06.03.2007 —
For the fifth year in a row, volunteers in Georgia held a creative writing competition for English students. Started in just one school its first year, it's now expanded to almost every region and continues to grow. Whereas last year we only had 1,200 participants, this year more than 1,800 kids wrote essays. That's an increase of about 50%. The students are not judged on grammar or spelling mistakes but instead on how creatively they answer questions. Testing students in grades 6 thru 11, participants are given one hour to answer one of three questions. These questions cover a variety of topics, asking students to describe a dream or answering a very important question, "what would you do with a million mandarins?" Students are encouraged to write as much as they can while being as creative as possible. They're judged against kids within the same grade in the same region of the country. The best of this group are then judged against the best essays in the country and then the best essays from Azerbaijan and Armenia (they also held a 'writing olympics') as well.
My favorite essay was also the winner of the 'Best of the Caucasus' award. Tamuna, an eleventh grade student answered the question, "What is the world's biggest problem?" Tamuna's answer: drugs. How did Tamuna answer this question creatively though? She created a fictional story about a man named Kurt who became addicted to drugs and how it ruined his life. Kurt starts out as a promising young man but soon becomes addicted to cocaine which ends up destroying his life. He loses friendships, his possessions and more because of his drug habit. I was blown away by how good her story was. It was an incredibly creative way to answer this question.
I wanted to meet Tamuna and talk to her about the story and I was luckily given the opportunity. For being the best, Tamuna and all the other Georgian winners were invited to a celebration dinner last Thursday in the capital city, Tbilisi. Because I helped my sitemate Jen, the competition's organizer, I was also invited to the ceremony. It was really nice to talk to the Georgian students and their parents who were so excited and proud of the accomplishment. These kids and their families should be proud, out of more than 1,800 entries, only 18 kids were invited to the party. When I finally got the chance to talk to Tamuna, I met a very interesting and memorable 11th grader.
Despite the depressing nature of her story, Tamuna couldn't have been more bubbly, positive and happy. I don't think that she stopped smiling the during the entire evening. She was excited about the award and liked meeting all the American volunteers at the party. She enjoyed meeting us so much in fact, that she had us each sign and write a message in her notebook. I don't remember my exact words, but it was something about "being the best, working the hardest, etc." She told me that after entering the competition, she became inspired to write more and she handed each volunteer a packet of stories that she had written. She titled this collection of essays Cradle of Filth. Inside was a packet of short stories and poetry like Diary of Self-Murderer: the lost confession, Blackhearted Angel: Victory of Evil and Battle of Sorrow. I was at a loss for words. It didn't seem possible that such a happy person could write such depressing stories but I'm not one to ever attack a person's creative outlet, so good for her.
After looking at her writing, I started talking to her about her plans for the future. I was especially curious to see where she would go to University the next year (there're only 11 grades in Georgian schools). She said that she wouldn't be leaving her home town because she has a band named Hell's Sisters. It's a metal band that her and some friends started. I didn't know the Georgian Punk/Metal scene existed but I'm going to find out about this summer. Tamuna was nice enough to give me her e-mail address so I could ask her about upcoming performances. I'm not going to tell you any other part of the address, but I will tell you that it ended with 666.
There's more I could tell you about the ceremony but it was boring so I'll sum it up very briefly. We ate delicious food, I drank a Guiness (first time in a year) and had a relaxing evening. Just know that talking to Tamuna was the coolest part of the night.
