Trinity University student Madeline “Maddie” Kennedy ’19 took several poetry classes with English professor Jenny Browne, served as her peer tutor, and looked to her for a summer research opportunity that produced a San Antonio Tricentennial booklet,"Cuentos de San Antonio/Stories from St. Anthony."
This might not exactly be what you’d expect from many political science majors who are also considering a double major in Spanish. But it made sense to Kennedy, who plans to become an occupational therapist and is enjoying her liberal arts experience at Trinity.
Kennedy jumped at the chance to conduct research during the summer of 2017 with Browne, also the Poet Laureate of San Antonio, as part of the “St. Anthony’s Lost & Found: A Poetry Exchange” initiative. Along the way Kennedy collaborated with another Trinity student, Derek Hudson, to develop poetry curriculum for schools and community centers, and met San Antonio authors such as Rosemary Catacalos and John Phillip Santos.
Kennedy also learned the value of research stories that are not "lost" in the purest definition of the word but haven’t been fully and completely told.
“What excited me about this project was to be able to tell stories that don’t always get told and to tell them in a way to reach a new audience and inform people of one person’s life,” says Kennedy, a native of Dripping Springs, Texas, and co-president of the Trinity Progressives.
Her booklet imparts details of San Antonians involved in a Supreme Court case about Mexican-American rights, grassroots efforts behind the founding of Government Canyon State Natural Area, and the origins of numerous East Side jazz enterprises. All told, the booklet shares 14 stories, seen through fresh eyes. The texts are paired with works by local visual artists.
The booklets are available at a “Lost & Found” exhibit at the Culture Commons Gallery, 115 Plaza de Armas in downtown San Antonio. The exhibit, which includes works by visual artists, films, and 500 postcards bearing poems, will be open through Thursday, April 26, 2018. After that, the booklets will be offered at libraries and community centers.
Browne launched the project last year after meeting with educators and asking two key questions: “What have we lost?” and “What have we found?” in relation to the city’s history. Both questions speak to the legacy of the city’s namesake, who is the patron saint of lost and found things. Browne says her signature project “gives voice to where we come from, some of what we have lost and found along the way, and where we imagine ourselves going from here.”
On Thursday, March 1, Kennedy, Browne, some of Browne’s current poetry students, and other authors will read select works about poetry and the concept of “lost and found.” The event, which will include a film screening, is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Culture Commons Gallery.
For more information about the St. Anthony’s Lost & Found Poetry Exchange or to download a teacher’s resource guide, click here.
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