The Moniques Visit Mackay Centre Satellite Class

The Moniques are back in action!

That means photographer Monique Dykstra (that's her in the white T-shirt) and I are teamed up again to work on a couple of terrific projects offered through the Blue Metropolis Literary Foundation.

One of those projects is called Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live. Teams of writers and photographers (like the Moniques!) will be visiting a number of Quebec schools, helping students to use words and photographs to describe their community. Participating students' work will appear in a book, an e-book and will even be exhibited at the 2014 Blue Metropolis Literary Festival.

We spent today with an amazingly wonderful group of students from the Mackay Centre's Satellite Class. Their teacher is Sebastian Piquette. Sebastian teaches nine students, all of whom are physically handicapped. He is assisted by several other educators, all as committed and kind as Sebastian.

I started the day by telling a few stories (when am I NOT telling stories?!) and then Monique D talked about her life as a photographer and looked at some photos with the class so they could learn what makes a photograph work.

Every time I work with Monique D, I learn something, too! Today, she told the class, "A photograph has to tell a story!" I was so excited I nearly cheered when she said that. I'd never seen photos as storytelling devices until Monique said that.

One of our main goals of the day was to help students decide on a theme for their chapter. We brainstormed until we came up with a topic that everyone in the room voted for: what it's like to be in a wheelchair. It's interesting that one of the young men in the class, Jamie, is not in a wheelchair, but because so many of his friends are, he feels he, too, has lots to write (and photograph!!) about the subject.

There was time for writing and I was impressed and moved by what the students came up with. Here's a little preview. I got to work with Abdullah, who wrote, "My wheelchair is like my brother sort of. In real life, my little brother gets on my nerves sometimes, but I like him." And Justin wrote about going to a funeral, describing the frustration of being unable to take the stairs that led into the church. He came up with a lovely description of the stairs, calling them "zigzag stairs."

I am eager to see what else the students come up with. I predict that not only will they learn a lot about writing and photography by participating in this project, but they're also going to teach readers (including us) a lot about what it is like to use a wheelchair.

Thanks to all of you in the class, and to Sebastian and the other educators. The Moniques feel privileged to be working with you!!