east washington life
(1) First place entry “The Anacostia” by Terrence Richburg appeared on over 2,000 t-shirts this Earth Day. (2) Maurice Hill’s drawing “How Would U Feel” puts humans on the receiving end of pollution.
by Deidre R. Gantt
Ward 7 Youth Celebrates the Anacostia River with Award-Winning Art and Poetry
I want to take a swim but I would never really jump. Cause black folk don’t like to back stroke in city dumps. From “Cans & Boots” by Maurice Hill
n April 26, the Anacostia Watershed Society held its 14th annual Earth Day cleanup and rally. Approximately 2,000 volunteers assembled at over 18 points along Washington’s most abused and neglected waterway, the Anacostia River, to remove trash and invasive plants. Each volunteer received a T-shirt bearing the winning design from the Society’s annual “River of Words” art and poetry contest. For the second year in a row, the winner of this regional competition came from Ward 7. Eleven-year-old Terrence Richburg’s picture, “The Anacostia,” was inspired by his participation in GeoCamp, a weeklong environmental camp for students at Smothers Elementary School, where he is a sixth-grader. “I went to the Patuxent Refuge, and I saw all the wildlife,” he recalls, “how beautiful it was and [that] people better not litter because it will mess up the Anacostia River and the environment.” His drawing was selected from nearly 100 submissions entered by students throughout DC, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. Jim Connolly, executive director of the Anacostia Watershed Society, says that the judges appreciated the visual appeal of “The Anacostia” as well as its simplicity and adaptability to a T-shirt. He praised the leaders and teachers of the Arts Collaborative, who he says “have helped to inspire the kids and to draw their creativity out of them in a good way.” ( Julia Jones, the collaborative’s board chairperson, is also Terrence’s classroom teacher.) The Arts Collaborative learned about the contest through Dennis Chestnut of the Watts Branch Community Alliance, who is a member of the Anacostia Watershed Citizens Advisory Committee. Chestnut believes that exposing young artists to nature will help them incorporate environmentally conscious themes in their musical, dramatic, visual and literary forms of expression. “That will automatically cause them to be better stewards, to take better care of our environment.” This is certainly true for Arts Collaborative intern Maurice Hill, who won second place for both poetry and art. Hill, an up-and-coming rapper, wrote the poem “Cans and Boots” in response to his two attempts to fish in the Anacostia River. “The first time, I caught a can; the second time, I caught a boot. And I noticed, it’s so much stuff in this river that it outnumbers the fish.” In his ironic drawing, “How Would U Feel,” he depicts “an animal getting its revenge for us destroying its home.” Hill was gracious about his loss to Terrence. He considers the younger artist’s first place award as proof that Smothers has something valuable to offer despite the city’s attempt to close the school earlier this year. “Every school produces something good,” he insists, “you just gotta shine some light on it. You gotta dig the diamond up before you put it on.” Hill was one of many collaborative members who successfully protested to keep the school open. Smothers has been one of the collaborative’s outreach schools since 2006. Its students have participated in arts education initiatives related to Black History
42 ★ East of the River | May 2008
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Month and artist talks related to last summer’s “A Creative Profile” exhibit. Robin Richburg, Terrence’s mom, fondly remembers those talks. “I thought that was a great experience for them to see a local artist, to see what can come out of [their] own neighborhoods. Our kids are so disillusioned that they think nothing good can come out of certain areas of DC … but we find that quite a bit of talent is here.” Like many families in Ward 7, the Richburgs are multitalented. Terrence’s older sister is a vocal major at Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and she draws and paints as well. “He likes her artwork better than his own,” his mother states. “[By] winning this award, I think he realizes that he has a special talent, too.” Wanda Aikens, executive director of the Arts Collaborative, believes the two-time victory in this contest shows “that the negative profiles that people have about young black men in Ward 7 needs to change. The community needs to support young black men, and the arts and culture are one way to do it.” Visit the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative online at www.w7aconline.org to view photographs from the awards ceremony, which was held at the Seafarers’ Yacht Club on M Street SE. Seafarers is the oldest black yacht club on the East Coast. Its founder, Lewis T. Green Sr., was a wood carver and DC public school vocational arts teacher. To find out about other Anacostia-related education and preservation opportunities, visit the Anacostia Watershed Society at www.anacostiaws.org or call 301-699-6204. Locally, you may contact the Watts Branch Community Alliance via e-mail at wattsbranchca@gmail.com. ◆