Re-Discovering Local Landmarks: Workshop Materials

Calendar of  Days: The Senior PGA Championship, relax to the whisper of televised golf.

Marguerite d'Youville / Sisters of Charity

The Bates Bobcat / Bates College

This morning I conducted a workshop for the great folks up at SeniorsPlus in Lewiston, Maine. We had an enthusiastic group of 15 who made me feel welcome and added so much to the success of the workshop by participating in the discussion and asking lots of interesting questions.

The workshop was titled "Rediscovering Local Landmarks, A Look at Portland's Longfellow Statue."

In the workshop we covered:

1) ways to rediscover, find, and research statues in your community;
2) Longfellow and his poetry;
3) digging down - the interesting things you'll discover;
4) the artist/sculptor Franklin Simmons, and finally;
5) how to use the information you uncover

The workshop ended with an exercise in black-out poetry. Austen Kleon's book "Newspaper Blackout" was the inspiration, and is a nice introduction to the topic.

Using one of Longfellow's shorter poems, participants created a black-out poem, and I was so impressed and excited with what people came up with. Five people read their poems out loud to the group . . . a big thank you for being brave and sharing!

Before heading to Lewiston for the workshop, I was curious about what statues were in the community. Making it a half-day road trip last Saturday, we drove up to Lewiston, found a few gems, and had a great lunch at DaVinci's. Below are two of our favorite finds.

If you're curious about the statues in your community, do what we did, set out and take a closer look and see where it takes you:

Using Longfellow as an example, there is of course poetry. If you like to read, grab a book of poetry—or try writing some of your own (if you're unsure where to begin, try the black-out method). With Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride you might revisit a period in American history. Read his epic poem Evangeline, and you'll learn more about the expulsion of the French from the Maritime provinces of Quebec. Are you a stamp collector? Longfellow is featured on two stamps.

Rediscovering local landmarks is a great project for writers, photographers, historians, artists, and anyone who might be curious about what they represent. We hope you'll get out and rediscover the landmarks in your community.

TOOLS of THE TRADE: Workshop Materials