Voices of Columbine: An Anthology By Shannon Keefe

I originally saw this briefly discussed quite a few years ago (in name only, as far as I can recall) on the SCMRPG forum.

This article examines Voices of Columbine: An Anthology.

For this collaborative publication, Susan DeWitt submitted a letter to Eric Harris. This is where that letter originated from.

(Please credit this article if you use this, particularly the author. And it'd be grand if you could also muster up the tact to toss a little credit toward SCMRPG and this forum for discussing it at all. Thank you.)

**Practicing what I preach, I would like to credit (and thank) CatherineM813 for sharing this [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] months ago, and I'd also like to apologize to her for not noticing it before I made this topic myself.



Columbine remembers through words and images

By Shannon Keefe, Copyright 2000 The Denver Post.



Columbine remembers through words and images
By Shannon Keefe


Columbine High School Senior Editor, "Voices from Columbine: an anthology of artistic expression"

Apr. 19 - "Voices from Columbine: an anthology of artistic expression," a 500-page collection of writing and artwork, represents the creative outpouring of students and staff of Columbine High School in the days immediately following the events of last April 20.

The anthology is being made into 25 art books by CHS senior humanities classes. We hope to publish copies of the project for the entire student body and faculty.
The week after the tragedy, the 1999 staff of the CHS Literary Magazine met at the West Bowles Church to discuss our dilemma: The layouts for the magazine were near completion, but were locked on a computer server in our school. And the school had been declared a crime scene.

At that time our adviser, Judy Kelly, introduced the Literary Magazine staff to Patty Ortiz from Young Audiences. Columbine has been a showcase school for YA artistsin-residence, and Ortiz told us that the National Endowment for the Arts had approved a generous grant to support our healing process.
Our staff wanted to put together a memory book with pages contributed from students and faculty to allow those closest to the tragedy to express their feelings. Donations of handmade paper, art supplies and memorabilia made possible the creation of 500 pages of artistic expression. The staff agreed that making this book would help the Columbine family by allowing individuals to express their emotions through the power of words and images.

The following week, CHS was relocated at Chatfield High School. The literary magazine staff organized the distribution of paper to any student and faculty member who wished to contribute a page. We then went to each English class to explain the voluntary project and pass out supplies. We gave the students two weeks to complete their pages. The staff was very surprised at the quick response. As soon as the next day, we began to receive student work.

We had not anticipated the level of interest until we started to receive pages filled with emotion. Students composed poems, personal accounts and angry letters. Pages contained original artwork, personal photographs and collages made of newspaper and magazine cutouts and memorabilia. At the short time we spent at Chatfield, we received more than 487 unique pages.

During the early summer, we met at Teikyo Loretto Heights Center, where Young Audiences is located. Staff members and advisers Judy Kelly and Peggy Dodd glued, sprayed, photocopied and cataloged the pages in preparation for display and publication.
Volunteer artists and the literary magazine staff spent four days hanging the exhibit at Zip Gallery in north Denver. The display of the collection gave the Columbine community, as well as the public, an opportunity to see the work. Through the school community, we promoted the opening of "Voices from Columbine." The show ran two nights.

Now that the pages are back at Columbine, the project continues. The pages have been professionally scanned onto CD-ROMs for future publishing for the student body and faculty. The plan is to compile a book funded by contributions to the CHS Literary Magazine. Plans for making a shortened version of the anthology are uncertain.
With help again from Young Audiences and artist-in-residence Patty Ortiz, senior humanities classes have made the original pages into a variety of art books. They include velvet-covered accordion-style books, wooden books, a Jacob's ladder book, a carousel book, a plexiglass book, a wall-hanging book and a hanging-file book. The art books may be displayed in the future or may be stored in a time capsule.

Blinking back the tears just a temporary solution

By Raissa Booze
Columbine High School Senior Editor, Columbine High School Literary Magazine

It has taken me almost a year to admit, even to myself, how greatly affected I was by the shootings at my school. I have pushed aside the pain, blinked away the tears, only to find that it is only a temporary solution.
Last year, I was a new student. Not growing up in this area as 90 percent of the Columbine kids have, I didn't have a deep personal connection with my classmates who died.
This fact helped me to convince myself that I was OK. I distanced myself emotionally and physically from the events after the shootings.
Even when working on the pages of the "Voices from Columbine" project, I kept detached as much as humanly possible. That is not to say I didn't shed a few tears as I read some of the pages, because I did, and it scared me. I preferred to live in denial, telling myself I was over all of the pain when I had instead buried it.
Still, I threw my time and energy into the project, organizing names, setting up the art gallery exhibit. Not until now, this past week, have I realized how I was lying to myself. I don't just look at these pages, I read them and see the truth and honest emotion these students had the courage to put down on paper.
These pages are the true essence of Columbine. Through reading the stories of people I know only on the surface, I have discovered who the students at my school really are. We are survivors, artistic minds and compassionate, loving souls.
We are Columbine.

Unanswered Questions
By Lindsay Elmore
Why?
Why did they do this?
Why didn't anyone notice them?
Why would they ruin so many lives?
How?
How could this happen here?
How do you cope?
How can you ever feel safe?
When?
When does the healing set in?
When can life be the same?
When can I see my friends feeling whole again?
Who?
Who will be able to go on with life?
Who will blame themselves?
Who was spared by sheer luck?
What?
What will happen now?
What about all my friends I won't see anymore?
What do I do with these memories?
Where?
Where did they get such hatred in their hearts?
Where can you feel safe now?
Where do we go from here?

Eric David Harris,
I didn't know the person hiding under your smile. I didn't know about the pain you carried in your heart. I didn't know the torture you endured for so long. And I didn't want to believe you were capable of such destruction. I didn't know I could feel such pain for someone I really didn't know. If I knew what your eyes hid, and what your mind was screaming, maybe I could have helped you. I could have loved you. All I know is the pain I am feeling inside. All I know is the person I talked to everyday, the person who seemed happy, the person who always helped me and made sure I had everything I needed. I see your picture on the pages, they say what a monster you are, they say how you were mean and cruel. But you see, I can't believe what they say. I knew the smiling person, the person who helped me. I don't want to hear it anymore. I want it to go away, the angry cries well up in me and I hate you for making me so scared and sad. Leaving me without any explanation. Leaving me with wandering thoughts and hollow cries. Did you try and reach me? Did you try to tell me? I will live with the memories and the unanswered questions I hold in my heart. Not a day will go by that I will not wonder why. As times goes by, I am getting stronger, but then the moment comes when I break down and cry. I am so sorry I didn't see the rage you had inside. I am sorry I was so blind and couldn't see all the things you tried to show me. No matter how wrong you were, I will love the person who smiled and said "Hi" to me everyday. I promise to never forget the person I knew, and forget the person they say you were.
Love Always and Forever,
Susan DeWitt


Dear Friend,
How can I forget you? When the path is no longer clear, Through thick and thin, Good and bad, You will always be my Friend. How much longer? Will it be years or decades? Will the memories fade? Will my heart struggle? How much pain will come my way? All questions will be answered in time, No matter what, You will always be my friend. Do you remember? Our food fights, Our dancing and singing, Our joking and laughing, Our crying, Our broken hearts, Our la-di-da dinners, The park, All will be with me forever, because You will always be my friend. I hear you're in heaven? Why not, you are the most outstanding, bright, prettiest, hopeful, strongest, joyful, person I know. You are God's treasure on Earth and now His angel in Heaven. You are my angel and, You will always be my friend. Dedicated to Lauren Townsend, my friend, my angel.
-Cora Lininger

Copyright 2000 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I saw on amazon something about this book but is not available anymore. I am a bit confuse. This was published in the end or not?, I think it was since I am seeing it now on other several books websites but is not available there either. Thats sad because the project seems very interesting and I would like to see everything the students did, since the poem and the letters (that are on the post) really express the confusion and pain that they were suffering.