HHS gifted English students attend master writing class

Published 12:00 am Saturday, November 26, 2011

Hahnville High School students in Deborah Unger’s gifted English class attended the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society’s Master Class for High School Students at Our Lady of Victory Church in the French Quarter. 

 The guest speakers of the Master Class included jazz artist Irvin Mayfield, whose new memoir is “A Love Letter to New Orleans,” and UNO professor, musician/composer Victor Atkins, who addressed the symbiotic relationships between the arts and importance of these relationships as inspiration for the creation of new works of art. Irvin Mayfield and Victor Atkins each performed several of their own jazz compositions. One of Mayfield’s selections was inspired by Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and Atkins’s composition was inspired by William Faulkner’s short story “Barn Burning.” In addition, another guest speaker, Tom Carson, spoke about his most recent novel, “Daisy Buchanan’s Daughter,” which was inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and which addresses the arts, culture and politics of “The American Century.” Carson also shared several writing tips.

 Unger’s Brown Service Learning Grant funded the bus transportation and the Faulkner Society sponsored the writing workshop and a light lunch. Afterwards, the students walked to Café du Monde for dessert.