Tulsa World: Coffee talk

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Coffee talk
Students' journals invite coffee-shop comments

English teacher Ellen Stackable goes through some of the collaborative journals her students at the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences share with customers at some local coffee shops. The composition books are decorated to reflect particular subjects for entries. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World

By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer
Published: 5/20/2009 2:19 AM
Last Modified: 5/20/2009 3:35 AM

A collaborative journal might be a contradiction in terms, but opening up records of experiences, ideas or reflections to the public turned out to be an educational experience for freshmen at the Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences.

The students began sharing their writings about hot-button topics such as politics, music, hair and parents as a class project, but then upperclassmen at the charter high school wanted in.

The exchange proved so dynamic that English teacher Ellen Stackable suggested that her students expand their journal project to a few coffee shops.

Student Taylor Haught said, "It makes us want to write well because, my gosh, somebody is going to see what you wrote."

A couple of months ago, the students voted on journal topics and then took special care in decorating the covers of black and white composition books for each one.

They inscribed each with "rules for civil discourse" and began writing their own entries on the subjects of religion, social networking, books, nature, and more.

Then Stackable began leaving the journals in coffee shops for customers to find.

On Friday mornings, she picks them up on her way to school so students can read the new entries and write some themselves before Stackable returns them to the coffee shops after school.

"The Starbucks people are starting to get territorial. They get a little mad when we take them," she said, laughing.

Some contributors are so prolific that the students know them by name.

A woman who always writes in red ink and signs her name as "Honz" offers welcome encouragement.

Student Sydney Wade said, "Someone wrote, 'I can't wait to get out of Tulsa,' and she wrote, 'It gets better. Hang in there. It's a great city.' "

Another coffee shop regular references her mother's death and subsequent organ donation so frequently that the students simply call her "organ donor."

"Her name is really Kara. We should call her Kara — that's really kind of bad," Stackable said to her students.

From writers such as Honz and Kara, the students have learned much about journal writing — how it can be cathartic, thought-provoking and, in this case, revealing about others.

"It's different to get to know someone through writing than in person," student Rachel Luther said.

Her classmate John Nettles said a stranger's response about one of his journal entries made him reconsider his statement.

"I had asked why adults think writing actual letters is so important, because I don't see how that's any different than writing a message online," he said. "Someone wrote, 'If that's true, why are these journals so important?' "

Journals titled "rants" and "fears" elicited the most responses, while ones about the Beatles and clothes were the least popular.

Stackable chuckled at how some of her students experienced the power of suggestion after reading entries about people's fears, which included the odd — bell peppers and the possibility of extra dimensions within mirrors — but also the most serious, such as dying or the death of loved ones.

"One man said he was afraid of phone calls after 9 o'clock at night because his son is a recovering heroin addict," Stackable said.

Although one of the cardinal rules of the project was that authors couldn't reveal their last names, Stackable is tossing around the idea of holding a "journal night" at a participating coffee shop so that the students and coffee shop contributors might have an opportunity to meet face to face.

Add your thoughts

Coffee shops where you can write in one of the Tulsa School of Arts and Science collaborative journals through May 28.

Starbucks, 5984 S. Yale Ave.

Coffee House, 1502 E. 15th St.

Shades of Brown Coffee and Art, 3302 S. Peoria Ave.

Andrea Eger 581-8470
andrea.eger@tulsaworld.com By ANDREA EGER World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment tulsan09, Tulsa (5/20/2009 6:12:18 AM) Recently read an article about some right wing crazies insisting that "journaling" in school is a liberal conspiracy to indoctrinate the minds of children. Maybe these students will indoctrinate some of those nut cases with their journals.
	Report Comment Graychin, Eucha (5/20/2009 9:34:12 AM) Tulsan - we are warned about so many liberal conspiracies like this one, it's a wonder that we liberals are still on the outside looking in. Conservatives are happier when they believe they are under siege. It goes back well beyond McCarthy.
	Report Comment Stevenp13, (5/20/2009 11:32:01 AM) Oh, I've heard of this school. I watched a wonderful thing on channel 8 about some students from Tulsa School of Arts and Sciences saving baby ducks stuck in the sewer.
	Report Comment Bullhead, Nicut (5/20/2009 1:08:56 PM) [Recently read an article about some right wing crazies insisting that "journaling" in school is a liberal conspiracy to indoctrinate the minds of children. Maybe these students will indoctrinate some of those nut cases with their journals.] We can only hope!
	Report Comment AmandaPandaa, tulsa (6/11/2009 1:12:40 PM) I'm a Senior at this highschool and this is one of the best ideas I have seen in my 3 years. It has brought many of the students together. these journals have made everyone think about other students and what they are going through. When you read these journals and see what other people have to say about these topics and it makes you think more about them than yourself. It's a wonderful way for the students to express themselves freely without being critisized. In my opinion expressing yourself freely and learning in a unique way is what TSAS is all about.
	Report Comment Zwiebackk, Tulsa (9/8/2009 4:30:05 PM) I'm a freshman at this school. We haven't started writing in the journals yet, but we spent the last 2 Fridays reading old entries. This is such a cool thing, I love reading other peoples' ideas. They can help you form your own opinions and get a broader view of the world and its people.

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