What a wonderful day it was Friday as so many many people participated in VERMONT WRITES DAY!
The day was Young Writers Project's annual day of honoring writing, a day when people of all ages in Vermont (and our friends around the country) took just seven minutes (or more) to write to any of seven fun prompts, including 4Photos (above). Or they picked "General" and wrote about their own ideas.
Many schools participated and principals, teachers, teachers' aides, visitors also jumped in. Many schools reported that their entire school participated and also took time out to share what had been written.
We could ask for nothing more to show the importance of writing and the fun of writing.
My middle school advisor has been showing up to haunt my dreams. I haven't seen or thought about her in years. I guess it must be almost time for school to start. - Fiona Ella
Part I: MGMC Welcome poems; Forum on Youth Activism led by Rebecca Haslam; (at 1:30) Amir Sulaiman workshop -- how he writes poetry or The Two Pillars: Sincerity and Beauty
Part II: Open Mic; (at 1:03) Amir Sulaiman performs
Voices for Change was an amazingly powerful event! Thank you all -- all poets, all listeners, our featured slam poet Amir Sulaiman, Muslim Girls Making Change and Beata Tsosie-Peña of Tewa Women United, the youth forum panelists, the brave and brilliant writers at the open mic, the samosa makers, our generous sponsors... More on this later, but to everyone who participated in any way, thank you! Friday, May 11 at Contois Auditorium will always be in our hearts as one of the best YWP events ever! Maybe THE best ...
Mark MARCH 16 on your calendars. YWP's monthly pizza/workshop/open mic at Burlington City Arts -- was again postponed because of snow -- and will focus on gun violence, school safety, political inaction.
PLEASE COME. Join in a workshop with YWP's Denise Casey and Rajnii Eddins at 6 p.m. and open mic at 7 p.m. Bring your writing. Bring your outrage.
Seven minutes! Seven prompts! Give it a try! Is your school participating? Get your teachers to give your class time to write for fun.
This is Young Writers Project's annual day of honoring writing -- a day when people of all ages in Vermont (and our friends in New Hampshire and around the country) take just seven minutes to write to seven fun prompts. You can participate on your own, or in class with fellow students and teachers; you can use pencil and paper, or write on one of our websites -- here (if you have an account; if you don't, be patient it may take a while for us to approve your account) or vermontwritesday.org which (no account needed) will open Thursday morning.
THE PROMPTS
Prez: Write a letter to the president. Tell him one thing you want him to do -- and why.
I am: Start or end a piece of writing with the phrase, "I am the one who ... ", to describe who you are, what you love, what you dream of, etc.
Social media:Imagine if all social media -- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. -- shut down. Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? How would it affect your life?
Kindness: What's the nicest thing a stranger has done for you?
Write awful: Use cliches, mixed metaphors, tense changes, whatever you're not supposed to do when you write an essay.
Invisible: Write about a time when you felt completely invisible, literally or figuratively.
Turn around:You answer your phone and a voice whispers, "Turn around..." What happens?
And -- as always --General writing is welcome. Write about anything you like!
(Hashtag it #vtwrites18 to let us know it was written for Vermont Writes Day!)
YWP's Rajnii Eddins and Geoffrey Gevalt will soon launch a unqiue, live/interactive course on storytelling and performance. Open to all high school students; held in Burlington Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. beginning March 12 through April 18. FREE. Digital component. AND, performance/presentation event as culmination of your work on May 10 at City Hall, Burlington.
ALL WELCOME. FREE.
More info, sign up: Contact Geoffrey Gevalt, [email protected], 802-324-9537.
We are kicking off the New Year with some new workshops in YWP Academy. Workshops are intended to help you dive deeper, gain some skills and, gulp, have some fun. They are free. Each will be active for at least 6 weeks. You can start anytime; go at your own pace and as your time permits. The more participants we have the merrier so bring in some friends. JOIN up today (you must log in) to do more with:
Playwriting-- best plays get performed at Vermont Young Playwrights Festival; Storytelling -- make something out of nothing; Hip-Hop-- turn your name into song; Photo Story-- tell a story with five photos; Sound -- gain chops on narrating your best stuff; Commenting-- there is an art to it and, oh, how you can help others!
Sign up today!
If you want to do any of these (or have us design one for you) for school credit (high school usually) contact me (gg) and contact your school to see what we need to do to help you gain credit. Imagine YWP becoming your homework!
The workshops are led by YWP staff or outside experts who will provide you with feedback, guidance and, at some point, a video conference for the group and individual consultation. There will be a mentor assigned to each workshop as well. And a live chat.
Feel like you don't have time? You do. Honest. None takes that long (except playwriting); and stretch it out over time.
