In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we launched #ShoutInPlace, a weekly writing and support project for our young authors. This initiative was designed to 1) help young people process this challenging time with creativity and reflection, 2) document their under-reported perspective, and 3) pay them for their contributions so they could meet critical needs. Over the course of twenty weeks from April through August 2020 we collected 300+ responses and paid nearly $10,000 in contribution fees to young people in need of financial support.

Throughout the initiative, young people were invited to speak directly to the unfolding dual crises of racial injustice and the pandemic, and also to take a break, find joy, and practice self-care. Our authors wrote protest postcards and shared pandemic recipes. They wrote poetry and recorded oral histories. At a special summer event, renowned author Mahogany L. Browne visited #ShoutInPlace writers for a virtual reading, where participants discussed ways to speak truth to power and to nurture their own self-love in hard times. 

#ShoutInPlace ended on August 20th with a virtual farewell celebration for our amazing authors who contributed. Authors watched a special performance from well-known DMV Poet Pages Matam, participated in an open mic, shared reflections on their experience, and watched their collaborative ‘Who Am I?’ video, the result of their final prompt. We’re so proud and grateful for the art our authors shared with us during this initiative.

This initiative is supported by grants from the Greater Washington Community Foundation and the Georgetown University Philanthropy, Power, & Impact class.

We invite you to check out our authors’ writing, art, and reflections below.

Prompts and Responses

Week 20 Prompt: A Special Guest Prompt by Mahogany L. Browne! (Aug 12-18)

"When you are writing, who are you trying to save? What tools do you need to save them? Think about what a free, sustainable society really looks like -- how do we get there?"

One of the first things we ask our community as they start their writing process is to think about their "mission, message, and audience." With Mahogany's prompt, think about who your audience is or who you want them to be. Why are you trying to reach them? What is your mission or goal as you share your truths or share your story? Think of what you hope your words will achieve in this world, and envision the kind of world you would like to see. 

Week 19 Prompt: The Workshop (Aug 5-11)

This week our authors attended a workshop with Mahogany L. Browne in place of our regular prompt. After sharing her poetry about COVID-19 and racial injustice, she also talked to the young authors about the publishing industry, the importance of determination, and the value of their voices. Authors shared that they were inspired by her work, her motivating words, and her dedication to exploring bold topics.

Week 18 Prompt: The Collaboration (#WhoAmIChallenge) (July 29-Aug 4)

For this week's prompt, you will all participate in the #WhoAmIChallenge, a viral challenge that swept the literary world. Being as creative as possible, writers are challenged to describe who they are. We would like you all to do the same. Using this #WhoAmIChallenge Template as your script, answer the question Who Am I? 5 times. Make sure to add details that show us how unique you are. You may even reference this resource to come up with some cool poetic devices to throw into your response!

We are also excited to shake things up this week, as this prompt will be collaborative! We ask that you record your responses in a video. If you are uncomfortable with taking a video of yourself, then you may take an audio recording and submit pictures that you've taken that you feel best represent who you are instead (check out Audio Recording for Android or Audio Recording for iPhone if you are unsure of how to create an audio recording). For some examples of professional poets tackling this challenge, click the video links below!
Aja Monet
Jasmine Williams
Jay Martinez

Week 17 Prompt: Your Hero (July 22-28)

During this time of the pandemic and protest, it can be hard to feel hopeful. There are many questions that are yet to be answered. Living in such uncertainty can feel overwhelming and unsettling. This week's prompt is to tell us what or who has been your "hero" through this moment? What or who has given you hope? Who or what has grounded you? How have they given you the feeling of normalcy, humanity, or safety?  Describe to us who are what this "hero" is and how they have "saved" you. Honor this hero by describing them in detail, using language that reflects how much they mean to you. 

Week 16 Prompt: An Ode (July 15-21)

An ode is a piece, usually a poem, written to praise or exalt something. You can write an ode to your favorite kind of tea, an ode to your little brother, or an ode to summer, etc. This week's prompt is to write an ode. Choose something (or multiple things) that you love or enjoy. The subject of your ode can be as simple or as complex as you want. In your piece, explain what these things are and why you, specifically, enjoy them. Why are they special to you personally? How do they make you feel? How do they improve your life? Use as much detail as possible! Format your response in a way in which readers will understand why it is you love them, and in a way that convince your reader to love them as well! 

Week 15 Prompt: Our Future (July 8-14)

So often, youth are referred to as "our future." This concept  is complicated, as it can imply that young people have less power in what happens presently. It assumes that young people are not at the forefront of change, when it is young people who are commonly behind the wheel, their boundless creativity pushing us forward. Take a look at social justice, art, language; so much of it is youth-led! You, dear young people, are the present, and have been bravely guiding the world into its future. 

For this week's prompt, we want you to tell us about the future you see. Be as creative as you wish. Think about how your day-to-day life might change. Who will you be in the future? How will we interact? How will we travel? How will we learn? How will we grow or heal? Consider if or how the moment we are living in currently might impact out tomorrow. 

Week 14 Prompt: The Postcard (July 1-7)

Our beloved Shout Mouse Intern and co-author of I Am The Night Sky Sasa Aakil has started an initiative in response to the murder of George Floyd. Based on the famous National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) flag, Sasa has printed "A Man Was Lynched Yesterday" onto Red, Yellow, and Blue postcards, each color representing the person to whom the card is addressed. Red represents elected officials, district attorneys, judges, yellow represents friends and family in and of the struggle for Black lives, and blue represents the police. You can find out more about this initiative on Sasa's website. 

This week's your prompt will be to write a letter addressed to 1 of the 3 categories listed. Finding the name, title, and address of the person to whom you would like to write a letter may require some research. Shout Mouse staff send them on your behalf (with your consent). Please make sure your response includes: 

Choose if you are going to write your letter to an elected official, friend or family member in the BLM movement, or the policeAddress the letter using the full name and/or title of the person to whom your letter is addressed (i.e. Gianna Floyd, George Floyd's daughter, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, Keith Ellison, Minnesota Attorney General)Include the address or PO box to where the letter should be sentWrite a thoughtful letter including what you think the person should hear. Possibly ask elected officials to defund the police, request friends/family join in the fight for Black lives, or ask police to practice non-violent interventions. These letters can also be personal, including your own experiences, suggestions, or feelings. 

Week 13 Prompt: Self-Care (June 24-30)

"Self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional, and physical health" (Michael MA, Raphailia, What Self-Care Is --And What It Isn't). 

As you already know and have experienced firsthand, the world right now is a tense place. In order to move throughout and change the world confidently, we need to make sure that our mind, body, and spirit are healthy. For people from marginalized communities, whose mere existence is often seen as a threat, self-care is revolutionary. This week, your prompt will be to practice self-care (whatever that may look like to you). Please answer the questions: what kind of self-care did you practice this week? Describe your self-care practice so that the readers may be able to try it themselves. What do you like about your self-care practice and why is it important? What is your relationship to self-care overall? Do you often practice self-care? Why or why not? We encourage you to send a picture or video of yourself practicing self-care as well, though you are not required to do so. 

Week 12 Prompt: Get Free (June 17-23)

In honor of the protests fighting for and celebrating Black lives, as well as the upcoming Juneteenth holiday. We wanted this week's prompt to be about Freedom. In your response this week, we ask that you explain to us or show us how you "get free." Consider the following questions: What does freedom mean to you? What does freedom feel like? Do you feel like you have freedom? Why or why not? What are the moments in which you feel free? What would you need in order to be free? You can answer these questions directly or you can "get free" by responding to the prompt however you would like. Perhaps, freedom to you is a video of you singing a particular song. Maybe freedom is a series of pictures of you and your friends. Whatever it may be, we want you to thoughtfully respond to the unique ways you access or dream of freedom.

Week 11 Prompt: Oral Histories (June 10-16)

Imagine we are 10, 20, or 50 years in the future. Create an audio recording of yourself telling "your grandchildren" or the next generation about this time (please note that audio is a recording of your voice only, please do not send videos). This recording should be about 3 MINUTES long. See below for possible ways to fill the required time:

Read your grandchildren all or part of one of your previous #ShoutInPlace responses. Explain how and why you wrote your piece. Explain what it means to you. Explain to the next generation a moment or day that had a large impact on you during quarantine. What happened during that day (give as much detail as possible!) and how did it change you? Explain to your grandchildren what a day-in-the-life during quarantine looked like? How might it differ from what life might look like in the imagined future?Other questions to consider: What did you do during quarantine? How did you find the strength to continue? Who was there? How did you know what was right? Were you afraid? How did coronavirus affect you/them? What were YOU fighting for? Did you get sick? Did you heal? GET CREATIVE! Feel free to "act" older. You can even act out how your grandchildren might respond or feel while listening to you share your stories. 

Week 10 Prompt: Live In The Moment (June 3-9)

Due to the current events, we want to give you the option of responding to the current events and the Black Lives Matter protests, as well as a way to protect yourself if you are feeling overwhelmed. Therefore, this week will have 2 options for how you can respond.

Option 1: Create a list of 5 positive affirmations. Affirmations are defined as "emotional support or encouragement." We would like you to choose 5 things that you like about yourself and explain why they are true. This is an opportunity to brag about yourself and why you are necessary. Encourage yourself so that you can continue to feel strong as you step out into the world

Option 2: Engage the current events. This is a broad option, as we just want to hear from you. How you are experiencing the continued murders of and discrimination against Black people by this country, and the Black Lives Matter protests? What would you like to see change in this country? How are you supporting the movement? What would you like the world to know about the movement? How can you support or show love to the families of those that have been lost at the hands of police brutality? 

Week 9 Prompt: The Remedy (May 27-June 2)

A remedy is defined as "a medicine or treatment for a disease or injury." We are living in a moment where disease, specifically COVID-19, is the main topic of conversation. You might hear experts on the news discussing possible treatments, or vaccines for this particular disease. However, for this prompt, you are the expert. As a result of this pandemic, people may be experiencing fear, sadness, grief, loneliness, financial difficulties, racism, etc. These, too, can feel like a type of disease. In this prompt, we want you to explore all the angles of this pandemic, and come up with a treatment. For example, if the "sickness" you want to address is sadness, then describe the symptoms, show us what sadness looks like, how you would treat or heal this sadness, and why. Being as literal or metaphorical as you wish, choose a "disease" to address, describe the symptoms, tell us how you would heal it, and why.  

Week 8 Prompt: Your Turn (May 20-26)

When we first launched the #shoutinplace project, we limited submissions to just our authors. Their responses were so powerful, we just had to open up our old prompts to the community as well! See the prompt descriptions below, choose one and share with us your joys, friends, recipes, and stories. We are looking forward to reading them!

Week 7 Prompt: The Pandemic Cookbook (May 13-19)

Many people have expressed that food has made the Stay At Home Order a little sweeter. This week's prompt is to share with us the recipe of a meal, dessert, snack, smoothie, etc. that you have enjoyed while having to stay home. Others should be able to follow the recipe and recreate it, so please make sure that your instructions are clear and specific! If you are sharing a recipe that you got online or from someone else's cookbook, please make sure to include their name and credit them for the recipe in your response. In addition, tell us your connection to your recipe - when do you cook it and why do you like it? I also encourage you to share pictures that you took of this food if you are able!

Week 6 Prompt: The Letter (May 6-12)

In week 8 of quarantine, many of us have been distanced from friends and loved ones who we are used to seeing daily. We have since had to come up with creative ways to stay connected and maintain our relationships. I want you to choose one person who you have not seen since the shut down. Create a piece of art addressed to them. This can be a letter, poem, song, picture(s), etc. Have your piece explain who this person is to you (you do not need to use their real name if you are uncomfortable), why they are important to you, and how it feels to be apart from them. Is there any part of your relationship that you have taken for granted? Create a piece that answers these questions. 

Week 5 Prompt: The Big Picture (April 29 - May 5): 

Take or draw one or multiple pictures that you feel sum up your quarantine experience. Caption your picture(s) with a description of why it describes your quarantine experience. Feel free to set up your shot and pose, or give us a candid look into your day-to-day life. It can be a portrait, landscape, or even a selfie-- get creative! If you don't know where to start, find pictures that answer the questions: How am I spending my time during the pandemic? How am I finding ways to connect to others? What hobbies or skills am I cultivating? 

Week 4 Prompt: Your Playlist (April 22 - April 28): 

Many have expressed that art helps them cope with the stressors encountered in quarantine. Respond to this prompt with five pieces of art (can be music, films, books, pictures, etc.) that have helped you get through and process the pandemic. Tell us why these works of art have helped you. How might these pieces help others? 

Responses

Week 3 Prompt: Location (April 15 - April 21): 

Write as if you were a once-busy place that is now empty because of quarantine. From what place's perspective are you writing? How does it feel? Is it happy to have some quiet, does it miss people? How has it changed since being empty?

OR

Write about a once-busy place that is now empty because of quarantine. What is this place and what does it mean to you/others? How is this place managing their response to the pandemic? What does it feel like to see this place empty? How do you think it will change once it is reopened?

Week 2 Prompt: Joy (April 8 - April 14): 

It is so easy to feel the weight of right now. Everywhere we look, there seems to be bad, scary. and heartbreaking news. What are the things that bring you joy? How have you maintained them during this quarantine? What unexpected joys have you found while experiencing the heaviness of right now? Your response can be in any form! 

Week 1 Prompt: The First Two Weeks (April 1 - April 7): 

We want to know how the first two weeks have changed you. How are you and the people you are close to affected? What have you learned in the first two weeks and what still remains uncertain? What are the ways that you have found and/or have struggled to find joy during this time?  You can even give us what a day-in-the-life looks like for you!