In my J-term class we learned about this book warehouse in Detroit that caught fire over 20 years ago and all of the materials that were for kids in the Detroit public school system were wasted. It hasn't been cleaned up and the old building hasn't been torn down because there is no money in the city budget to do so. The building stands as a testament not only to the pitfalls of the public school system (not that I have much against it, I am a public school alumni from K through 12) but also to the positive things that can happen from something so sad. We did a free writing exercise in class and instead of writing a journal entry, I ended up writing a poem. So first here's a link to the pictures of the depository that we looked at in class and then the poem;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetjuniper/sets/72157603302647339/
Broken Depository
The box is a broken shell
knowledge damp and rotting inside,
books charred beyond salvation
and children playing, curled at the edges.
A phoenix-bird, rare except for
on graffiti, flies in color on the
dull walls, ashes at its feet.
The markers and paint, still wrapped
and safe in plastic,
probably will be for 100,000 more years
as plastic takes so long to decay.
Yet, in the midst of all this
unplanned massacre of education,
a giant tree grows & blooms
feeding off of the dead
of the public school system.
1/14/09
