Writing club year-end dinner performance

On June 4, 2009, during the annual year end dinner, the students of the Cabrini Connections writing club performed a skit that they had written during the previous weeks. Dan Bassill, President of Cabrini Connections, was enlisted as one of the performers.

These are some of the photos along with the entire script. Good job writing club!

Scene opens with everyone collecting around the writing club table chattering about what they saw outside and how cool it is….

De’sean – Narrator to introduce set the scene

Dan: You guys, sorry but writing club in canceled tonight!

Group: Why??

Dan: Someone has graffittied the wall outside the center!! All groups are canceled until we get to the bottom of this! I know just the investigators who can help us get to the bottom of this! {Leaves to go call investigators}

Sketch: Wow…. I wonder who did this? (Sarcastically… starts laughing with friends)

{Everyone looks at Sketch suspiciously}

Charlie: {Looks nervous and starts pointing at sketch} It’s so obvious that it is indeed you, Sketch!! Who else could have done this? This is your labor!

Sketch: What? Are you serious? Just because I know how to draw don’t mean it was me. Besides, if you look at my other stuff they don’t look anything like this one!

Charlie: Whatever! You’re not going to get away with this!! {Still nervous, looks side to side}

Sketch: Whateva man, I told you I didn’t do this!

De’sean – Narrator to introduce the investigators in rhyme and foreshadows the events to come. Questioning who actually committed the crime…………………

{In walks the investigators – Sherlocka & Wattsonia }

Sherlocka: So what do we have here?

Sketch: Why am I here? Why are you grabbing me fo?

Sherlocka: Cause we know it was you that tagged the wall at Cabrini Connections!

Charlie: Yup Yup – it was him! I saw him do it!

Narrator “Now it’s time to show the proof. Let’s see who tells the truth!”

Sherlocka: Just admit that you did it and this can be all over, shorty!

Sherlocka and Watsonia continue to harass Sketch while Charlie continues to look pretty quilty…

Dan: {Enters} Call off the investigation Sherlocka, I think I need to offer sketch here a job!

Everyone: {Shocked} What for?!

Dan: It turns out this magnificent piece of art has brought a lot more attention to the center! People keep stopping their cars and looking at the wall – asking who the artist is! This could bring the extra attention the center needs and may bring a lot more donors and volunteers to Cabrini Connections!

{Says while looking over at Charlie who appears very perplexed and uncomfortable}
Charlie: A masterpiece? Really? No, No, No!! Wait! It was me! I did it! I tagged the Cabrini Connections wall! It’s my masterpiece. I’m the 4.0 GPA student, I’m the one going to Princeton, I deserve all the credit for this piece of art!

Sketch: I told you it wasn’t me, now what!

Sherlocka: Shut up!

Dan: Well, well, well. It looks like the truth has finally come out! But we knew it all along! We were just waiting for you to confess! {Walks over to Sherlocka & Watsonia}

Charlie: What?! But how did you know?

Dan: Charlie, the art supplies that you used are not the same as what sketch uses and El Dasheon witnessed you hanging around the center long after everyone else had left with paint on your pants! The only question we had was why did you do it? And why frame Sketch?

Sherlocka: Your busted Buddy!! Yeah, tell us. Why did you do it?

Charlie: {Nervous, head down} Well, okay,okay, okay……

Sherlocka: C’mon, the Okays are killing me!

Charlie: Fine! I did it because I was frustrated sketch never asked me hang out with him and his crew. I wanted to prove to sketch and everyone else that I’m cool. I panicked and let Sketch take the blame because he’s always in trouble and I’m never in trouble. {Head down} I’m sorry, I should have fessed up.

Sketch: Yeah man, you shouldn’t have blamed me! I mean, your work is actually good! I didn’t know you had this kind of skill! We should collaborate…

{Sherlocka gets upset and goes towards sketch “Why I oughta”}

Dan : {Interrupts} ONLY if that collaboration is intended for Cabrini Connections!! I think we can come up with a great mural. Both of you need to be signed up for Art club. Let’s put your talents to good use – not an illegal use!

Charlie: {To sketch} Man, I’m really sorry. I screwed up.

Sketch: Forget about it, next time though, just ask me to hang out instead of framing me!

Sherlocka: Should I charge Charlie with Vandalism? Defacing private property? False accusations? Lying to an officer of the law…

Dan: Thank you Sherlocka, but I don’t think any of that is necessary! I think Charlie has learned his lesson – OR at least he will after all the work I have ready for him at Cabrini Connections. I think we can start with scrapping all the used chewing gum from under all the desks followed by cleaning the toilets, washing the windows ……

De’Sean – Narrator to end the play with a moral in ryme

2008-2009 Writing Club

"The writing club will be doing much of the same as last year. We will continue to provide opportunity for the participants to express themselves in various forms of writing emphasizing and encouraging the creative writing skills. We will be exposing the participants to new forms of writing while hopefully showing them the power of words and the impact they have. Each week we will have a new activity which is recorded in each of their journals. The journals are turned in at the end of each class and the participants are encouraged to participate in the activity or free write."
-Jen King

Writing Club Stars at June 2008 Year End Dinner

The writing club continued to meet weekly at Cabrini Connections throughout the 2007-08 school year.

On June 12 the year-end dinner celebration featured presentations from several of the young poets.

This year we had two guests from Korea at the dinner, and they created a video that you can now see on YouTube, to document the excitment and warmth of this year's celebration.

Clubs are still meeting each week at Cabrini during the summer and we're seeking additional volunteers to support the writing club during the coming school year. Contact us at 312-492-9614, or email tutormentor2@earthlink.net if you are interested.

9/27: Taking a Deeper Look..

This week we started out with a fun activity that fuses descriptive writing and an insightful look into each other.

Taking a deeper look!

We started this week with a Descriptive Essay…but not just any descriptive essay. We are making Character Descriptions. And who are the characters? Us!
We decided to put all of our names into a hat and pick students and/or volunteers from group to creatively describe. After we secretly picked our names the group sat in a contemplative state looking for the depth in us all. Everybody loved the idea and had fun determining how to describe not only physical characteristics but more importantly, what lies beneath the surface. It was truly an eye opening activity. Through this we discovered that our diverse group of young people think highly of one another and found a plethora of positive attributes to highlight and discuss.

9/19: And so it begins!

We started our ‘official’ new year as Cabrini Connections Writing Group, Wednesday September 19, 2007. And we couldn’t be more excited! First we regret to announce that our beloved Meg has moved to Arizona. We were sad to see her go, but we’re so proud of her and will keep in touch.

This year we’re changing things up a bit. At our first meeting we passed out new notebooks and plenty of stickers and gems to decorate with. While the ladies were decorating the books we talked about goals we’d like to achieve for the year. They jotted down their goals and we discovered we have some motivated individuals on our hands! Tajeria would like to start applying for college scholarships, Eboni would like to score a 25 or higher on her ACT test, LaFaye would like to not only have an A+ average but would also like to finish writing her story! Mercedes and Namieka would like to stay focused on school, while Vontesha would love to learn a little Spanish!

This year the notebooks are serving a higher purpose. At the end of each group the notebooks will be collected for Jen and Shannyn to review and positively reinforce the girls with comments and feedback. We also write the girls our own notes and they write back to us! We’ve also implemented a reward system. Points are rewarded for attendance, activity completion, and group participation. At the end of each week, we’ll tally up the points and determine a writer of the week! And at the end of each quarter we’ll have a pizza party and let the girls ‘shop’ with their points. For example, if you have 200 points you can trade them in for a Target Gift Card or Museum Tickets. The girls loved the idea and we can’t wait to see them rack up those points!

7-11, 7-18: Story writing!

7-11, 7-18


We kicked off our summer meetings with a focus on story writing! On 7-11 we went to Oz Park on Armitage and Halsted, set up blankets, and did some “imagination exercises.” Some of the exercises asked students to write about their lives; for example, “name 15 things you see outside of your house.” Or: “think of a song that brings back strong memories. What song is it? What kinds of feelings do you associate with the song?” Then, some of the exercises asked students to make up stories, or little scenarios. One example is: “Through the laundromat window, I see….” The point of doing the exercises was to get students’ creative muscles working and give them inspiration for writing their own stories (real or imagined).

On 7-18 we continued with the exercises and talked about possible stories. Marcus will be writing about his “block.” Eboni will write about a song that triggers a memory of a past boyfriend. Victoria is also writing about a song. LaFaye is writing a fiction story from a young girl’s perspective that describes the girl searching for her mother, who is never around. TT is writing about a song that brings back strong memories of her uncle who passed away. We talked about different elements of story writing such as what draws the reader in and how to be descriptive. I tried to help the students narrow down their story ideas—to write about a moment, or an event, rather than trying to capture too much in one story. They got some words on paper, which was great! They will be working on their stories on their own time and next week, we’ll look at first drafts and work on revising!

Year end dinner story: it's all about family!

Before we move on to our summer meetings, I wanted to post a re-cap of the year-end dinner...



With the theme of “This Is Just the Beginning,” the Cabrini Connections family gathered for the year-end dinner on June 8th—celebrating students’ accomplishments and looking toward the future.

With his words and his spirit, Jabar taught us about destiny. A graduate of CC and college sophomore inspired younger students to stay focused. Then Eboni, Tajeria, LeFaye, and Victoria from the writing group performed an improv and poetry skit about seeing “The Color Purple.” They head-bobbed, showed us attitude, and reminisced as the audience laughed and went along for the ride.

Courtland and Ana kept things running smoothly as students, volunteers, and special guests met each other and chatted over dinner. We listened to India Arie, and a slide show of student memories played in the background (thanks Roman!). Over dinner, we introduced ourselves and shared our diverse experiences working with the kids at CC.

After dinner, proud parents took the mic to share their kids’ experiences with the organization. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one crying as one father told us that “it’s not always easy raising kids and keepin’ them smellin’ nice.” But with the help of CC, he’s given them a future. He thanked the CC “family,” extended special thanks to Dan, and inspired us with his heartfelt words.

Dan built on the theme of family in his seven minute speech (Ana had given him five :)). The reason Dan could talk all day is because he’s committed to CC—in both his words and his actions. He talked about the beauty of so many diverse types of people coming together to make CC a success and reminded us that we’re not just an organization, we’re a family. He encouraged us to keep looking to the future and staying connected to CC.

Rebecca talked about the future ambitions of the IYP Video Club and showed us a preview of the full-length documentary that members had produced. Courtland and Ana announced student awards and passed out prizes to the deserving winners!! We clapped for graduating seniors Jabar Norman, Kevin Stanfield, and Terika White.

With the spirit of CC, these students would be moving on. But as we had learned throughout the evening, you never lose touch with family; their accomplishments would live on through the younger students who’d be a part of the family for years to come. So when we left for the evening, we knew we’d be in contact soon—to continue doing the homework, making memories, and together learning what it means to succeed.