Seventy-six brightly colored streamers hung from the ceiling of Underwood Room, framing the circle of couches and chairs in the center of the room. Each streamer was fabricated from dozens of stitched, patterned squares of cloth. Closer examination revealed, on every stitched square to be a written, reflective gift to the project, S.T.I.T.C.H.E.D. by each of the hundreds of individuals touched by Climbing PoeTree’s insights and stories. These streamers formed the New American Flag, “creating a future by rewriting our histories.” After Wednesday’s All School Meeting, Alixia Garcia and Naima Penniman, the two women who make up Climbing Poetree, hosted a workshop showcasing their project, STITCHED. The acronym stands for the Stories, Testimonies, Intentions, Truths, Confessions, Healing, Expressions, and Dreams. Garcia and Penniman began the project for their 2005 tour, “Migration,” after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Since then the project has continued to inspire people across America and in countless other countries. Although the STITCHED flag was impressive when viewed in the context of Cochran Chapel, the flag’s presence and power dominated the smaller-scale discussion room. A few dozen students attended the workshop, along with some faculty members. The people present seemed awed by the two women’s numerous stories and sharings. The workshop started out with the introduction of the program and movement, STITCHED. “An element of STITCHED is the ability to begin the process of healing,” said Garcia and Penniman. One of their main goals is to share real stories of people whose truths remained untold, and to elucidate different sides of both public and private stories. Garcia and Penniman said, “We’re not just entertainers—we consider ourselves storytellers…recognizing the power of language to shape our reality.” At the workshop, Climbing PoeTree recited a poem about Hurricane Katrina. Rather than giving students a specific, direct way of considering such devastating events as Katrina, the two encouraged an unrestricted, subjective thought process to consider the mistakes we make and the losses we suffer. The poem referred to the human condition through the use of many nature metaphors. The poem also revealed many twists and stories concerning the human experience that were unknown to the gathering of students. Garcia and Penniman conduct extensive research to write their vivid poems. They said, “We research a point and cover it very objectively. We cover every point…because it’s all so biased.” After the recitation, there was a short discussion reflecting on the Hurricane, students’ reactions to the media coverage following Katrina’s devastation, and viewpoints on the poem itself. To end the workshop, the students and faculty were allowed to read the squares sewn onto the flag. The subjects ranged from emotional confessions and week-long goals to accounts of rape and stories of personal reflection. There was not enough time to read all of the narratives, but everyone was encouraged to find one square that spoke to them more deeply than the others. After circling the room and sampling stories from every strip of the flag, students regrouped and volunteered to share their reflections on their chosen squares. Following the sharing, students had the opportunity to write their own submissions to STITCHED. The feeling of contributing to such an inspiring project that would be read by thousands of other people was both intimidating and stirring. Students acknowledged and realized that they were part of something bigger than the Andover community. Writing the squares proved to be a therapeutic moment of personal understanding for the students present. Alixia and Naima made clear in their presentation that “healing and art go hand-in-hand.” The students who contributed to STITCHED can attest to that.