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blogs
An Intern's First Month -or- Crying on the Job
Submitted by GirlsWriteNow on Tue, 07/13/2010 - 3:43pm.By Avital Isaacs
Girls Write Now Intern
If I can say one thing with absolutely certainty, it’s this: I have cried out of joy more during my first month as a GWN intern than any other month in my life. The staff didn’t list “weeping softly” in my inventory of duties to be performed. It’s a service that I offer on my own time, wedged somewhere between the photocopier and the dreams of our mentees.
With full disclosure, I am a weepy gal. That YouTube clip of the lion reunion? You betcha. The end of Toy Story 3? Absolutely. However, I try to keep things light in an office setting. I hold myself to a certain level of corporate decorum, and being overcome by emotion doesn’t marry well with operating, oh, say, a paper cutter. My last internship was at a comedy theater. I had the driest eyes in the house.
On my first day here, I was scanning the portfolio of one of this year’s graduates. I had been suffering from sleep deprivation from the night before, having experienced nightmares of my feet falling off en route to the office and sliding into 8th Avenue’s storm drains. And I was, I’m sure, bewildered: assuming that glazed, cheerful, terrified look that interns are required by law to adopt. But the scanner and I go way back, so I relaxed into the familiar routine and glanced down at the next page. Written in loopy, embellished handwriting, one of our mentees was explaining how helpful Girls Write Now had been in providing stability during a turbulent time in her family. And as the scanner grunted like a slumbering beast, I was struck by what it feels like to be absolutely and completely certain that you are doing a Good Thing.
You Have Opinions, Now Write Them! GWN Pair Takes on Op-Eds
Submitted by GirlsWriteNow on Thu, 04/29/2010 - 3:00am. By Emily Sarita and Jana Nordstrand
Girls Write Now Mentor-Mentee Pair
Girls Write Now pair Jana and Emily reflect on their experiences at the Journalism: Op-Ed Workshop and share some of the insights and wisdom they learned!
We look forward to the Girls Write Now workshops. Truly. Each time we can sit down with our peers, learn about a different genre of writing, and listen to a talented guest speaker, we are newly inspired. We are empowered. We often have a renewed sense of our abilities as writers.
GWN and Baruch College Celebrate Women's History Month
Submitted by GirlsWriteNow on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 9:12am.By Lisa Gomez Girls Write Now Intern When Luz, the assistant director of Student Life at Baruch College, asked me if my club, Writers’ Society, would be interested in hosting a Women’s History month event, I said “Sure!” without thinking about it twice. Our club had only had two meetings so far and we desperately needed the exposure.
To the Anglican Catholic Church of Ohio, USA...
Submitted by Writing Gallery on Thu, 04/15/2010 - 11:28am.By Meghan McCullough, Age 16 Inspired by the April '10 Journalism Workshop, "Across My Country" The misuse of the word "gay" is prevalent in the vocabularies of teens across America. In your church, people are at a young age taught that being gay is wrong, and that it goes against nature and the Bible. They are taught that if they are gay, God will not love them. So early on, they are made to think that the word "gay" has a built in negative connotation.
Untitled
Submitted by Writing Gallery on Wed, 03/31/2010 - 3:38pm.By Melissa, Age 17
Inspired by the December '09 Fiction Workshop, "Around My Neighborhood"
I stared out my window into the night. It was dark in comparison to the ivory snow that blanketed the ground and that was falling softly, silently. Elisa came close, her hands warm and light on my shoulders. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Her almond shaped brown eyes closed as she spoke. I turned and stared silently. "Why?", I finally asked. With her eyes still closed she responded, her lips quivering, "for leaving you." Her eyes opened and she stared at me. I stared back longingly. I wanted to assure her that I'd be okay, that we'd be okay. I wanted to assure her that I'd be here when she returned from her trip to Spain. Arms open and ready to listen to a month's worth of stories. But I couldn't. Our closeted romance had become so hard to cope with and despite the love that welled up and overflowed within me I feared we wouldn't be able to go on. I looked at her and absorbed her image. Long brown hair, straight. Almond shaped cafe con leche eyes. Glowing carmel skin. Her form voluptuos and curvy. Her beauty was startling and I feared that once she left she'd realize she doesn't need me, love me. The experience would change her but would that change include me? Our eyes connect and I could feel a fire burning within me. Warm and orange. I loved her with all of me and she loved me. Could I cope if that changed? My silence wreaked of insecurity and she could smell it. Elisa bowed her head and closed her eyes for a moment longer than a standard blink. Tears fell from her closed eyes. I reached up and kissed her. Holding her close. Tasting her, touching her, smelling her deeply. Because this could be the last time.
Again
Submitted by Writing Gallery on Tue, 03/30/2010 - 4:10pm.By Brittany Barker, Age 16
Inspired by the November '09 Poetry Workshop, "At My School"
One day after step practice, I bumped into someone that used to mean a lot to me. Emotions aren't things that can just be thrown away. I let my emotions hold my blue-inked pen and write this poem for me. It gave me the closure I've been desperately longing for. I'm no longer running away from a feeling I've been trying to deny, it's behind me now.
If I could just say Hello to you again
Bask my insecurities onto your lips
Glue myself to your aroma and breath your last Goodbye into me
Fly
Submitted by Writing Gallery on Tue, 03/30/2010 - 3:41pm.By Krystal Woodley, age 17
Inspired by the November '09 Poetry Workshop, "At My School"
When can I fly and be free
Will I let loose and have my dignity
I will fly
Above all my turmoil and try to escape
Only I can be happy so
I will fly
Away
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Submitted by Writing Gallery on Sat, 03/06/2010 - 4:00am.By Shira Engel, Age 18
Inspired by the March '10 Playwriting Workshop, "Throughout My City"
Oh, Jane! Oh, poor, dear, pious Jane! I know, you thought you would never see me again. I can see what you are thinking, I can read your thought through that mirror. Sounds familiar, does it? I can presume you have heard our every-courtly Henry use those words on your pretty little face as he pressed his greedy lips to your powdered cheek. Now I suppose he does the same to that belly, that swell he believes holds the future of this country in his hands. He thinks you are the carrier of destiny, you know. And he crawls into bed with you after he returns from one of his escapades, crawling because you are a vessel. He no longer runs.
You know, Jane, my story will be told a thousand times through the lips of women I've scorned and women I've made proud, through the legacy of our husband, then my daughter, and perhaps as a warning in the countryside of my sister. Some will portray me as the villianous witch beheaded rather than burnt. And some will see me as a glorious heroine who has had escapades of her own, wronged by her father, and temporarily ruling over our husband. Would you believe it, Jane, if you were the only one I told my own story to? I will be authentic, I promise, though I am afriad you will not live to tell the tale.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez at CHAPTERS
Submitted by GirlsWriteNow on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 2:25pm.By Maud Newton
Girls Write Now Board of Directors
The first installment of CHAPTERS, the Girls Write Now reading series I'm curating, will feature the talented Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the new novel Wench.
She'll be introduced by my friend and fellow board member Tayari Jones. After Dolen's guest reading, several of the girls will share their own work. The event is this Friday at the Center for Fiction, 6 p.m., and we'd love to see you there.
Advisory Board Spotlight: Bruce Morrow, Bank Street College of Education
Submitted by GirlsWriteNow on Thu, 02/04/2010 - 6:01pm.By Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
Soapbox Inc./Girls Write Now Intern
Bruce Morrow is an educational leader, a passionate believer in lifelong learning. Talking with him is a delight—one could easily discuss anything from black masculinity to Bruce’s children, to his work with Bank Street College of Education, in New York, to the book he’s currently reading (Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann), or even his favorite six-grain Mediterranean yogurt. And of course, Bruce has watched Girls Write Now grow over the past few years, and has nothing but praise for the work that he has both participated in and watched. “I would say that our biggest challenge has been capacity,” he said, laughingly turning my question on its head. “There’s just so much demand for what Girls Write Now has to offer.”
From his early days working at Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York, Bruce has always been a mentor, although he quickly admitted that his very first experience was somewhat serendipitous. “I had a friend who was an actress,” he recalled, “and she was leaving New York to move to Los Angeles. She had someone who she was a mentor for, very informally, and she thought that we would work well together. He was a student at Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, so although it was a private Catholic school, it’s still an underserved area.” Morrow’s friend’s mentee wanted to be a writer, and thought that he and Bruce would get along well. Bruce finally agreed to meet with him, and the two formed a three-year friendship and mentoring relationship, during which Bruce’s mentee was able to attend the Young Writers Workshop of the University of Virginia.
