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Here’s an Idea: Invite 2020 seniors to write their own graduation speeches (only two or three usually get to deliver one). Send to a central location (I don’t know what it would be ((help me)). These “speeches” would be archived in each statehouse and within Library of Congress.
Thinking about @NPR’s “This I Believe” series as mentor text for these “speeches”/reflections. Invite “This I Know” and “This I Have Learned” and “This I Will Do.” This idea could be the means of shifting the narrative of having lost something and living within that single story.
What if a university press from each state took on the work of curating the senior speeches to publish them into a bound volume? Each state's version could be shelved in the statehouse (in education office?). Then, a copy from each state would go to the U.S. Library of Congress.
Parents/Community Members might have to wait a bit for publication, but a copy might reside in a high school library within a special case made for this purpose. Copies might be gifted to each graduate of that year. @suptdrmccormick, I know you are busy. Are you following here?
. @writingproject: Can you follow this thread? What could The National Writing Project offer or do to mobilize these multiform/multimodal pieces that 2020 graduates might create and present? Something permanent and in the guise of legacy writing here.
