{"id":4138,"date":"2015-05-15T11:06:14","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T15:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=4138"},"modified":"2015-05-15T11:10:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T15:10:00","slug":"happy-readers-occupy-the-gym-for-the-whs-lock-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/miscellaneous\/happy-readers-occupy-the-gym-for-the-whs-lock-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Readers Occupy the Gym for the WHS Lock-In"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Writers,

Writers, readers, and ECSU volunteers at the Lock-In for Literacy and Culture. Photo credit: Susannah Richards<\/p><\/div>\n

When a hundred high school students gather to celebrate literacy and culture, expect a lot of fun. That\u2019s what characterized the night at the 4th annual Lock-In for Literacy and Culture at Windham High School last Friday. From the moment of entering down the red carpet and receiving my event tee-shirt, I knew I was among new friends, and I kept meeting cool readers for the next five hours. The students were amazing: funny, smart, relaxed, creative, and deep. We played Ping Pong together, Zumba-ed, and ate midnight pizza. Besides giving a short speech and a reading, I had the chance to sit with a small group at a quiet table at the top of a stairwell to do some writing and share our work. That was a precious hour for me.<\/p>\n

\"Writers

Writers at the Lock-In. Photo credit: Susannah Richards<\/p><\/div>\n

A few more highlights: teacher Dara Bowling, who kicked off the event, emphasized that the \u201cculture\u201d part of the Lock-In for Literacy and Culture was the community of people who attended. Readers were encouraged to interact with new friends by earning multiple raffle tickets for doing activities with people they didn\u2019t normally hang out with. We signed each other\u2019s keepsake shirts with silver markers, personalizing them. Henna, hairstyle, and nail polish artists spiffed us up. A Twitter hashtag feed was projected up on the wall so we could share photos live (#whslockin2015). Jason Reynolds gave a fabulous, inspiring talk about becoming a writer, from his teen years when he didn\u2019t read and dreamed of being Queen Latifah, to the discovery that his own voice, his true, authentic voice, was \u201cgood enough.\u201d It brings his novels alive.<\/p>\n

\"Dara

Dara Bowling, Gabbie Lambert, Caragh O’Brien, Rebecca Bowling at the Lock-In<\/p><\/div>\n

Thanks to the students who organized the lock-in, especially Rebecca Bowling and Gabbie Lambert who made endless lasagnas and brownies. Props to the phenomenal teachers and staff of Windham High School who kept the night running smoothly for all 12 hours. Hats off to the local business owners who supported a worthy, unique, happy event:<\/p>\n

4imprint, Eastern Connecticut State University, Northeast Family Federal Credit Union, Ham Materials Corporation, Landon\u2019s Tires, Logistics Consulting, New England Pizza, A Cupcake for Later, Amanda Taylor, Angellino\u2019s, Bagel One, Calypso Blue, Click, Asian Bistro, Cafemantic, Connecticut Gourmet Bakery, Subway, The Savings Institute, Super Future Fitness, Mansfield Movieplex, Papa Gino\u2019s, That Breakfast Place, The Hoot, Willi-Bowl, Domino\u2019s Pizza, EASTCONNs Capitol Theater Arts Academy, Wal-Mart, Fashion Nail Spa, O.L. Willard Co., The Hair Loft, Stop & Shop, Towne Engineering, Potter\u2019s Funeral Home, Sarazin General Contractors, Villari\u2019s Martial Arts of North Windham, Windham Public Schools, The Write Idea Writing Center, and Windham Federation of Teachers Local #1577.<\/p>\n

May the lock-in tradition continue!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a hundred high school students gather to celebrate literacy and culture, expect a lot of fun. That\u2019s what characterized the night at the 4th annual Lock-In for Literacy and Culture at Windham High School last Friday. From the moment of entering down the red carpet and receiving my event tee-shirt, I knew I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4138"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4148,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions\/4148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}