The document summarizes artworks created by students in the Visual and Performing Arts Group (VPAG) at Dover High School for the 2008-2009 year. It lists the names of nine student artists and includes longer descriptions of two poems. The first poem, "Sandwich Boy" by Erin Anderson, depicts the horrific conditions faced by a catatonic man in an asylum in the early 20th century. The second, an untitled piece by Jennifer Meister, reflects on the transition to adulthood and realities of the "real world" that one is unprepared for upon leaving familiar routines and safety nets of childhood.

1. Dover High School Visual VPAG Artists Present the 2009 art artists and works

2. Visual and Performing Arts Students2008-2009

3. Erin Anderson

4. Sandwich Boy PENNHURST STATE SCHOOL ANDHOSPITAL 1901-1987 And may god suffer the little children By: Erin Anderson

5. Sitting day after day on this bench, The attendants call him sandwich boy. The poor man sits in a fetal position so tight

6. That he doesn’t even look alive. Lifts his head only to eat The mush that they give him.

7. Just because he doesn’t require A comfortable crib. Instead, he sits there on the bench all day.

8. In his psychotic mind, he is Forever haunted by a great evil He can’t escape, so he sits on the bench all day.

9. He’s packed in tight with the low-grades That are not ridden To bed or chair

10. He can’t tell them because he gets no psychiatric treatment. They have to save the Doctor for the children that have a chance. He just needs a place to stay.

11. They don’t even think he has a mind, Just an empty shell, To sit and rot every day on that bench.

12. He sits shirtless, only pants and suspenders. Pretty good for an autistic, catatonic retardate. Its fortunate he’s in the wrong ward.

13. The heat from the screaming patients Keeps him warmer than the soiled bed sheets. Pretty lucky to sit on that bench.

14. He gets beat if he doesn’t lift his head to eat. And after dark, they come. High level patients and sadistic attendants

15. Assault him body and mind. He can’t do anything about it, Just sit still on that very bench.

16. Day after day after day of rotting torment. The only destiny for the boy’s empty shell Is to be buried in an unmarked grave.

17. Nothing to show for this unknown soldier, Except abandoned buildings of his home’s past And a forgotten bench.

19. Kristin Andrews

27. Justine Kelly

40. Special Student Destiny Steel

50. Herbert Rapley

59. Alicia Bartz

78. LaurianneHebel

87. Sarah Smart

90. Jennifer Meister Thinking I thought as I lay on my bed. “The end is my beginning…” I wonder what kind of new adventures would wait for me once I escape. It seems a little insensitive to say that we haven’t been living in the real world, but unfortunately this is true. The fact is, we are in the real world, but we don’t live in it. There’s always food in the refrigerator, a bed to sleep on, familiar faces and places, but what happens when that’s all gone? Do we still follow the same habitual patterns of our lives, or do we dare to live?

91. LIVING… now that’s a funny word. I always thought I was alive. What is life anyhow? Is it existing, is it memories, is it adapting? WHAT IS LIFE…I’m not sure why I bother to think anymore. My opinions don’t matter as much when no one is listening; words just spill out into the air and evaporate. Why do we bother with tedious things such as washing dishes, clothes, school? The dishes will be gone, the clothes will disintegrate and we will either forget what has been taught to us or the teaching die with us in our grave. One or the other is bound to happen eventually, so what exactly is the point?

92. I always thought things were better when you got older. Car, money, some one to love, but I never realized the time and energy it took to acquire each of these possession that having these possessions won’t make you happy, and they won’t make you an adult either. At this point in my life I don’t exactly know what qualifies you to be an adult. I don’t exactly know if I’m ready for THE REAL WORLD. A world where people are getting murders, sleeping in the streets, rents, taxes, politics and etc… But that’s just the thing about it…you’re not supposed to know. Maybe it’s the whole process that makes you an adult. How suitable is that: the end is MY beginning.

93. VPAG Artists 2008-2009 Alicia Bartz Kristina Andrews Jennifer Miester Herbert Rapley Justine Kelly Erin Anderson LaurianneHebel Sarah Smart