Art Journaling in Phoenix

Central Phoenix

By Liz Martin

Continuing a previous theme, this week’s central Phoenix one n ten group was all about art journaling. This will be an ongoing activity at one n ten groups across the valley. The focus of this session was creative writing related to No Name-Calling Week.

Group was led by one n ten’s Public Ally employee, Bea. To get the creative ideas moving through the group, the evening began with a structured writing exercise. Bea read several questions aloud and participants were asked to respond by writing their thoughts in their journals. The questions were related to No Name-Calling Week and the emotions that it stirred within the participants.

The second portion of the activity was writing a personal poem based on the thoughts and ideas the previous questions had inspired. Bea read two poems to the group as examples. The youth were then given time to write their own. At the end of the writing exercise, the youth were given the chance to read their poems out loud to the entire group. Though No Name-Calling Week can feel like a heavy topic, the creative outlet of this week’s group formed a fun and interesting environment that the youth and volunteers enjoyed.