David Campos – Multilevel Marketing School System


This is a visual poem with strike-through text. Text that is lined-out in the original piece is noted here by the words “strike-through” and enclosed in parentheses to distinguish it from the text that remains behind. 

Multilevel (strike-through: Marketing ) School System

(strike-through: In middle school) I attended an assembly
(strike-through: in the cooper middle school cafeteria.)
Hundreds (strike-through: of teens and preteens) crammed
(strike-through: onto long tables. The assembly was a presentation and)
 
a sales pitch (strike-through: of all the high school magnet programs.)
Two teens (strike-through: from Roosevelt’s school of art came and) sang
A Whole New World.(strike-through: And there were others, including)
 
Duncan’s (strike-through: pitch about being) a great place
(strike-through: to get job experience with their onsite classes) for
(strike-through: their juniors and seniors in) nursing, (strike-through: construction, and business.)
 
Hundreds of kids (strike-through: were given the choice) to leave
their friends and community and the relationships they have built
(strike-through: to be bussed across the city) for an opportunity. I filled
 
(strike-through: out) my (strike-through: card. The) knowledge (strike-through: that I could get onsite experience was)
compelling (strike-through: to me.) My father (strike-through: worked construction and hung drywall) all day.
My mother (strike-through: worked at a daycare. Their dream for me was to work)
 
behind a desk; a dream (strike-through: I wanted too after having) spent
(strike-through: a summer helping my father take out) the debris (strike-through: at his worksites.) 
(strike-through: I had no idea about) the history (strike-through: of these types of schools or about)
 
(strike-through: why they were) created. Instead, I (strike-through: came at this) like most people (strike-through: would)
(strike-through: be enticed by the commercial of it all. I) loved what the singers did,
(strike-through: but I knew my voice was not pleasant to listen to. There would not)
 
(strike-through: be) a whole new world (strike-through: sung by David Campos anywhere anytime.)
(strike-through: In fact, even today) I have never even taken (strike-through: the microphone)
(strike-through: at a karaoke night.) I know how to save (strike-through: the ears of ) my peers and strangers.
 
The thought that I could have (strike-through: a step ahead of my peers in getting a better job)
was exactly (strike-through: what I wanted,) a short cut (strike-through:to success.)
(strike-through: My mom had been enticed to selling Tupperware and Mary Kay.)
 
(strike-through: My father was enticed into helping a land developer who promised)
(strike-through: passive income in exchange for labor in construction. I was enticed)
(strike-through: to) a magnet school. (strike-through: Shortcuts) around every corner.

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Artist’s Statement: In the article “The Resegregation of Jefferson County,” Nikole Hannah-Jones writes that “since 2000, at least 71 communities across the country, most of them white and wealthy, have sought to break away from their public-school districts to form smaller, more exclusive ones.” This led to research into my state’s segregation and integration efforts. The rhetoric, the maps, and the data were all there—coded language, school boundaries, and even diversity statements covered the stagnant “struggle” toward integration. As an educator, this project provided context for my experience and those of the students in the classroom. Notes and citations will appear at the end of the project. 

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