chapter for a REAL book that will be published. Along the way, students learn a lot (hopefully) both about writing and photography.
So today, artist-photographer Thomas Kneubuhler and I visited Mr. Saragosti's Grade 8 English class at Herzliah High School, a private parochial school in Montreal. We were accompanied by our friend videographer Alaric Boyle -- he's going to be Thomas's assistant and mentee (in case you don't know that word, it means he will be mentored or trained by Thomas).
We only had an hour with the students, but Thomas will return to do a photography workshop with the class in early November. Today, I did a short introduction to writing -- taking the students through the process, which for me goes from coming up with an idea, researching my subject, doing a draft outline, writing, writing, then rewriting, rewriting and more rewriting!
But the main goal of our work today was to get the students excited about the project, and also to come up with a topic for their chapter. One of the best parts about Quebec Roots is that it isn't our job, or the teacher's, to come up with a topic -- it has to come from the students.
Today is October 8, 2024, the day after the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel. And though we tossed around several topics (including lunch-hour detentions, and joking around), the students, all of whom are Jewish, voted by an overwhelming majority to focus their chapter on October 7 and its impact on their own lives as students at Herzliah and young people in our world.
When class ended, Thomas, Alaric and I went to the school's rooftop garden with Mr. Saragosti for a debrief -- so we could discuss some of the unique challenges of the work we will have ahead.
One challenge is that though we know the chapter is bound to contain some difficult material, we hope the students will find ways to bring light to a dark topic. Have the events of October 7 brought them closer? Altered or perhaps deepened their relationship with religion in general and Judaism in particular? Can they imagine a world where there could be peace in the Middle East? What would it take? And how can young people like them help?
I've been working on Quebec Roots since the project was launched more than 15 years ago. I've seen students tackle many difficult subjects, but I think this one will be the most difficult. They'll be using words and photographs to share their thoughts and feelings about events that changed the course of their lives and of world history.
Thomas had a suggestion that really touched me: "Why don't we ask the students to focus on October 8th instead of October 7th?" What I think Thomas was trying to say is that, in some ways, the "story" begins on the day after October 7th. What do we do in the aftermath of horror? How do we begin to repair the world?
By the time Thomas asked this question the students were already in French class. But I think Mr. Saragosti will raise the possibility in class with them later this week. And you know what? Today IS OCTOBER 8. I'm going to take that as a sign! I already look forward to hearing what Mr. Saragosti will tell us about the stuents' reaction to this latest idea.
I nearly forgot to tell you about today's pic -- I think because I've been super focused on the seriousness of our project. It's of me with two students -- Toby and Yael, both of whom had excellent body language. (Regular blog readers will know about my obsession with body language.) Toby made consistent eye contact and had turned his chair towards me, and Yael stole my heart because I noticed that she scrunches up her eyes when she's thinking. And I was pleased to see that she was thinking a lot this afternoon! So, if I may say, were all (okay most!!) of her classmates!
In a few weeks, the students will begin submitting their writing for the chapter and Mr. Saragosti and I will provide feedback. And Thomas will coach them about photographs that could work with their topic. When we were walking out of the building together, Thomas suggested that maybe portraits of themselves would work to help the students tell their stories. An interesting approach, don't you agree?
I like to think that art -- which of course includes writing and photography -- helps us discover who we are and also who we want to be, and that in some ways, art can help repair the world. As I think you can tell from today's blog entry, I'm hopeful that this chapter in the 2025 edition of Quebec Roots will do just that.
Thanks to Blue Met for another year of Quebec Roots, to Herzliah for joining the Quebec Roots project, to Mr. Saragosti for taking on the challenge -- and especially to the students for your courage and your hopefulness. I speak for Thomas and Alaric too when I tell you we feel privileged to be embarking on this creative journey with you.