On the stage of the Iron Triangle Theater, 8-year-old Sayirah Woods leans over her copy of the book Richmond Tales: Lost Secrets of the Iron Triangle, absorbed in the adventures of Maisha and Mario. The book tells the story of two friends who take a journey to learn the history behind the Iron Triangle . . .
It was less than two weeks until Contra Costa’s Poetry Out Loud recitation contest and 9th grader Allyson Gayoso, a 14-year-old from Richmond’s Salesian High School, was reciting a poem from memory with the confidence of a seasoned orator. Inside a small, quiet office, Gayoso practiced the words of “On an Unsociable Family,” an 18th century poem by English poet Elizabeth Hands. Her audience consisted of her mother, who had arrived a moment before to take her home. Gayoso read…