Rainier Beach:
A Photo and Tanka Journal
I was inspired by Harryette Mullen who kept a Tanka journal of her LA neighborhood and decided to employ the same tactic for Rainier Beach. So, I sought out to capture photos and along with research , use Tanka poems to describe the creative life of the community. Tanka poems traditionally follow the 5-7-5-7-7 pattern.
I biked through Rainier Beach, as I often do on my way to work at Rainier Beach High School and Rainier Beach Community Center. I come to this community as a neighbor and sister. My role is being a youth worker and poetry teacher. I have been working directly with scholars at Rainier Beach High School for 2 years. I additionally work with school-age children and teach a toddler art class at the local community center.Using the Seattle Department of Transportation’s interactive bike map, I was able to come across many public art pieces.
Rainier Beach
It is the whole world.
Mixture of language and taste.
Lean in and see self.
You make history with each breath.
Know each other through shared sight.
Rainier Beach is part of the Rainier Valley, an area within Seattle. Seattle is known to be a very creative and unique city. It’s a place where outcasts are welcomed and artists are celebrated. Seattle takes pride in its own weirdness. Like the rest of Seattle, Rainier Beach has its own spunk and creativity. Community members say Rainier Beach and its surrounding neighborhoods are unique because people use the little resources they have in order to make the neighborhood beautiful.
Rainier Beach
It is the whole world.
Mixture of language and taste.
Lean in and see self.
You make history with each breath.
Know each other through shared sight.
Rainier Beach is part of the Rainier Valley, an area within Seattle. Seattle is known to be a very creative and unique city. It’s a place where outcasts are welcomed and artists are celebrated. Seattle takes pride in its own weirdness. Like the rest of Seattle, Rainier Beach has its own spunk and creativity. Community members say Rainier Beach and its surrounding neighborhoods are unique because people use the little resources they have in order to make the neighborhood beautiful.
This bus stop, like many bus stops in Seattle, was part of the Bus Shelter Mural Project that began in 1989. Metro King County started this project with youth and community members that reside in the neighborhoods that had bus stops. Metro contributed panels and paint supplies and community members donated their time and artistic talents. This particular bus shelter was painted by children from Dunlap Elementary School. Since its beginning the project has completed over 900 murals and is the largest ongoing project in the country of its kind.
Community Mural
Children and elders create.
We paint to come alive within.
America, Somoa
both beautiful and complex.
We are all here, we paint us.
Community Mural
Children and elders create.
We paint to come alive within.
America, Somoa
both beautiful and complex.
We are all here, we paint us.
This mural was completed by students and teachers at Rainier Beach High School. There is also a two-dimensional painting which is a portrait of Hamza, a boy who was killed in a suspected hate crime. This painting was added this year directly after his death.
This tile mural was completed by students at Dunlap Elementary School.
Upon coming across this mural,also installed on Dunlap Elementary School,many teachers and parents commented that this mural was very beautiful but has unfortunately began to deteriorate with time.
Rainier Beach is a neighborhood where youth and families are its biggest asset. Over 30% of the community is made up of people under the age of 18. It is important to note that many of the community art projects are around youth art or schools because it is a visual reminder of the importance of young people in the community.
Youth of Beach
You see we are young.
We see that we are laughter.
We’re more than hoodies.
Soon we'll have freedom in hand,
we'll look past the promised land.
This sculpture is in front of Rainier Beach Branch Library. Seattle artist, Ray Jensen, fashioned this piece using the combined image of a scholar and athlete.
It symbolizes that the pursuit of knowledge is an active event. This is an important visual representation of positive identity building in a neighborhood that has statistically the most low performing school in Seattle.
Pursuit of Knowledge
Run ahead and look.
Use your brain and new Jordan's.
Sometimes you will fail.
But do not get caught behind.
Continue to leap in the fire.
Unfortunately education rates in Rainier Beach are proportionally lower than those of the rest of Seattle. Only 74.8% posses a high school diploma and 25.1% have a bachelor’s degree. However, thanks to a grant, Rainier Beach High School received the International Baccalaureate program in 2012. This program along with faithful community organizations and parents rallied with students to bring Rainier Beach to what it is today, a school that recently graduated the most seniors in the whole Seattle Public School District.
It symbolizes that the pursuit of knowledge is an active event. This is an important visual representation of positive identity building in a neighborhood that has statistically the most low performing school in Seattle.
Pursuit of Knowledge
Run ahead and look.
Use your brain and new Jordan's.
Sometimes you will fail.
But do not get caught behind.
Continue to leap in the fire.
Unfortunately education rates in Rainier Beach are proportionally lower than those of the rest of Seattle. Only 74.8% posses a high school diploma and 25.1% have a bachelor’s degree. However, thanks to a grant, Rainier Beach High School received the International Baccalaureate program in 2012. This program along with faithful community organizations and parents rallied with students to bring Rainier Beach to what it is today, a school that recently graduated the most seniors in the whole Seattle Public School District.
Seattle’s Sound Transit has completed over 80 permanent works of art at light rail stations. The above sculpture is called “Parables” and was made by Buster Simpson. Though it is great that Rainier Beach has a light rail ( or the link) station and is accessible to greater Seattle, it is also a double edged sword. As with this development came gentrification and less access to local residents who could not afford to ride the rail or bus system. Since 2010, groups of youth activists from Rainier Beach have been advocating for youth transportation justice. Because youth and their families could not afford to ride the link or buses, many had to walk to and from school. Additionally many youth have to walk their younger siblings to and from school. This caused youth to be tardy and often truant. Because truancy is a punishable crime in Washington, Rainier Beach youth decided to rise up. Additionally, it seemed unfair that students should be expected to pay for the bus ticket.Because over 70% of students at Rainier Beach High School are on free and reduced lunch, they decided to march for all students in Seattle on free and reduced lunch. In the winter of 2016, a bill passed unanimously through city council to approve all students in Seattle on free and reduced lunch the access to a free bus pass or Orca card.
Parable of a City
It is no secret.
Barriers built for black and white.
We are not for this.
Do you want to divide us?
Do you want to connect us?
Parable of a City
It is no secret.
Barriers built for black and white.
We are not for this.
Do you want to divide us?
Do you want to connect us?
I was not able to find out the name of this piece but it is significant because of its use for memorial grounds for youth deaths in the community. I believe this almost accidental place-making piece employs the Cleveland (2011) ABCD method of nurture and healing of people just by being a grounds for community members to commemorate one another.
Memorial
Our art is memory.
See my face and my black eyes.
I did not leave you.
I am in the mountain top
and your soon-wrinkled smile’s curve.
Memorial
Our art is memory.
See my face and my black eyes.
I did not leave you.
I am in the mountain top
and your soon-wrinkled smile’s curve.
The statue above, done by Seattle artist Richard Beyer, was created after the community responded to the death of educator, Victor Dickinson, Principal of Emerson Elementary School for 30 years, by funding this sculpture. It features 3 life-size children of different ethnicities reading together which reflects Dickinson’s love for learning, art and children.
Rainier Beach is known to be ethnically diverse. In fact, as a part of Rainier Valley, it was in the zip code that was the most ethnically diverse in the country in the 2010 census.
What is Diversity?
It is my neighbor.
Who instead of wondering,
Are you even from here?
he or she asks, who are you?
Join our mosaic of the world.
Rainier Beach is known to be ethnically diverse. In fact, as a part of Rainier Valley, it was in the zip code that was the most ethnically diverse in the country in the 2010 census.
What is Diversity?
It is my neighbor.
Who instead of wondering,
Are you even from here?
he or she asks, who are you?
Join our mosaic of the world.
Despite its complexity, the spirit of Rainier Beach is strong and faces adversity with perseverance. Using Asset-Based Community Development, I hope to partner with youth and community members to create visual representations of positive identity of youth of color. Rainier Beach, A Beautiful and Safe Place for Youth is a group I hope to co-partner with. They have been pioneers in this work and are a community-led violence prevention committee who have literally drawn out maps of where the most youth victimization and crime takes place in this neighborhood and are already doing placemaking work to restore those hubs into spaces of youth prosperity and community growth. My hope would be to bring images and text of powerful youth to these spaces who are transforming this community for the better as a way to continue to build this strong community into the pillar it was born to be.
Looking around at this community, I feel incredibly blessed. It was wonderful to come across people I know on a daily basis and to be fighting for justice with youth who will not rest until they receive their dream. After living in multiple communities across this country, nothing feels more like home than the wind in my face as I bike, the snow peak of Mt. Rainier and the call of tall high school students who say, " Hey, Ms. Katelyn! Where you been?"
Looking around at this community, I feel incredibly blessed. It was wonderful to come across people I know on a daily basis and to be fighting for justice with youth who will not rest until they receive their dream. After living in multiple communities across this country, nothing feels more like home than the wind in my face as I bike, the snow peak of Mt. Rainier and the call of tall high school students who say, " Hey, Ms. Katelyn! Where you been?"
Got Hope?
We head towards hope.
We know it belongs to us.
We take three steps
to plan ahead of the pain.
Every footstep breaks the chains.
Works Cited
"About." Rainier Beach: A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Bus Shelter Mural Program." - King County Metro Transit. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Demographics." RBAC Rainier Beach Action Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Mapping the Terrain." Making of Menander’s Comedy (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Mullen, Harryette Romell. Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
News, Breaking. "Breaking News on Rainier Beach, Southeast Seattle, WA." Breakingnews.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"The Opportunity Gap: Rainier Beach High School." ProPublica. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Permanent Public Art." Sound Transit. N.p., 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Rainier Beach Homes For Sale & Rainier Beach Real Estate." ChoiceHomes4Sale.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Rainier Beach, Seattle, WA Employment." Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Rainier Valley: One Of America's Most Diverse Neighborhoods." Curbed Seattle. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 28 May 2016.
"SDOT: Bicycle Map." SDOT: Bicycle Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Stunning Surge in Graduation Rate as Rainier Beach Gamble Pays off." The Seattle Times. N.p., 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 May 2016.
We head towards hope.
We know it belongs to us.
We take three steps
to plan ahead of the pain.
Every footstep breaks the chains.
Works Cited
"About." Rainier Beach: A Beautiful Safe Place for Youth. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Bus Shelter Mural Program." - King County Metro Transit. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Demographics." RBAC Rainier Beach Action Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Mapping the Terrain." Making of Menander’s Comedy (n.d.): n. pag. Web.
Mullen, Harryette Romell. Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
News, Breaking. "Breaking News on Rainier Beach, Southeast Seattle, WA." Breakingnews.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"The Opportunity Gap: Rainier Beach High School." ProPublica. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Permanent Public Art." Sound Transit. N.p., 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Rainier Beach Homes For Sale & Rainier Beach Real Estate." ChoiceHomes4Sale.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Rainier Beach, Seattle, WA Employment." Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 May 2016.
"Rainier Valley: One Of America's Most Diverse Neighborhoods." Curbed Seattle. N.p., 10 June 2013. Web. 28 May 2016.
"SDOT: Bicycle Map." SDOT: Bicycle Map. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2016.
"Stunning Surge in Graduation Rate as Rainier Beach Gamble Pays off." The Seattle Times. N.p., 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 May 2016.