Anacostia High School Students Co-Author Environmental Poetry Book

From The Washington Informer:

Dewand Hemsley, a senior at Anacostia High School, didn’t know he was going to be helping write a book during the six-week environmental justice internship he signed up for last summer. Neither did any of the other 11 high school participants.

“Miss Caroline told us we had to write, and we said we didn’t want to write — then we kept complaining and complaining, complaining, complaining,” Dewand, now a published poet, said with a laugh. “Look at us now, we’re like famous.” 

Dewand spoke with The Informer following a book launch held at the University of the District of Columbia on Nov. 8, where he and his co-authors read aloud from their poetry to an auditorium seating dozens of cheering supporters and local media. He held up his copy of “Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities,” which features four of his own poems.

“It was emotional when I started reading it,” said Dewand in an interview after the book launch. “And then when I wrote it — it just feels joyful.”