six, picking up sticks.

Yesterday, Ayat and I held our first Art for Learning’s Sake event at COTs Detroit’s headquarters. I’m going to break it down screenplay form for the sake of clarity and also, (selfishly) for myself to relive it all over again.

ACT 1 

Scene 1:
Getting to COTs
Characters : 
Ayat, Jean, an Uber driver named Bruce, and a box full of materials falling apart at the seams
Script: 
Ayat: Good morning Jean
Jean: We didn’t freeze the ice cubes for our ice cube painting activity. We can’t have an ice cube painting activity without the hecking ice cubes.
Ayat: This is a disaster.
Bruce: Your box is falling apart.
Jean: DRIVE

Scene 2: 
Arriving at COTs
Characters : 
Ayat, Jean, liaison person named Nicole (also Passport to Self-Sufficiency/Impact Partner Coordinator of COTs)
Script:
Ayat: Are all these people here for the event?
Jean: We need a freezer NOW.
Nicole: Will this walk-in meat freezer suffice?
Ayat: It takes four hours for water to freeze, our event starts in half an hour.
Jean *lays hands upon meat freezer and prays to all the gods she knows for a miracle*

ACT 2 

Scene 1:
Event begins
Characters : 
Ayat, Jean, supervisor Jillian, 15 kids, and 10 parents
Script: 
Ayat (addressing audience): Good morning everyone, my name is Ayat Al-Tamimi and I am a co-lead of Art For Learning’s Sake, a program seeking to provide educationally-relevant and fun art activities for children ages 0-8.
Child 1: *throws a handful of paintbrushes in the air from excitement*
Child 2: HEY WOOK! BUBBUL WEP!
Ayat: Wha-

(Chaos ensues)

Scene 2: 
A mother gently paints the bottom of her baby’s foot and presses it upon some craft paper. She wipes the foot clean and holds up the imprinted sole for her friend to see.

Scene 3: 
A child discovers the magic of bubble wrap. He begins to press with renewed vigour, exclaiming at the effect the popping has upon the paint dollops beneath the bubble wrap. Sensory experience, check.

Scene 4:
A young boy cries in a corner.
Ayat: Hey check out this cool chalk. What happens when you use it on sandpaper?
He stops crying, and engages in art, all the while learning about the concept of ‘rough’ and ‘smooth’, but experiencing only fun.

ACT 3

Scene 1:
Event ends
Characters: 
Ayat, Jean
Script: 
Ayat: Nothing really went as planned.
Jean: Nope.
Ayat: But it was great.
Jean: When’s our next event?

Scene 2: 
Going home
Characters: 
Ayat, Jean, supervisor named Jillian
Script: 
Jillian: How y’all feelin?
Ayat: Good.
Jean: Fulfilled.
*contented silence fills the car*

Jillian: Oh my god did we leave the ice cubes in the meat freezer?

    END