Literacy Alive: Young Voices of Silver City 2014

By Sharleen Daugherty

Young Voices of Silver City 2014 is designed to encourage and support young scholars in their pursuit of literacy. Students from all across the area around Silver City, New Mexico, participated with poetry, personal and historical essays, and artistic renderings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781936744763

Sharleen Daugherty

Sharleen Daugherty was eight when she received a rag doll with a Navajo face on one end and an Anglo face on the other. This doll became a symbol of her journey into the Navajo world—the manifestations of a childhood prayer: Please God, turn me upside down and make me an Indian.

Book preview

Foreword

Literacy is "ALIVE" in southwestern New Mexico! Just listen to some of the voices you will hear in this volume of Young Voices of Silver City.

I’m seventeen and I love to write. When I write, I feel as if I can express myself in a way I could not do with anything else. Writing, like reading, is like stepping into a new world full of endless possibilities.—Eric Martinez

Teyler Tulloch says, Someday I hope to pursue a career as an author. In her essay, My Heroes, she goes on to say, In your lifetime you will have many influences, but the most important are your parents.

Megan Waters, a 9th grade student, plays soccer, tennis and loves to read and write poetry. She tells us, I would like to publish a book one day.

Mikayla Peña, the 1st place winner in the art category, writes: I am a young artist on the quest to improve my skills. In the near future, I hope to have a career in animation. The judges for Mikayla’s Two Cultures entry gave her credit for tackling such a complex drawing.

J. J. Wilson, the final judge for the prose entries, had these words for the three top winners in this category:

—"Tanah Lowe’s third-placed entry, entitled Teammates, intersperses everyday language with the rich, poetic vocabulary related to horses and horse-riding. The writing comes alive in the descriptions of the chosen horse, and the author manages to convey the joy of nature and humankind interacting. This is an excellent piece of writing."

—"In second place comes Dianne Rothpletz’s, The Man I Called Grandpa. With one humorous anecdote, the author captures the old man’s character, and then the piece deepens with the description of the man’s achievements. Beautifully written, this essay goes from the personal to the universal, finding a moral in how the main character becomes successful despite his limited education."

—"The first-place award went to Jacob Martin for his Navigation. This piece sets the scene gently before describing a devastating anecdote that changed the life of the main character. Writing in fluid, no-nonsense prose, the author lets the story speak for itself right up to its superb final line. In barely five-hundred words, this piece vividly evokes a world long gone and quietly paints a truly and painfully unforgettable scene."

Alyssa Shanley-Lente’s 1st place awarded poem, Listen to the Voices, was called compelling by the final judge in the poetry category. It sets the tone and begins the lineup for the fifty-plus outstanding contributions selected for this year’s publication.

The Literacy Alive program in Silver City made enormous strides in 2013; many of those accomplishments were due to the support and encouragement of Barbe Awalt and Paul Rhetts, founders of the New Mexico Book Co-op, the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards, LPD/Rio Grande Books, and Nuevo Books. When they attended the 2012 awards event and announced the future publication of Young Voices of Silver City, the program exploded with new-found energy and possibilities.

Literacy Alive filed for nonprofit status, developed a website, and established a Board of Directors comprised of experienced humanities scholars who will act as liaisons with the population served through our program. Outreach was extended to expand beyond Silver City and its nearby communities; in 2014 there will be a Literacy Alive project on the Navajo Reservation.

For this year’s program an impressive group of judges lent their experience to the selection of entries for publication and award recognition. Prose category judges included Cathy Gojkovich, Carol Vaughan and Jeremy James (JJ) Wilson, Writer-in-residence at Western New Mexico University; poetry submissions were selected by Mary Ihlefeld, Linda Lowrance and Bonnie Maldonado, Poet Laureate of Silver City; and, art work was reviewed by three local Silver City artists: Deb Hutchings, Gay Marks and Grethe Siebert. Our thanks go to all the judges for their time and enthusiasm.

A special Thank You goes to Cathy Gojkovich, retired English teacher at Silver High School. Cathy is responsible for embracing Literacy Alive and ensuring that it became part of the Silver High Summer Honors’ Reading program. This foresight contributed significantly to the quantity and quality of this year’s