Santa Monica Youth Grabs Poetry Prize for 2nd Year in Row : “Silent World”

Some days I feel like a happy-go-lucky boy who has friends everywhere Other days there is only a silent world when I can hear n o t h i n g Not even a bit of Sign Language When I feel like I’m the only one on a silent world with not even one blade of grass When there are only smells of loneliness The smell of unhappiness wanting to cry the smell of pain the smell of a leaf cut open that’s how I feel Paul Thompson is a reluctant poet. The sixth-grader at PS No. 1 in Santa Monica said he prefers hitting a baseball, shooting an arrow with his bow, tapping a computer keyboard, almost anything, it seems, to writing a verse of poetry.

“I don’t hate it, but I don’t like it that much,” Thompson, who is deaf, said in sign language, interpreted by his teacher Libby Snyder. “I find poetry a little bit difficult for me. It’s a different way of writing, compared to writing fiction. . . . I find it boring sometimes.”

Thompson is an award-winning poet. For the second year in a row, one of his poems has captured the top prize for 9- to 13-year-olds in the Center on Deafness’ International Creative Arts Festival poetry contest.

Although writing the poems may not be fun, winning the contests is a lot of fun, he said. And he especially enjoyed the free trips to Chicago for the festival’s awards banquet.

“I liked the Chicago-style pizza, the museums--they have a lot of different kinds of museums--and the buses,” he said. “I liked the attitude of people in Chicago. They seemed a little crazy, but I liked it.”

Don’t look for a book of poetry by Thompson any time soon. He only writes poems at school. And besides, it’s the middle of baseball season.

Beverly Hills resident Thomas F. Turner has been appointed executive vice president of the Arthritis Foundation/Southern California Chapter, the largest of the organization’s 72 chapters.

Turner, a graduate of Ohio State University, previously served as executive director of chapters in Northern California and in Arizona.

Brentwood resident Millie Rudnick and Hollywood resident Barbara Bowen were honored recently by the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn. for their volunteer service.

Rudnick worked 7,000 hours and Bowen logged 6,000 hours.

As zoo docents, Rudnick and Bowen direct school tours and coordinate visits to community hospitals, convalescent homes and community organization meetings.

University Synagogue presented its 1990 Avodah Award for Community Service to Rabbi Allen I. Freehling for his contributions to the synagogue, the Jewish community and Los Angeles.

Freehling was the founding chairman of the Los Angeles County Commission on AIDS Project Los Angeles and was a member of the Commission to Draft an Ethics Code for Los Angeles City Government.

Three students from the Westside, Anne Diga and Mathew Wambua of Culver City and Duane Johnson Jr. of Santa Monica, were among 38 minority and disadvantaged students at the University of California to receive 1990 Educational Opportunity Program/Affirmative Action Awards for scholarship and community service.

The Pacific Palisades Art Assn. presented four aspiring art students at Palisades High School with scholarships.

First place and a $325 scholarship was awarded to Sally Han; second place and $225 went to Monica Arnold; third place and $125 was awarded to Laurel Horton, and an honorable mention and $50 was given to Bernadette Westerberg.

In addition, the association gave about $400 in surplus scholarship money to the high school for art equipment and supplies.