New York State Literary Center
PUBLICATIONS
Written with Dale Davis
The New York State Literary Center publishes. Toni Morrison stated she wrote Sula and The Bluest Eye because they were books she had wanted to read. "No one had written them yet, so I wrote them." (Claudia
Tate, editor. Black Women Writers at Work. New York: Continuum, 1988.). The New York State Literary Center published books I wanted to read. No one had published them yet.
Dale Davis
1980
in Xochitl in cuicatl. 1980. (Anthology. Greece Central School District)
in Xochitl in cuicatl is the poems written by fifth graders as part of NYSLC's Latin America curriculum that focused on Latin America in relation to and through its literature.
in Xochitl in cuicatl is dedicated to Homero Aridjis, Thomas
Colchie, Emir Rodriguez Monegal, Octavio Paz, and Eliot Weinberger whose teaching participation was at the heart of this program.
Conversation
I stand on a high mountain and say,
Thank you Mexico.
Mexico answers,
What for
I do not give you sun, rain, wind or water.
I answer,
You gave me a poet, Octavio Paz.
Kristen Misage
Xochitl in cuicatl
1989
Dale Davis. Residencies 1988 - 1989. 1989.
Dale Davis. Dear Anyone, An Anthology of Writing by Students in Monroe County Schools 1975 - 1987. 1989.
Dear Anyone
This poem is to anyone
who may get it.
Read it. It's my own
and if you like it
send me back a letter in return,
I wrote it just for you
and if you get the chance
show the whole world.
M.L. Fifth Grade
1990
Lisa Arena. If You Read This. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Otis Arterberry. Where I Fit In The World. 1999. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Brian Carroscio. The Roots of Memory. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Rosey Ingrao. A Thousand Doors Ago. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Tasha Jackson. These Daughters are Bone. 1990. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Katherine Lampropoulat. The Stories Told Every day. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
On My Own. 1990. (Anthology, Jefferson School, New Rochelle City School District)
Latoya Reddick. Homage. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Jamel St. John. Woven With Threads. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
Jose Sandoval. Discovering Ice. 1990. (New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle City School District)
The Big Sea. 1990. (Anthology. Jefferson School, New Rochelle City School District)
1991
All In All The Wall. 1991. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
The Wall began as an idea, a space to share writing and visual art in a school corridor. The students writing was on their childhoods, music, divorce, advice received from adults, the school curriculum. I
wanted the writing to be on panels in the corridor, an installation that would be read differently from words on a page or art work in the art room. Owing to its location, the wall would have to be physically encountered in
the school corridor. I wanted the force and intensity of the students' writing to be experienced in large, bold letters and to be placed within the context of contemporary culture. The wall enabled me to present the
students' views visually in a format which was a natural and yet not a natural part of the everyday school environment.
The book is the wall in another form. I used the visual installation to create another experience.
Dale Davis
All In All The Wall
The American Grain. 1991. (Anthology, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District, Fairport Central School District)
In The American Grain. 1991. (Essays to Accompany Exhibition of Photographs by Michael Mulley, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
On The Way Down to Lunch. 1991. (Anthology, Indian Landing Elementary School, Penfield Central School District)
Pieces. 1991. (Anthology, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District, Fairport Central School District)
Work In Progress. 1991. (Anthology, Wilson Magnet High School and Benjamin Franklin High School, Rochester City School District)
1992
Tonia Allen. Till Death Do Us Part. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Paige Capacci. Not Just To Hear But To Listen. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Com . mu. ni. cate. 1992. (Anthology, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
Misty Darrow. One Teenager's Thoughts. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Dale Davis. Rap and Education: A Presentation for Teachers. 1992.
Jeffrey Espenscheid. Statistics.1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Has Sigeru Miyamoto Shaped Me? 1992, (Anthology, Scribner Road Elementary School, Penfield Central School District)
Just Give Us A Chance. 1992. (Anthology, Monroe County, B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
Stephanie Knapp. What Was Taken Away. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Laurie Leddick. Something About Stories. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Nathan Mourey. Teachers. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
Our World. 1992. (Anthology. Scribner Road School, Penfield Central School District)
Meredith Powell. Bang a Drum. 1992. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
This Is Our Book. 1992. (Anthology, School #34, Rochester City School District)
This Is A Book of Our Thoughts. 1992. (Anthology, Scribner Road Elementary School, Penfield Central School District)
1991. 1992. (Anthology. Scribner Road Elementary School, Penfield Central School District)
America in 1991, the year of the Persian Gulf War, Gavin Cato, The Clash of The Titans, Silence of
The Lambs, Norman Schwarzkopf, Marla Maples, The Ice Storm, Jeffery Dahmer, Boyz N The Hood, George Hennard, yellow ribbons, Metallica, Anita Hill, Lollapalooza, Apocalypse 91, Clarence Thomas, red ribbons,
Teenage Wasteland, Savage Inequalities, Magic Johnson, Civil Wars, and Cape Fear. What does it mean to come of age in America today.
Dale Davis
The American Grain
1993
AIDS 'N US PROJECT. 1993. (Sodus Central High School, Sodus Central School District)
The AIDS 'N US PROJECT began with a student who asked me to do a residency on AIDS education. The student wanted to be informed about AIDS, and she wanted to become actively involved in AIDS
education in her community. The AIDS 'N US PROJECT is based upon students as peer educators. The book is an outcome of the students' attempts to comprehend the AIDS epidemic and to reach out to their peers and the
larger community.
I was the catalyst. I placed facts, information, and statistics along with writing by students on AIDS as a presence in their lives on an installation on two panels in a main corridor in the school. It was
my intention that the installation should invite and challenge all students walking in the corridor to stop, to look to read, to think, to get serious about protecting themselves from HIV infection. The installation enabled
the students in the AIDS 'N US PROJECT to present the information in an all they were learning format that could be place in their everyday school environment.
The book is another metamorphosis of the project, an invitation to educate and empower teenagers to, as one student wrote of his participation in the AIDS 'N US PROJECT, "Say AIDS in my own way."
The AIDS 'N US PROJECT was recognized nationally by The Center for Disease Control National AIDS Clearinghouse,
Dale Davis
AIDS 'N US PROJECT
Angela Carter. My Heroes. 1993. (West Street School. Geneva City School District)
Coming of Age. 1993. (Anthology, Canandaigua Academy. Canandaigua City School District)
Culture. 1993. (Anthology, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
Paula Dixon. To A Young Lady. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy. Canandaigua City School District)
Wendy Ferrell. My Story. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy. Canandaigua City School District)
From The Journals. 1993. (Anthology, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District, Fairport Central School District)
Larry Gayhart. My Father's Tombstone. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua City School District)
Jeff Graham. Once I Was In A Gang. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua City School District)
Growing Up 10, 11, 12. 1993. (Anthology, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
(Box 3)
Elliot Fox. I Just Want to Help. 1993. (West Street School. Geneva City School District)
I Like The Beat. 1993. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
Kid Stuff: A Dictionary of People, Places, and Things to Know. 1993. (Anthology, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
Sarah Lawler. My Brown Eyes. 1993. (West Street School, Geneva City School District)
David Leonard. I Really Hope I Can Help. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua City School District)
Shawn Leonard. It's A Lot Harder Now. 1993. (Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua City School District)
Tameka Nicole Nelson. In a White School. 1993. (West Street School, Geneva City School District)
Now That We Are in High School. 1993. (Anthology, Canandaigua Academy, Canandaigua City School District)
The Insider's Guide to Bay Trail Middle School. 1993. (Anthology, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
The Other Side. 1993. (Anthology, Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
I am invisible. No one can see the true me. White people only see that I am black, not that I am a person just like them.
When I come to school,. I leave behind a part of me, but I don't know what part that is. I don't know if I belong here. I am black, and I am from the city,
Natasha Robinson
The Other Side
Our West Street School. 1993. (Anthology, West Street School, Geneva City School District)
Points of Reference. 1993. (Anthology, Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
Volumes I, II, and III, Narrative of The Life and Times of 1993. (Anthology, Frederick Douglass Middle
School, Rochester City School District)
1994
Kids Did It. 1994. (School #28, Rochester City School District, Rochester Museum and Science Center, Center, Center for Educational Development, The New York State Literary Center)
Kathie Cary. Greed vs Love. 1994. Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District
Kurt Cobain 1967 - 1994. 1994. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
David Ellwanger. Growing Up As a Teenager Having to Deal with Divorce. 1994. (Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
Kelly Garney. Divorce A Teenage Perspective. 1994. (Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
Andrew Jude Grammatico. Suicide Is Not The Answer to Your Problems. 1994. (Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
Let Me Tell You. 1994. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
Let Me Tell You is a place for the thoughts of young adults in a world which too often excludes them. I invited the students of Alternative Junior / Senior High School, through the written
expression of their ideas, to enter into a dialogue with the society of which they are expected to become a part.
Dale Davis
Let Me Tell You
Amanda McGee. Divorce. 1994. (Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District
Carol Szczepanik. The State of The World. 1994. (Fairport High School, Fairport Central School District)
You Don't Know Me. 1994. (Anthology, The Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
1995
A Book of Poems Dedicated to The Memory of Robert Fitzgerald. 1995. (Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
A Small Amen Corner. 1995. (Anthology, The Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
Dale Davis. What Is Your Name? 1995.
Hello My Fellow Americans. 1995. (Farrington High School, Department of Education, State of Hawaii)
Jason. Only Through Inconceivable Eyes. 1995. (Monroe County B.O.C.E.S #1 Alternative High School)
This Program Helped Me. 1995. (Anthology, Alternative Education Program, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
The Names Book. 1995. (Anthology, The Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
Try to erase this from the blackboard: Kids on Jeremy. 1995. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School)
Cassie Zimmerman. Cassie's Book. 1995 (Alternative Education Program, Bay Trail Middle School, Penfield Central School District)
1996
NEW FLAVOR LIVE AND DIRECT. Special 1996 Issue. (Monroe County B.O.C.E.S #1 Alternative High School)
The Mourning Cards. 1996. (Anthology of Individual Cards, Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
The idea for The Mourning Cards came spontaneously. Hector M. Corea was eighteen years old, and he was murdered. Yalidsa Ortiz mourned him. I encouraged her to write her thoughts down. She did, and I created a form for her writing, as a gift to family and friend of Hector M. Corea. When others saw the Mourning Card, they too wanted cards for their loved ones who had died. The Mourning Cards became another form for the writing of the young women in the Young Mother's Program, a form for the times as Brandi Pittman wrote, "I live in a world where love and happiness are rare. I live in a time where death is expected and living is strange."
Dale Davis
The Mourning Cards
Word Pictures. 1996. (Anthology, Intercultural Arts Project: Rochester Children's School, School #20 and School #36 Rochester City School District, The George Eastman House, The Memorial Art Gallery, The New York
State Literary Center)
1997
A Patchwork of Our Lives. 1997. (Anthology, Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
I Write You A Few Lines Dedicated to Harriet Jacobs. 1997. (Anthology, Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
1998
Dale Davis. The Communication Project. 1998.
Dale Davis. Research, Writing, Bibliography, and Assignments for PICTURING OUR FUTURE
Residencies. 1998.
For Our Children. 1998. (Anthology, Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
John Sylar. Black Men. 1998. (Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. # 1 Alternative High School)
We All Need To Think Why We Do What We Do To Each Other. 1998. (Anthology. Frederick Douglass Middle School, Rochester City School District)
I am a thirteen-year-old girl. I am in middle school. I was born in 1983 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Now I live in Rochester. My mom said that when we lived in Pennsylvania it was not so violent. The street
I live on us very violent. I see gangs and people selling drugs. When I walk down the street I always have cars stop and ask me to come here. One day I was walking, and a man came and asked me if I wanted a bag of
weed.
Violence is when people kill, rob, and abuse each other. When I was twelve years old, my brother-in-law was shot three times on the hand and two times in the ribs. My brother had a gun put to his head when
he spit on someone's driveway. I think I might end up just like them.
Will I end up just like them?
Marilyn Rodriguez
We All Need To Think Why We Do What We Do To Each Other
We All Need To Believe We Can Dream. 1998. (Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Rochester City School District)
I flunked first grade. The teacher said I didn't work. In school I learned not to learn. I still don't do homework. I want to be able to walk around in class. As long as I can hear I can learn. I just can't
sit still at a desk. How can children learn better? Children need to learn the right stuff. I want to know about my history and my culture. I want to know what life is. I want to learn the right way to go through
life.
William Barnwell
We All Need To Believe We Can Dream
Note:
William Barnwell. William was in the eighth grade in 1998. William was shy. He worked with me in an after-school program. We took photographs and we talked and we got to know one another. He asked me to take a photograph of
him with his favorite teacher.
We studied Rochester history. We mourned the death of Tupac Shakur, two years before, together.
William wrote, "Rochester has always been my home. All that I know about this city is that I was born in Rochester, and I am going to die in Rochester. When that day comes, I am going to go out because
nowadays there are only two ways to leave Rochester: 1) By gun; 2) By just leaving. You might leave Rochester, but Rochester won't leave you."
"I want to know about my history and culture. I want to know what life is. I want to learn the right way to go through life."
William was murdered in 2000. I gave prints of his photographs, the photographs I took of him, and all of his writing to his mother
Dale Davis
What Are We Supposed To Do With Kids Like, Throw Us Away? 1998. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. Alternative High School, Hillside Children's Center, St. Joseph's Villa)
1999
For Our Children. 1999. (Anthology, The Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
From Us To You. 1999. (Anthology, Threshold Center for Alternative Youth Services)
This book holds our thoughts, our true stories, and our poems. It contains death and a struggle to survive. It is written with honesty.
Inside this book you will read things that we young adults who are enrolled in Threshold's GED Program go through every day. You may read a piece that pertains to your own life. You may even recognize
someone you know.
From Us To You goes out to all the lives we might save and all the hearts we might touch.
Josh Adams
Aretha Terry
From Us To You
Our Lives: Do or Die. 1999. (Anthology, Clinton Avenue Learning Center, Rochester City School District)
This is a book made in Rochester, New York by the students at the Clinton Avenue Learning Center. These are our true stories and our poems. This is what we see when we look out our windows and when we walk
down our streets. This is what we see in our neighborhoods. We wrote our book because we want you to see what we kids see today.
Read This Book
Our Lives: Do or Die
Young Souls Speaking. 1999. (Anthology, St. Joseph's Villa)
A Gift From Our Elders. 1999. (Anthology, Baden Street Settlement)
2000
AS IS: YOUNG HEARTS BREAKING THROUGH. 2000. (Anthology, Young Mothers Program, Rochester City School District)
Michael. Dear God. 2000. (St. Joseph's Villa)
Dear God
Am I supposed to be here?
Every day
when I lie down
tears drop
from my eyes.
Most of the time
I try to neglect my fears, but
it is hard.
Please God
Tell me why,
why do people cry,
why
do people make mistakes,
why do people do mischief?
Dear God I am trying to pray.
Please accept my prayer.
From Us To You. 2000. (Anthology, Threshold for Alternative Youth Services)
Will My Chance Come Along. 2000. (Anthology, Monroe County B.O.C.E.S. #1 Alternative High School, Rochester City School District's Tutoring Center, St. Joseph's Villa, Threshold Center for Alternative Youth
Services)
These young people did not think they were capable of writing, never mind writing for publication. We worked hard together. We read, we talked, and they wrote and revised. I worked with so many young people
who were generous in spirit, and this anthology pays tribute to this quality.
These young people raise questions pertinent to all of us. There is a spiritual quality present in much of their writing, a vital and meditative spirituality that harkens back to Marcus Aurelius who asked in
one of his meditations, "With what art thou discontented?"
Ernest wrote, "We let our hearts be free here because we want you to see where we are coming from. We want to make it better."
We want to make it better.
Dale Davis
Will My Chance Come Along
2001
B. Keep Your Head Up. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
A Child With Tears in His Eyes. 2001. (Anthology, Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
C. Divorce. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
C. A Voice Within. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
D. The Other Side of My Heart. 2001. (Anthology, Pride House II)
D. What is a Gang. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
E. A Child With No Childhood. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family
E. Living in The Projects. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
J. A Child With One Parent. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
J. The Kid Whose Smile Was Stolen. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
Judged by Acts. 2001. (Anthology, Oatka House, State of New York, Office of Children and Family Services)
L. When You Lose a Loved One. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
L. Within Me. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
M. A Bleeding Heart. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
I am a person
who knows what it feels like
to get shot in broad daylight
by someone you know.
I am a person
who knows what it feels like
to hear your family
cry over your body;
I am person
who was so scared
my heart stopped beating
and my eyes started to close.
I am person
who is locked up
and who feels like this is a normal thing
because this is all I know.
I am a person
who when I hear thunder
it gives my body a start,
it makes mg body go numb.
I am a person
who feels there is no light on this earth
that can save me now.
M. Unborn Child. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
My Story. 2001. (Anthology, Pride House II)
R. Poor Black Child. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
S. Family. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services, Industry School)
The Shadows Behind Us. 2001. (Halpern Education Center, Hillside Children's Center)
T. What My Life is Like. 2001. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
2002
D. Life Behind a Fence. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
Eric. Tell Me What You See. 2002 (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
J. I Saw It All. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
K. A Picture of A Shattered Mind. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
When a person
looks into a hurting child's eyes.
he sees rage,
not a little one day
and gone the next day rage,
but a beast trapped in a cage for years rage,
rage that will never leave rage.
This is a picture of a shattered mind.
R. Don't Live Life in a Gang. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
R. Little Kids In The Ghetto: Living in a Dark World. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
S. To be Poor. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
T. Ghetto Child. 2002. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
2003
Dale Davis. The Communication Project. 2003.
Dale Davis. A Couple of Lessons Left. 2003.
G. Darkness Waiting To Be Found. 2003. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
E. A Child With No Childhood. 2003. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
C. A Big Soul In A Little Body. 2003. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
T. Hard Times in The Ghetto. 2003. (Industry School, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
2004
Emmanuel. The Eye of The Hood. 2004. (Oatka House, State of New York Office of Children and Family Services)
Glendy Cruz. The Confessions of My Soul. 2004. (Josh Lofton Academy, Rochester City School District)
Starmeisha Jones. Fear The Rebel. 2004. (Josh Lofton Academy, Rochester City School District)
2008
Terry Kennedy. I Will Love You Until I Die. 2008. (Monroe County Jail)
2015
Food For Thought: A Newsletter Written by Inmates at Monroe Correctional Facility. 2015.
https://www.nyslc.org/food%20for%20thought.htm
