Confetti Park Children's Workshop

Category: Poem

  • Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Students at Arden Cahill Academy share their love of Louisiana culture

    Arden Cahill in the spotlight!

    In this episode of Confetti Park, we meet some of the teachers and students at Arden Cahill Academy in Gretna, Louisiana, and hear some of the original poems and essays created by students in the seventh and eighth grades under teachers Nick and Rick Mithun.

    Nick Mithun teaches French, while Rick Mithun teaches history. They are the grandsons of Arden Cahill, the woman who founded the school in 1968 along with her husband, Harry. Currently there are four generations of Cahill family members involved at the school—the youngest just enrolled in the infant center.

    Education rooted in the arts

    Arden Cahill envisioned an early childhood education center rooted in the arts, and rooted in Louisiana French culture,  in a country-like atmosphere. The legacy of her dream is fulfilled today in a twelve-acre campus shaded with oak and cypress trees along Bayou Fatma in Gretna. At the back of campus, there is a country farmyard with animals that children interact with daily, and an equestrian arena with horseback riding lessons. Music, art, and theater classes are core parts of the curriculum, and all children learn French.

    Confetti Park’s Katy Hobgood Ray interviewed Nick and Rick Mithun and some of their students, and gathered their poems about life in Louisiana. Listen

    Thank you to all the teachers and students at Arden Cahill for sharing your great work on Confetti Park! To learn more about this wonderful school in Gretna, Louisiana, and its deep focus on French culture and the arts, visit ardencahillcademy.com

  • Pizza Poetry Project encourages writing by New Orleans school kids

    Pizza Poetry Project encourages writing by New Orleans school kids

    Pizza Poetry ProjectQuestion: What’s better than getting a hot pizza pie delivered to your front door?

    Answer: Getting a hot pizza pie delivered with a side of poetry!

    LISTEN TO POEMS BY NEW ORLEANS SCHOOL KIDS

    Anyone ordering a pizza in the city of New Orleans on April 15 got a bit of lagniappe with their pie… they got a poem written by a New Orleans school kid ages 6-18 included in the box! (Participating restaurants included Reginelli’s, Theo’s Pizza, Pizza Delicious, Louisiana Pizza Kitchen (French Quarter location), Dolce Vita Wood Fired Pizzeria, Garage Pizza and G’s Pizza.)

    It was all part of the 3rd Annual Pizza Poetry Project by Big Class, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating and supporting the voices of New Orleans’ writers ages 6-18 through creative collaborations with schools and communities. The project as always help in April—National Poetry Month. Read more about the Pizza Poetry Project in this article written for NOLA.com by Christy Lorio.

    As a final celebration and reward for the kids, the Big Class hosted a Pizza Poet Laureate party at the Ashe Cultural Center on OC Haley. Confetti Park was there to capture the celebration and some of the poems in the kids’ voices. Enjoy these poems and this slideshow of photos!

  • Sunday Afternoons – a poem by Darrell Bourque

    Sunday Afternoons – a poem by Darrell Bourque

    “It was the sound of horses’ hooves that drummed and lodged…”

    Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque narrates a poem of childhood for Confetti Park. This is “Sunday Afternoons,” a memory of his own experiences growing in a rural Cajun community near Sunset, Louisiana.

    Mr. Bourque is Professor Emeritus in English at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He was appointed Louisiana Poet Laureate in 2007 and reappointed in 2009.

    Read this wonderful article by Susan Larson to learn more about the poet.
    “Louisiana poet laureate Darrell Bourque turns our culture into poetry”

    Thank you so much, Mr. Bourque, for sharing this moment in time with us.

  • Frog Hunting – a poem by Peter Cooley

    Frog Hunting – a poem by Peter Cooley

    Louisiana poet laureate Peter Cooley reads for Confetti Park!  This is “Frog Hunting,” a poem of childhood.

    Peter is a professor of English and director of the creative writing program at Tulane University in New Orleans. He was named the state poet laureate in 2015.