Saying Goodbye To The Gaithersburg Teen Writing Club

After three and a half wonderful years as a co-mentor of the Gaithersburg Teen Writing Club, I have decided to move on to other projects.  As I told the kids at our last meeting, they may think that they learned a lot from me, but I probably learned more from them.  It truly has been a privilege to work with such dedicated young writers and to watch them learn and grow.  Aside from an uncountable number of writing prompts, we also took on introducing authors at the Gaithersburg Book Festival, entering some of their work in the three Emerging Voices anthologies that the Maryland Writers’ Association (sponsor of the program) published, chalk publishing, and much more, including a final group poem in which we each wrote a stanza (although please note that it was not possible to fully keep the original formatting when inserting it into this post):

This Is Why I Write

 

I write because I found a word

For wind

For breath

I found a word for green and growing things

And another word for battle smoke

I found a word

For stone

For water

For sunlight starlight moonlight

I write because I found a word for world

(stanza by Peggy Ruppel, club co-mentor)

 

I write because there are no walls

to stop my pen,

It’s my world of infinite freedom

where I can illustrate creations and fantasies

from my own mind,

and the stories can unfold

in an infinite number of ways.

(stanza by Marysol H.)

 

I write because of

All the special things in the WORLD

 

And when I write

I’m a magician

And I make magic

Out of all

 

The special things in the WORLD

(stanza by Comfort O.)

 

I write because

I believe my thoughts are

made magic through my words

because my hands can mold letters

my lips can’t.

because days I’m feeling low and

down, writing becomes

therapeutic; a microscope

to my mind that can be viewed

for a very limited time.

because I always sound like

myself on paper.

I write because

it is my fix.

(stanza by Josephine O.)

 

I write because I

see

taste

hear

smell

&

touch,

because I am

happy

sad

joyful

&

angry,

because I

think

&

feel,

& because

this is how I speak my truth.

(stanza by Lucinda Marshall, club co-mentor)

 

I write because I do

no explanations

no rules

no boundaries but mine

(stanza by Emma D.)

Many thanks to my co-mentor, Peggy Ruppel, who is also leaving the program.  We leave the club in the fine care of Henry Caballero, the new club mentor and meetings will resume in the fall.

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