Four Divas Writing Project
How can you take part in this project?
The Four Divas Writing Project, facilitated by Middlebury College's Writing Program, will honor Anisa Gamble '03, Tiffany Holmes '03, Iniko Johnson '03 and Maika Prewitt '03 and help our community cope with the long-term effects of grief and loss through writing.
Through this project, we hope to:
Contact Jesenia Garcia(x6366) for more information or about setting up workshop dates for your group.
Do you want us to include your piece in our publication? Send your writing to Box 2047.
The floor is a complete mess with little scraps of paper everywhere. Lying between Janine and myself is the biggest piece of poster-board you can imagine. On it is a collage of pictures and messages we've been cutting out for what seems like an eternity. On these notes are things we should've said, we did say, or memories we had of good times. Then the door opens and the wind blows through sending a few of the papers flying that we haven't glued down yet. We look up and there stands Maika's mother, smiling. We cordially great each other, hug, and I go back to my work.
"What's that you're working on?" she asks.
Janine and I, as best we can, explain the display that was at the memorial service and how we are now making it an eternal memory. We're putting up pictures of each girl and the messages that friends have written to them and posting it for the families to have, like a really big sympathy card. Her smile gets wider as she begins to read the little scraps of paper. As tears begin to come to her eyes, she excuses herself and gets a tissue. She's the strongest woman I know, and even she cannot escape the power of these seemingly insignificant lines written on multicolored bits. It is at this time that I realize truly that the pen is mightier than the sword.
The Four Divas Writing Project is named in memory of Anisa Gamble, Tiffany Holmes, Iniko Johnson, and Maika Prewitt, our four divas who are no longer with us. Always ready to encourage, to lend a helping hand or be a comfort to those that need it, they were four dynamic women who reached out to the community and brought the entire campus together. In the time of grief following their deaths, many members of the campus community began to comfort themselves and others by writing. Students were able to express their extreme sense of loss, their memories, and their sympathy to the entire community. In the spirit of these four marvelous young ladies, we now reach out to unite the campus through writing. We all go through hard times, but this does not mean that we have to go through them alone. We extend an open invitation to everyone and anyone who has experienced grief as a result of losing our four divas or anyone else in their lives. We are here for those who need comfort in their time of hardship and grief, and we are here for those who wish to share their experiences and emotions with us through the written word.
Dominique Thompson '03
October 10, 2000
Welcome to the Four Divas Writing Project. Writing can help heal your grief, but please consider the following advice before you start writing:
Here are a few writing prompts that might start you thinking and writing:
Dear. . . . .
the last time I saw. . . . .
what I remember best about. . . . .
if I could go back and change one thing. . . .
I've been afraid to think about this because. . ..
if I could say one thing to you. . . . .
when I first found out about. . .
I think I am different now because. . . .
I never want to forget. . . .
what I'm most worried about now is. . . .
I have this image in my mind. . . . .
one special thing (object, place, song, day, etc.) reminds me . . . .. .
I wish I could forget.. . .
The one thing I never want to write about is. . .
I never thought I'd say this, but. . . .
even now. . . .
I never knew myself until. . . .
I feel as if I'm forgetting. . . .
What kept me going through it all. . . .
Mary Ellen Bertolini (Copyright 2000)
Writing Program, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT