On April 29, the AHS Student Library Advisory Committee hosted Arlington Poet Laureate Jean Flanagan as the 2024 speaker in their spring program to explore different information professions. Ms. Flanagan was the 10th speaker in their annual series which has included children’s book authors, an archivist, a teen services librarian, and the Vice President of Marketing and Publicity for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young readers, among others.
Every year the group discusses possible speakers, and since April was National Poetry Month, a professional poet seemed like a good choice. After finding Ms. Flanagan online, the group discovered that the AHS library has a copy of one of her books, so she seemed like a good choice to join them.
Ms. Flanagan’s visit was very conversational with everyone sitting around a big table in the library. She described her life and work, her educational background, and her writing and research process. She spoke about her involvement teaching in the alternative sentencing program, Changing Lives Through Literature.
The poet read some of her poetry aloud, including works from her book Black Lightning which is about The Great Famine in Ireland and immigration. When asked how she found her inspiration for the work, she explained that her great grandparents came from Ireland and that a love letter addressed to her great grandmother partly inspired some of it. Another inspiration was a visit to Ireland where she reacted strongly to the collapsed houses she saw, making her want to write about that period. She also shared that it took her years to write the book since she was working at the same time and the publishing process was lengthy. Additionally, Ms. Flanagan read poems that she has written for various Poet Laureate responsibilities to the group.
Ms.Flanagan was gracious about taking questions from the students and co-chairs Audrey Kohl and Sophia Bishop felt that she covered all the things they were curious about. They learned that she was a co-founder of the Arlington Center for the Arts and as the Poet Laureate she remains very active in the Arlington community organizing poetry workshops at the Center.
Reflecting on the visit, Sophia shared that “One thing that stood out to me was how welcoming and organized she was. She greeted us with a smile and was very pleasant to speak with. She had clearly put thought into her presentation as she explained her life story eloquently, and as she answered questions she did so thoroughly and concisely. I admire how well prepared she was for her visit, meaning that she not only clearly put effort into preparing for her presentation but she also is comfortable presenting in front of others, something that I think she acquired from being a consistent leader in Arlington's art community.”
After the SLAC decided to ask Ms. Flanagan to be their speaker, it was co-chair Mia Vakoc who reached out to her and confirmed her participation. The answer the poet gave to their questions about her career path and how she got to where she is today really resonated with Mia. She says “I took away from her answer great assurance that the path of a poet, or any writer (or even any person), does not have to be rigid. Especially during the hectic college application process, reminders that our lives do not have to remain the same for the rest of our lives after young adulthood are incredibly appreciated.”
Sophia writes poetry that has been featured in the AHS literary magazine Imagine so it is no surprise that Ms. Flanagan’s writing was her main interest and she “...loved how her words flow in her poetry.” But Sohpia also enjoyed hearing about the poet's process, her life story, and her journey to becoming a Poet Laureate. Sophia states “She told us about how she worked as a secretary for a science program, and how this led to her watching a rocket launching in the late 1990s. She held this job and taught at multiple schools while also writing poetry. I found it really interesting how her life unfolded, and I was especially inspired by how she was not limited to a life of solely poetry; she continued to pursue other interests and careers while still working on poetry.”
Mia says that she believes it is “...incredibly important that Arlington has a Poet Laureate. The town is able to support Jean Flanagan as an individual and every other poet and poetry lover in Arlington. Her recognition inspires us.” Sophia also believes that it is valuable for Arlington to have a Poet Laureate since “Poetry is an important art form that can convey emotion and lessons both explicitly and subtly.”
All three Co-chairs would like to see more Poet Laureates taking part in the speaker series in the future . As Audrey says, “Each poet has their own story of how they started writing and how they became the Laureate and it would be incredibly interesting.” Mia adds “Poetry is a world that can seem very removed from our day to day life, and the presence of these amazing writers reminds us that poetry can be found around Arlington.”
The Student Library Advisory Committee is an AHS club open to all students. Group advisor Stacy Kitsis, AHS Library Teacher and K-12 Lead Library Teacher, says that the group aims to promote a culture of reading in the high school community and enrich the library through advising, programming, service, and fundraising. The speakers program is one way the Committee helps students learn about the information professions.