Soul Riffs: Unfolding Worlds

Border Voices #14

by Jack Webb (Editor), Robert Pinsky, Adrienne Rich

The 14-year-old Border Voices project operates on the theory that a total immersion in the art of poetry via intensive workshops and an annual Poetry Fair will result in increased verbal skills and dramatically increased scores on standardized tests for K-12 students. The project also believes that these positive effects will be enhanced when students receive public recognition on TV, in books, and in the local newspaper, and when they also receive the opportunity to work with major poets from around the world.

This theory was implemented during the last 14 years, as Border Voices selected local poets to teach in schools throughout the county. The project also gathered sponsors including The San Diego Union-Tribune and many others to get student poetry into the newspapers and on TV, as well as in an annual anthology.

The theory and implementation were validated in the just-concluded fiscal year as Border Voices published data showing huge and continuing increases in scores on standardized English tests following Border Voices workshops and related programs at Pershing Middle School. The study also showed that new, cutting-edge methods of teaching creative writing, based on the latest educational theories, increase the positive effects, and that teachers tend to adopt these Border Voices methods after the poets leave.

Although the Pershing workshops and related study (funded by the California Art Council) received the most attention in the media and the schools, Border Voices also sent poets into dozens of other schools throughout the last year; televised numerous new and old TV shows involving students and poets from around the world; held its annual Poetry Fair the weekend of April 29; published an anthology of student poetry from workshops throughout San Diego County; and launched a new contest in which student poets appeared on TV and were featured in the Union-Tribune.

177 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Jack Webb is founder-director of the 15-year-old Border Voices Poetry Project, which has flown famous poets into San Diego since 1993 for an annual Poetry Fair.
Jack is also host of a weekly TV show featuring some of the most respected poets in the world (Robert Hass, Billy Collins, Sandra Cisneros, etc.) working with San Diego students.
As part of his preparation for serving the cause of poetry, Jack earned an MFA in Creative Writing from SDSU. But he also values his long experience as an investigative reporter, and later as an editor, for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The Best of Border Voices, a 2007 book edited by Jack, was honored as Best Poetry Anthology of 2007 by the “National Best Books Awards.” It contains selected poems and essays from earlier Border Voices anthologies, 15 of which have been published since 1994.
In addition to its annual Poetry Fair and weekly TV show, Border Voices teaches the art of verse to thousands of K-12 students.
Jack is especially proud of the impact Border Voices and poetry have had on San Diego families and students. This includes:

 1. Spectacular increases in student scores on standardized
 tests. 

 2. An explosion of creativity in homes throughout the city.
 As one proud dad said, “You people at Border Voices
 have transformed not only our daughter, but
 our whole family. We thank you!” 

Among the dozens of poets who have appeared at Border Voices fairs are Ireland’s Eavan Boland; former U.S. poet laureates Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky and Billy Collins; Adrienne Rich and Amy Gerstler; and Kay Ryan and W.S. Merwin.
OTHER AWARDS: The Border Voices TV show has won three international awards for its weekly TV show. These include a Telly Award, a Videographer Award, and an honorable mention in The Communicator competition.
“To give you some idea of the level of competition: to win a Telly Award, Border Voices had to successfully compete with 10,000 entries from all 50 states and many foreign countries,” said Richard Harrison, producer-director for ITV, which is part of the San Diego County Office of Education.
“Previous winners included Sesame Workshop, Turner Classic Movies and Time Warner Cable, so you can see Border Voices is doing something right,” Harrison added.