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The Worthington ALC Insider
Volume 5, Issue 3 November 10, 2007
Poetry Field Trip By Michelle Markman Worthington Area Learning Center (ALC) students visited Minnesota West Community and Technical College to be part of an Iraq War commemorative event and poetry reading. A Navy doctor turned poet, Frederick Foote, spoke of an unfamiliar side of the war in Iraq. He gave students a glimpse of war through a physician’s eye and a writer’s words. He described the people he worked with in Iraq in poems. He wrote these poems after he returned from Iraq, because, as he shared with students, he wasn’t able to write while he was there. It was just too hard and too close. During Foote’s readings, he showed pictures of the doctors, patients and nurses treating wounded solider (Continued à) Poet Frederick Foote at Minnesota West	ALC students at Minnesota West and Iraqi innocents. Some of the photos included graphic bloody wounds complementing the poetry and showing students the devastation war inflicts on our soldiers. Near the end of the poetry reading we were asked to join in a community poem. This community poem was written on three giant sheets of poster paper. The community poem was then read by Foote, Minnesota West English Professor Karsten Piper, and fellow instructor Nancy Jo Hambleton who took turns reading the community poem aloud to the students. Following the reading was the deposition and symbolic burial of the community poem. This included the students each taking a small piece of the poem and then burning the rest. The students stood in a big was then read by Foote, Minnesota West circle and sang (Continued on page 2)

The ALC Insider November 10, 2007 page 2

(Poetry continued from page 1)

God Bless America while Minnesota West student and veteran Terry Morrison ended the ceremony by playing Taps on his trumpet.

After the ceremony the students were given a chance to ask some of their own questions. During the questioning of the poet the students learned he wrote many poems and thirty have been published. He also has a book about coal trains coming out soon (there is a poem from that book below).

(Continued à)

Foote told the students to send their poems to newspapers, magazines and other sources.

He explained when he first started out it took time before his hard work paid off.

On Tuesday night Foote and Piper led a hands-on poetry workshop that was open to the public. This workshop included Piper’s poetry writing class. ALC student Danni Zinnel attended the workshop and with Foote’s and Piper’s guidance she wrote three poems of her own. Danni also brought a poem by Foote back from the workshop. They are as follows:

T-Dock Rotting away at the boards The sun beating down all day long The sound of our feet as we run Feeling the swaying underneath us Laying in the sun absorbing its rays The water hits us like ice Jumping into the lake below Screaming with laughter as we swim	Dani Zinnel
Coming Alive He wants to be brand new Walk the beach and sit in the ocean He can hold anything you throw at him Friends look at the outgoing person They love his party type attitude So easy to talk to and listen Will never go away or leave	So Much Alive Not able to keep quiet Always wanting to move around Loves the sound of life Never having a bad thing to say Loving his friends and joking Being able to say I am living

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ALC students enjoy the poetry program presented by Frederick Foote at Minnesota West

The Coal Train

Who’s driving trains through habitations of the night

I’m stopped at the crossing the coal train rolls by

don’t see the engine just heaped car after car

on their way to the port across the canyon of the street

big cars labeled Top Gun’

sometimes they shimmy with a thin metal clang

on cool oiled feet they move as smoothly as deer

but so brutally built so lumped high and black

I sensed the coal train coming today

the dawn was still hidden beyond the trees

as I slumped with relief not to be singed anymore

I felt its motion like molten drops of lead

oh they brought this out of the anvil of the earth

these are giants sent back from some fantastic wars

silhouettes of heads and tangled limbs under black crepe

the victory march of blonde Kentucky hills

it’s more than our burden it will be shipped from our land

the whole earth descending on the void within its hills

with all of us listening we’re powerless to resist

the coal train keeps vanishing into night

-- By Frederick Foote

Animationlibrary.com

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School, work, and everything else… By Paul Martinez We can all say a day at school can be one long day, but can you imagine having to go to school and then straight to work? I mean come on! School is a full time thing, right? To have to go straight to work is just madness. But that’s what I get to do: a full week of full-time school and anywhere from 30-38 hours at work. When you think about it, it may not seem so bad to you. But there are 168 hours in a week all together. Working and school takes 78 of my 168 hours, and that leaves me with only 90 left. When you subtract the time that I sleep, I’m down to 34 hours. That’s only 34 hours to myself out of 168 hours. Crazy huh! I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking how does a human being deal with this stuff? Well if you want to maintain school and work a lot of hours, the best advice I can give you is get a good night’s sleep. If you are fully awake and fresh, your day will run smoother and faster. A good breakfast always helps too. You need to get your energy from somewhere, so eat a good breakfast. Get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast and your day will go by fast! One more thing… Now that you know I work a lot of hours, you may be tempted to ask me to loan you some money. Don’t bother, brother. I ain’t gonna loan you a dime!

Poems by Paul Martinez V-Tec Honda Honda Civic Super duper fast A V-Tec engine Honda Civic Me Paul Awesome, weird, funny, crazy Sibling of Uriel and José Lover of those fine females Who fears cats Who needs a life And who gives help when needed I would like to see SPM in person Resident of New York. Martinez Alone Here I am all alone again Alone in the silence of the dark But that’s how I want it to be Because I sure don’t want to hurt another person again Flashbacks of that night race threw my head I am going to tell you the story Are you ready?

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Since our main article in this issue deals with our brave soldiers in Iraq, we thought it appropriate to reprint this article from our archives…. What is Veteran’s Day all about? By Shanna Dehning Weapons and hearts ablaze, blood and sweat dripping down soldiers’ faces, shouts of pain and military orders permeate the air. Welcome to World War I. It is the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year (November) of 1918. The Great War, so they call it, is finalized in a temporary cease fire (Armistice), between the Allies and Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany. Although this didn’t officially end the war, it did stop the fighting and dying. The formal completion to the war was after the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919. President Wilson was the first to initiate the idea of a celebration for this Armistice. The President’s request for this day was to take time off from work, school, business and the like, for exactly two minutes of silence at 11 A.M, November 11. The government later decided that we needed something more to help honor those who served us well in WWI. So in 1921 a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was constructed in Arlington National Cemetery. Congress approved this institution, and as tradition, November 11 was to be the date of the ceremony. (Continued à)

Armistice Day, now known as Veteran’s Day, commemorates the cease-fire ending World War I Congress also made November 11 a legal Federal Holiday to acknowledge and give our gratitude to those who served in WWI. When the Second World War and the Korean War were over, it only added to the growing number of cherished war veterans in America. And on June 1, legislation was signed by President Eisenhower that amended the name of this very special holiday from “Armistice Day” to “Veteran’s Day”. This day is meant to honor those who served in our nation’s military and to remember that “Freedom isn’t Free”. In conclusion, I would like to say this: If you have a loved one or someone who served in the military or fought in any war, make sure you take the time to tell them just how much you appreciate their effort to keep your country free and alive. Click here for an on-line Veteran’s Day Quiz

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Aries 3/21-4/19 Today is your day! You should feel loved and welcomed. Go out and tell everybody how much you care about them, before it’s to late. Better late then never right??

Leo 7/23-8/22 Don’t even worry about the small little problems you might have right now. Instead concentrate on your work. You can accomplish a lot with an open and clear mind.

Sagittarius 11/22-12/21 Be careful what choices you make today. They will affect you in the long run. Take your time and think it through before you answer any major questions. Love is in the air for you today!

Taurus 4/20-5/20 Today is the day to go shopping! Go to Hy-vee and spend thousands of dollars or until you go broke. Be sure to tip your cashier Paul since he is such a nice guy. Down with Wal-Mart!

Virgo 8/23-9/22 Don’t be offended if someone makes a comment about you. They are probably having an off-day so just take it easy and relax. You have those days, too. Try to understand where they are coming from. You might even make a friend or two.

Capricorn 12/22-1/19 Today is your day to work on your education! You can really go places in life if you put your mind into your work. Be cool stay in school. Wipe yo booty.

Gemini 5/21-6/21 If you really have to rely on other people today,then things are sure not to run smoothly. You can’t rely on people all of your life. Try to take leadership today. You are the man!

Libra 9/23-10/22 Today you can have a great partnership, if you are not too emotional. You are bound to have fun today.

Aquarius 1/20-2/18 You can be faced with a hard decision today. It will effect your whole school year, so make sure that you make the right decision. It may come back to haunt you if you make the wrong one.

Cancer 6/22-7/22 Go out and visit family and friends. Friends and family will be very helpful to you right now. Also, you might want to remembering this phrase “ Keep your friends close but your enemies closer”

Scorpio 10/23-11/21 You will have plenty to keep you busy. So stay out of trouble, keep your chin in the air, and be very alert. You will be a key factor in a big event today, if you stay alert.

Pisces 2/19-3/20 You can expect to deal with other people’s problems today. Friends and family will need you to stick around longer, so try to think positive and be the life of the party!

This week’s Separated- At- Birth

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