Blogs

Summer on the Farm

by Carley Malloy

Grade 7

I’ve decided that a family farm is a lot like a barbed wire fence; running smooth for a little while, and then running into a twist or barb that slows things down.  My last year and a half has been spent working on my grandparents’ farm.  Each day has been a new adventure, and I often catch myself looking back and saying, “remember the day…”

                  I like summer on the farm the most; the weather has warmed so the barn can be left open and I can hear the jingling of chains as the cows turn their heads to look when I come in.  Summer on the farm means haying, fencing, cleaning up the winter’s mess, and letting the cows outside to stretch their long legs.  Kittens and calves are born and you have the fun of tracking them down every morning to see where their mothers have decided to move them.

                  We spent much of our time fixing fence, but I was on crutches for a few weeks, which meant there wasn’t much I could do to help.  One hot summer day, my grandfather, mom, and two of my cousins were all working down the hill from the barn, next to the road.  My grandfather, unlike most farmers, fixes fence with an excavator. It works great; one person holds the fence post up and he pushes it in with the excavator bucket, and two or three others go behind and start stringing wire.  Read more »

Send YWP your best poetry or prose -- BY JUNE 3 -- and be one of 10 writers selected to read their work at the AMAZING 2nd Annual Millennial Writers on Stage performance at Burlington Book Festival, Main Street Landing, Burlington, Saturday, September 21, 2013

For a few short years, Young Writers Project had the pleasure of knowing Emily Lyman and admiring her writing. Sadly, Emily passed away in December 2012. She was 15 years old, a freshman at Rice Memorial High School. She had courageously fought cancer since kindergarten. As her oncologist Alan C. Homans wrote, "When Emily left, a light went out." Dr. Homans also noted, however, that Emily left her friends and family many gifts, including her writing. Emily wrote with "startling clarity and strength and humor," YWP's Geoff Gevalt remembers. "She had voice." Emily's family has collected her poems and stories with the intent of publishing them and sharing Emily's voice with the world.

Here, Young Writers Project is honored to present "Inspired by Emily," a  collection of Emily's writing that was lovingly prepared by her family. Working with the Lyman family, YWP issues this Call for Artists to illustrate Emily's work with drawings, paintings, photographs. Read Emily's writing -- and be inspired! Read more »

YWP receives many exceptional photos from students around the state. One of the most spirited, prolific and wide-ranging photographers we have come across is Kevin Huang, a freshman at Burlington High School. See his photos... Read more »

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year's Vermont Young Playwright's project and festival, a collaboration between the Vermont Stage Company and the Flynn Center for Performing Arts. YWP provided a digital space for the student participants and helped out in several workshops; we also did the live stream and live text commenting at the festival and will have medium and high resolution videos of each presented play soon.

In the meantime, feel free to go here and find the video of the play you are interested in:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/vermont-young-playwrights

FYI, 107 people tuned into the live two-day Festival, accounting for nearly 60 hours of total viewership! Also, the recorded videos have so far been viewed by 230 people.

Hi,

Chat is back. We know that makes some of you happy. And we are happy when you are happy.

Here's what we found out from a week without chat: You did exactly what we thought you would (that's scary). The number of posts you viewed went up 20 percent, the amount of time you spent on the site went up 18 percent.  AND you made more comments on each other's work.

So, we ask, if you like chat but chat keeps you from reading other people's work and providing comments to them, can you chat AND continue to provide other community member's support and encouragement? And if you are 'commenting' to each other about their work on chat, doesn't this prevent all of us from seeing those wonderful insights? Can you post your insightful chats, on their posts?

So we are issuing a CHALLENGE and are calling it: 30 Days of Feedback: Share and Comment. Post your own piece and then comment on someone else's work (find someone you do NOT know by clicking READ above.) And, if so moved, Sprout a Story by clicking the link below the post that inspires you and then create a new piece that will be forever linked to the one you read. 

Support the community!

cheers,

gg

Hello YWP Community,

Welcome to our latest project -- YWP Radio -- host of spoken word, live slams, podcasts, original music, mixes, and who knows what else. If you wish to set up a smart phone or tablet or desktop app to pull in the feed, here's the url: majestic.wavestreamer.com:6657

DD (doug demaio) is our grand guru of the radio and has assembled hundreds of tracks from YWP sound over the years -- recorded slams, songs, music, performances ... that loop 24/7 and which now are arranged and scheduled by tags. 

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING? Do you love audio? Do you like to experiment? Do you want to set up a variety show? Play your own music? Do a call-in? Interview some folks? Air a journalism project?

Talk to Doug. Write to Doug. Send Doug a message via carrier pigeon. Call him on the phone late at night. What do you think? You interested? If so, comment below. Let's get started.... think of the possibilities.

Read more »

Submit a podcast for us to publish on VPR.net. We are always looking for great new material to publish, and more writers to make famous. If you want to be considered ... MAKE A PODCAST! Read more »

OK, tell the truth. You DO have an idea or three for improving this space. Don't you? Want additional features? Wish we had more contests? Wish you could do more with other users? WHAT?! Give us some suggestions. Help us make this online community better. Click the headline and give us a comment. OR, post a blog and use the Keyword: Suggestion

This poem was written by Alan C. Homans, Emily Lyman's oncologist. He asked if we could post it here and we are honored to do so.

It is the season of short cold days and long dark nights

But it is also the season of gifts and candlelight.

When Emily left, a light went out,

But with our help, her light can still burn bright.

Emily, being Emily, left us gifts for the season before she went away.

The first gift was simply that of her presence.

For 15 years she made this a better place –writing, acting, studying,
and generally making her life as full as possible.

Moving through her time with that wild mane of red hair… or not.

The second gift was her example of how to live.

Disappointed by disease, pain, and setbacks,
She nonetheless pushed on, not ignoring adversity, but in spite of it.

The third gift is Emily’s example of how to gracefully face the end

            Realizing that her disease was getting the upper hand

She faced death down, and with courage and dignity said, in effect
“you can have this body - it has served, and betrayed, me long enough. 
But you cannot take, and will never take, Emily”

In this season of short cold days and long dark nights. Read more »

Order Anthology 4 -- the best of the best of your work -- for great reading or gift. Contact YWP's Kate Stein via email: kstein@youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9537. Order by mail, order here by PayPal (or credit card) or visit these book stores:

Phoenix Books (Burlington and Essex)
Crow Books (Burlington)
Bridgeside Books (Waterbury)
Rivendell Books (Montpelier)
Bear Pond Books (Montpelier)
Brown Dog Books (Hinesburg)
The Flying Pig Bookstore (Shelburne)
The Vermont Book Shop (Middlebury)

To order by mail (send to YWP, 12 North St., Burlington, VT, 05401); we'll send your copy (copies) right out in the mail. PRICES: $7 for one, $14 for two, $21 for three, $26 for four, $32 for five. Contact us if you wish more. Or you can use a credit card or PayPal through our PayPal account or see electronic version by clicking "Read More".

Keep reading to see your best work, as seen in 22 local newspapers and on vpr.net. Here's all the selected work from the Week of May 20! Submit your best to YWP for consideration for publication. Log in, click WRITE; click YES at bottom. Read more »

It's not like in the movies

Where moments are made 

by a man furiously scribbling backstage.

It's a lonely, cursed phone call

bearing this news that is a dagger

Thrust into the hearts of all. 

If I look at the gift I have been given by working on this project, it has been meeting, through words and sometimes in person, the remarkably talented, strong, funny, interesting kids that reside and grow and create here in Vermont. If I look at the gift I have been given by doing this work it is meeting people like Emily Lyman, a kid I have known since second grade who, sadly, died this past week. She was a freshman at Rice Memorial High School. She died, unexpectedly her mom told me, after a life defined by bouts of cancer and an incredible resilience and courage as she fought numerous "relapses."  I knew her best when she was younger, but even then she had a startling clarity and strength and humor. She had voice. I still think about the first piece she sent us, in second grade, and I still tell people about it. It was in response to a prompt we had called, simply 'Hair.' It is below. (Click 'Read More')

YWP is partnering with cowbird.com to give you a WORLD-WIDE AUDIENCE on the INTERBLARG! Write stories about moments in your lives as teens. Share poetry, prose, stories, essays. Post it here; MUST have a large photo; keyword: Teen Saga. We'll post the best on Cowbird.

No story is too small or too big. But it must have a photo that complements the story. Upload a big photo -- up to 2000px wide as an attachment, and put a smaller version in the Images box.

Feel free to add audio -- a narration, perhaps, with some musical background or without. When your work is complete, post it here using this keyword: Teen Saga. And we'll post the best on cowbird.com and who knows, perhaps yours will be chosen by an indirect parter National Public Radio NPR for airing. Read more »

Welcome to the new blog identity of the Young Writers Project -- NxN. We draw our name from our latest initiative -- The North by North Project: Center for Creative Expression. We are transforming our headquarters at 12 North Street into a community hub for workshops, projects and events both at the Center and throughout the City of Burlington at schools, public spaces and other nonprofit sites.

We will be connecting our work at the Center to this site and some of the ideas we do in person will translate well into statewide collaborations on this site as well.

This blog will keep you up to date on the Center as well as provide you a variety of things that we do and think about here at YWP. The blog will, we hope, be informative and fun and intriguing. But you will be the judge of that.

FIRST, something about the NxN Project:

The YWP North by North Project

center for creative expression

The North by North Center for Creative Expression (NxN) helps youth gain voice by engaging them in writing and multi-media projects, helping them do high-quality work and sharing their best with the community and beyond. NxN is youth-led and is a collaboration of youths, artists, community activists, civic leaders, education leaders, and other nonprofits. NxN will hold workshops, events and ongoing projects at the Center at 12 North Street and at sites of partner organizations throughout the city. Participants will be linked online to youths around the state. Read more »

This speech, given by President Obama at about 1:30 a.m. (Eastern time) on Nov. 7 after his re-election, is a powerful piece of writing that shows strength, voice, vision and emotion. Obama's delivery was remarkable. It's worth study. Here is the video; the text follows and if you just want to listen while you read without the video, click the audio player. Sorry I didn't get this up sooner.

What did you think? And what are you impressions, feelings, observations, anecdotes or take-aways about the Election? Post a blog with tag of Election2012 -- gg

  Read more »

For those of you who remember him, comedian George Carlin had a funny bit surrounding the phrase, 'Holy ... wow!' The point was, 'how cool was that?'

And that's what this new genre is all about: Share something that really WOWS! you: Something here, or something elsewhere. Share a link or, if possible, embed it on your blog (go to plain text and paste the code). And then choose the genre, WOW!

Be judicious. Choose what you share well. And write something about why you chose it.

Thanks,

gg

And to kick this off:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html

What I love about this package is the quality of the voices and photography, how you can understand so much about each person from what they say and what you see. These digital stories represent some of the best I've seen in revealing story and voice. Check them out.

On a personal level, this stirs my heart as a former journalist; these are exactly the types of stories I'd like to be doing. I hope to put together a team from your ranks -- anyone can join in if you are interested -- and figure out how we could do these on people in Vermont communities. Contact me if you are interested. -- gg

Hello bloggers and other assorted writing creatures,

Each week Young Writers Project publishes great work -- sparked by our prompts OR great writing you guys have done on your own -- in 21 newspapers and on vpr.net. Send us your best stuff! Submit one of your blog posts! It's EASY! And when your piece is selected you become: "A PUBLISHED AUTHOR." Your boyfriend/girlfriend will swoon. Your friends will be envious. Your parents will be happy with you! You will be proud!

Do it! So when you click WRITE click "Yes, this is a Newspaper Submission" or go into a blog post you really like, edit it and click YES!"

gg

In 2012-13, YWP is publishing best student work in 21 newspapers in VT and NH and on Vermont Public Radio's Web site, vpr.net (and some on-air appearances, too.) Click on the prompt and see the writing that has already been submitted. Add yours today! We want your work! Attached below is a pdf version of the prompts. ALSO, large versions of the photos are in a slide show at bottom; if you click on the photo you can "download the original" for the purposes of printing it out. 

Questions: Contact Susan Reid at sreid@youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9539 or Geoffrey Gevalt at ggevalt@youngwritersproject.org or 802-324-9537

Submission instructions: youngwritersproject.org/instructions12-13 Read more »