Student Artwork 

Examples of recent visual work by our students that will be included in the annual Freehand Arts Project print anthology. 

Student Writing 

Examples of recent written work by our students that will be included in the annual Freehand Arts Project print anthology. 

Gentrification is when…

Latifah “Lah Lah” H.

Grandma’s house is no longer home,

Gotta find a new place to live now unknowing and alone.

No longer a safe place, can’t use her sink to wash away tears from my face…

The neighborhood no longer family, look at me as if they can’t stand me.

Strangers next door, not realizing I’ve been here for more..

More years than you can count, I remember when your house

was just a mound… dirt we used to make mud pies, a field we

used for football, now they’re building houses too many feet too

tall. What about the little people, the ones you stepped on to get to the

top? Grandma’s house is no longer home...

Bars of Rage

Jennifer W.

I’m in a cage, my bars of rage

The bullmastiff I am

I’m a dog in a damned can

I’m mad as hell, shit ain’t goin well

Damn did I just hear a bell, or someone droppin

a coin in a wishing well. To Hell cause I fell

to wish life so well.

Spring me from my compound, I’m in the dog pound.

I shouldn’t left the yard, where I was supposed to

be on guard. Now I behind these bars in a rage.

A damned dog in cage.

The Rainbow Room

Ruby Leigh

Shallow people get mad and wonder how

How we can laugh and joke in a place like this

It’s not hard to be yourself especially if you’re hilarious

Laughs and smiles came a dime a dozen in here

And I’d rather see you up than see you down

Blessed to have been put where I was

and involved in the circles I’m involved with

We have a good time all day and night within these walls

With smiles plastered on our beautiful faces

Because in the end, what are we without happiness

What are we if we can’t see the rainbow past the rain

I wouldn’t know since I keep an arsenal of grins with me

there’s even an extra one in my pocket for my closest

friends in case they’ve misplaced theirs

Like I said I’d rather see them smile than frown

My people mean everything to me especially in a

place like this.