On November 8, 2023 at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), we celebrated the launch of Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities, the first ever Conservation Nation publication made possible through our partnership with author and literacy consultant, Caroline Brewer, and the University of the District of Columbia’s Justice 40 Initiative with the Department of the Interior.
Caroline Brewer reflects, “Anacostia High School students have given us a book to cherish — a book of poems, essays, reports, and images – that reveals what they felt, emotionally, what they touched physically, what they tasted, and what they heard in their summer internship dances with nature. This book is about student voice — rhythmic, poetic, vulnerable, insightful — on environmental affairs and agencies; the rivers, parks, forests, and gardens of their community; and the animal and plant kingdoms of the world. What Anacostia students say in 72 pages, 56 photos, and 44 pieces of writing tells a never-before-told story of love, loss, history, healing, and hope in Anacostia, DC, and for the whole wide world.”
Students were interviewed by media outlets following a presentation in which they read their poems and were celebrated by DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee, UDC President Maurice Edington, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White, UDC Anacostia Ambassador Xavier Brown, Conservation Nation Education Director Diane Lill, and others who spoke of the valuable contributions that these students have made to the history of Anacostia and the fight for environmental justice.
Kate Ryan of WTOP interviewed Kahri Borum about the poem she wrote about imagining herself as a blue jay. She writes, “Borum said she’s learned that blue jays are protective. And that struck a chord with her. ‘Coming from the type of community that I come from, everybody should feel protected or be protected,’ Borum said. Having taken part in the program, which included environmental and outdoor education, as well as writing the book, Borum said she’s rethinking her plans for the future. She said she would like to create programs, such as the one that she’s taken part in, ‘to help kids find themselves and do exactly what I’m doing right now.’”
We’re so proud that our book has made its way to the White House, and we hope that this will be the first of many books produced by students like Kahri as we work to inspire the next generation of conservation champions. Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities can be purchased from any bookstore or online through bookshop.org.
If I were the Anacostia River, I know what I would see:
trash, bass, Carolina wrens and
skinny branches that have fallen from trees
If I were the Anacostia River, I know what I would hear:
birds chirping, ducks quacking, cars roaring,
and wind blowing in my ear
—excerpt from If I Were the Anacostia River, group poem by Anacostia HS students
