Kristen--Post 3

Hi everyone.

I'm dedicating this week's post to an outside project that my internship at Art From The Heart has brought me to and that I will be involved with over the next several months. There was a patient at FAHC that often stayed on the same floor I spend a lot of time on now, and who actually painted with AFTH whenever she had the chance, who passed away late last year.

Her name was Emily Lyman and her mother, Monica, is collaborating with the entire community to create a book project based on Emily's poetry, writings, and life. Emily was 15 and had been fighting cancer since she was a toddler with on and off relapses.

Emily wanted to be a writer when she grew up, but it's very obvious that she already was. What I've seen from the project so far is the packet of about 40 of Emily's poems and letters that she wrote at different points in her life. Some of them are extremely silly 1st grade observations and some are serious as she questioned herself and others; but most are just honest, poetic pieces about a variety of topics everyone can relate to. Since her poems are so visceral and full of unique images, Monica has decided to create a very visual book.

Monica's plan is to have people, anyone who wants to, read one of Emily's pieces and then create something visual based on what they may have been thinking about or inspired to do. These pieces can be art or photos or anything else creative. A Child Life Specialist gave this project to us at AFTH to see if we could help and of course, the moment I heard about it I knew I needed to be involved. First of all, the concept of gathering visual art from a vast collection of people based on Emily's words is brilliantly powerful and through AFTH, I will be able to involve volunteers and hospital affiliates very easily. (Unfortunately, we will not be able to involve current patients with the project unless there is an obvious request to do so because of the emotional weight of the content and the fact that we need to stay true to AFTH and make sure our patients are doing what they wish to do creatively.)

On the other hand, too, is the obvious presence of writing here--Monica is going to need assistance and input as to how to put this project together, where her own writing needs to go and where it's all Emily's, editing, placement layout, and when the time comes, publishing. I contacted Monica first through email and now we've emailed and spoken on the phone with plans to meet in person sometime this month. She was very appreciative to hear from AFTH and me personally with a writing background and says that she definitely welcomes the help since this project just seems to grow and grow with each step.

So, I will be working with this project during the rest of my internship and through this next school year and potentially afterwards if necessary. My biggest goals with it are to be sure Monica has the writing support she needs, help her find people to create art, and most importantly, be inspired and allow others to be inspired by these poems and by Emily herself.

Monica is very open to sharing this project and has given me permission to do so however necessary. If you'd like to read some of Emily's work, have any ideas, or want to create something feel free to respond to me anytime. For now, I'll let some of Emily's words end here:

"I've never known exactly what I want to be when I grow up. I would like to go into something that involves reading and writing because that's what I love to do in everyday life....My overall goal though, whether it is accomplished through a job or something else, is to be remembered. I have always wanted to do something to insure that one day in the future teachers will tell their students that today they will be learning about Emily Lyman. I want this dream to come true because otherwise, eventually, I will be forgotten and to me that would make the things that I've done in my life a lot less meaningful."