“Write the World:”  Spread the Word

You ventured down the cobblestone streets that Benjamin Franklin trod, you walked through buildings where history was made over 225 years ago,…all to travel in your mind’s eye back to the 18th century so that you might “write the world” from the vantage of an American (e.g. British subject) living in those tumultuous times.   

You returned from historic Philadelphia to the Ace Center ‘Writer’s Café’ for an evening immersed in the smells, tastes, and images of colonial America, and you penned the genesis of your historical fiction. 

The experiences were framed and modeled after those that students might have in your classrooms and in your own towns and areas…..”moving from the world to the word, that adults write,……..and students can also write.” 

We are pleased to publish (with permission) the imaginations of the Stamford District educators…………

Diary of a Freedom Fighter

November 8, 1776
I’ve decided to fight against the King.  There’s nothing left here for me.  Last winter, Ma would be sitting by the window of our farm house spinning oily wool, while Pa would be smoking his pipe and pondering what to plant after the warm spring sun pushed away the dreary frigid winter.  This winter the spinning and the pondering are just painful memories.  The fever took them and left me belonging to no one.  No one wants to be responsible for a boy on the brink of manhood.  Working Pa’s fields without him would bring too much pain.  Tomorrow I leave my youth behind along with the only place I’ve known as home. 

December 25, 1776
We are camped out on the icy banks across from Trenton.  General Washington has given orders to cross the Delaware before dawn tomorrow.  I have a constant chill and a rumble in my stomach.  My feet are calloused and blistered from the worn soles of my boots.  The wet snow seeps through these holes making each step more and more painful.  Unlike my beaten down shoes, my spirit remains strong as I remember Thomas Paine’s quote, “These are the times that try men’s soles…” and anticipate our surprise attack on the Hessians.  Last Christmas all I wanted was a new pair of boots.  This Christmas the only present I want is freedom from the King.

December 26, 1776
I watched as General James Ewing’s boat got embanked on the thick clumps of ice.  I am confident that the sailor from the Massachusetts’s Marblehead Battalion will successfully maneuver through these dangerous ice filled waters.  My only fear is that we won’t reach the banks of Trenton before daybreak thus our sneak attack will be revealed and ruined.  My heart raced as our boat crept up onto land.  The difficulty in transferring and placing the heavy iron cannons did not weigh heavy on our spirits.  We remained charged for our eminent battle.  By 4:00 am we were ready for battle.  The surprised look on the Hessian soldiers’ faces, as our cannons woke them from their holiday slumber, are burned in my memory.  They scrambled to get their muskets and to arm their cannons, but we soon surrounded them and within 2 hours they lowered their flags.  Our plans had come to fruition. 

January 2, 1777
It’s the New Year and some of my brother soldiers have gone home.  I am pondering my own future as my father pondered over the future of his fields.  I am torn between returning to my lonely, quiet farmhouse or remaining with General Washington in our fight for freedom.  He has asked for volunteers to forgo their return home in order to continue our efforts toward our cause.  If I return home, what difference will I make?  Ma and Pa will be with me wherever I go.  It is only here that I can make a difference.  I must go now and tell General Washington of my decision. 

Follow the links below to read the stories of other colleagues.

Jane Anderson - Stamford, CT
Michele Helms - Stamford, CT
Terry Powe - Springfield, MA
Wendy Tang and Tamyra Childs - Stamford, CT
Stacey Wood - Stamford, CT
Mark Woodard - Stamford, CT
Michael Sanders -Stamford, CT, Brenda Byrd - Muscogee, GA Howard Reed - Bridgeport, CT