Greetings! I come to you today with more information on our first-ever Robot Art Fair. Here is where the Robot Art Fair started: "Say, we've got lots of space in the back, and we don't run programs during Art Fair. I wonder what we could do with all that space. I wonder..."

And HERE is where it has ended up:

• Robot Shirts from Intl Robot!
• Robot Paintings and Drawings by James Noellert!
• Robot Sculptures by Cre Fuller!
• Robot Cards and Papercrafts by Shawn Amberger!
• Robot Paintings by Elaine Reed!
• Robot Drawings by Gurglebots!
• Robot Buttons, Drawings, and the Like from LMNOP!
• Robot Sculptures by Rick Frenette of Galaxy Robots!:

And MORE, of course, like, you know, all the stuff in our store, and our button-maker, and that sort of thing.

The Robot Art Fair will run from 12pm to 6pm every day of Art Fair next week, Wednesday through Saturday. Stop by! Twenty percent of the proceeds from the Robot Art Fair goes to 826michigan.

 
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 – Diorama, Dioramas, Dioramamos.

Last Friday, we brought back our Diorama-Lama-Ding-Dong workshop. Why? Because it was really fun the first time, AND because we thought we could make it even better the second time around. And guess what? I'm pretty sure we did.

I'll walk you through it, because when something goes well and is fun, once it's over, the best thing you can do is recount it. Right?

So. Students came. We talked about character, setting, and conflict. There was some drawing involved. A mermaid wound up in the desert and two cowboys wound up at the bottom of the sea. There were many profoundly weird and interesting theories for how this happened. We brainstormed character ideas, and then the students sat down to flesh out their protagonists:

Characters created, we turned it over to the Fly Girl, Ruth Marks, from FLY, one of our favorite new programs for young people. She explained the delightful art of diorama construction, and they were off. Students chose from two different diorama shapes and a plethora of odds and ends:

Amazing dioramas were constructed, including Anna's:

Anna's character was a ballerina panda. As you can see, there were some minor characters as well, including a crab and a couple of sharks. The setting was a romantic dinner. It turns out the panda was hungry, and wanted to eat a taco, but then she fell in love with the taco. There was some taco kissing involved.

At the end of the workshop, we gave the students postcards addressed to 826. We asked them to write them out from the point of view of their characters writing from their scenes and send them back to us.

And guess what? This afternoon, one of the cards came back! (I'll admit it: We weren't entirely expecting that to happen.) It was from the ballerina panda you just met, and it said this:

Hello, I'm about to marry this taco, or maybe I want to eat it. Right now I am sitting at a table with all my friends and family. Hey, do you want to talk to my taco? Okay, here's my taco. "....................." Okay, I think my taco is shy.

Charming and delightful, as so many things around here are these days.

Many thanks to the Fly Girl, Ruth Marks, as well as our fearless leader Jason DePasquale, and our amazing team of volunteers: Catherine Calabro, Sara Walker, Tyler Brubaker, Kati Shanks, Natalie DePasquale, Angela Scott, Becca Rothman, and Rouba Abou-Samra.

 
Thursday, July 8, 2010 – Wee-Bots and Junior-Bots Unite!

You asked for it, and you're getting it. In response to the twenty or so emails I got from parents of wee ones wanting more programming for the under-eights, I am proud, happy, and quite excited to announce:

Drop-in Writing Time for Wee-Bots!
Taught by 826michigan volunteers and the Kindergarten Brigade Ages 6-7
Tuesdays from 4-5pm, July 13, July 20, and July 27.
This workshop is a drop-in program, so no pre-registration is necessary: just come when you can!

This brand-new, on-going drop-in program seeks to serve our youngest writers, ages six and seven, and will meet in the 826basement. Come and play with stories and express yourself on the page. Writing help is on hand to support you with thinking of topics, telling an idea over several pages, and dancing with the pen. We might get a bit silly; come prepared to snicker.

Taught in part by the one-and-only Mary Roderique, who loves 826 so much her birthday is 8/26, this new program is sure to be a blast. In addition to being the mother of pretty much the cutest toddler I've ever seen, Mary is the owner of our beloved Colby the service dog, and there is a *pretty good* chance that Colby might stop by to say hello, be petted and snuggled, and try to nose around in the trash cans. Here are Mary and Colby at the workshop they co-taught last night:

This is a pilot program, of course, so we're giving it three sessions. IF it is overwhelmingly successful, IF the teachers love doing it, IF Mary Roderique in particular is happy, IF the students are delightfully engaged, well then, very likely that will be extended. We'll keep you posted! Hope to see you and your wee-bots on Tuesday!

 
Wednesday, June 30, 2010 – Have You Heard? WE'RE HIRING.

Friends, I have waited YEARS to title a blog that. Literally. Years. First off, as there has been what I can only refer to as a flurry of emails, I'll say this: No one is leaving. Amanda and I, your two-person staff for the last two and a half years, are staying. We are ADDING a third staff member. OMG OMG OMG! How exciting! This means program expansion and improvement AND the reclamation of a little bit more of our personal lives.

You can find the information on the new position here. All applications must be in by July 15. We are hoping to have this new person (!!!!) start in August. HOOOOOOORAY!

 
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 – Have You Been Wondering What Fort Club Looks Like?

I bet you have. Friends, wonder no longer. It's easy for me to just walk up the basement steps and look at Fort Club. It's likely harder for you all. So guess what I did? I just walked up the basement steps and took a couple of pictures for you. Note: Fort Club is ridiculously adorable, but a little dark, and therefore difficult to photograph.

For Fort Club, students ages eight and up come to 826 on Mondays from 4-5pm. Forts are built and inhabited, and then--if today is any indication, at least--stories are ready, a ukulele is played, and writing happens. Fort Club is one of our drop-in programs this summer, so students are welcome to come by whenever they can, no preregistration necessary! Hope to see you one of these Mondays at Fort Club, and a HUGE shout-out to Maggie Hanks--player of ukulele, master of forts--for coming up with this idea and making it a reality.

 
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 – Summer Programs: Status Update: In Progress!

That's right, friends: Summer programs are no longer something far off, something vaguely futuristic, something we're looking forward to (although, of course, we ARE still looking forward to them, as they will be running for some months). Summer programs are NOW. I bet you want to hear more! Well, if you do, you're in luck, because I'm about to tell you more. (If you don't want to hear more, um, what are you doing here?)

Okay. Let's start with what started this week. For example: Our Summer Workshop Schedule! You can find it here. Included on the Summer Workshop Schedule are workshops with names like A Pompous Potluck, Literary Facebooks, and one of my all-time favorites, Me: Wanna Write a Play? You: Yes, with All my Heart. Me: Excellent. In addition to these gems, we are offering drop-in writing programs five--yes, that's right, five--times a week at two different locations. Please join us:

• Mondays at 826michigan: Fort Club from 4-5pm. If the name alone didn't convince you that it's awesome, I'll tell you what happens at Fort Club: Students make forts, and then they write in them. Awesome.
• Tuesdays at 826michigan: Drop-in Writing from 4-5pm.
• Wednesdays at the Ypsilanti Library: Drop-in Writing for Middle Schoolers from 3:30-4:30pm.
• Thursdays at the Ypsilanti Library: Drop-in Writing for High Schoolers from 3:30-4:30pm.
• Thursdays at 826michigan: Drop-in Writing from 4-5pm.

Just what IS drop-in? Just like what it sounds like. Students and volunteers of all ages (eight and up) get together to work on gently guided writing exercises, exquisite corpses, and more. You know how sometimes you forget that writing can be FUN? The whole premise behind these workshops is to eliminate that thought from the minds of young people. For example, yesterday at Drop-in Writing, the group brainstormed things you might need an excuse for, and then made lists of ten excuses for whichever one spoke to them the most. (One of our favorite students, Duncan, made a list of excuses for why one might run through a retirement home dressed as the Grim Reaper.) Want to participate? Then drop in.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, that's what started this week. What about next week? As with every summer, we have slews of off-site programs, including an incredible summer-long cookbook project with three Community Action Network sites--Hikone, Green Baxter Court, and Bryant--and Avalon Housing. There will be smoothie-making, pen-paling, origin-storying, and more! We will, of course, keep you posted.

Furthermore, we'll be back at Ozone House (more soon on a REALLY cool project we just did with them involving six-word memoirs and the planters that are all over Ypsilanti) and helping out with the Summer Learning Institute in Ann Arbor for the first time.

Okay, that's it for now. In the spirit of the walkie talkies we just got to facilitate communication between the store staff and the offices in the basement, I'll end this with: Over.

 
Friday, June 11, 2010 – Last Week's Book Release in Five* Easy Pictures

I just lied to you, but we won't get to that until later. Last Friday, we had what I can only call a Super Marvelous Book Release Party, for our equally Super Marvelous new book, written for children, by children. We packed a hundred and fifty students, about ten teachers, a slew of parents, and a bunch of 826michigan peeps into the cafeteria at Erickson Elementary in Ypsilanti.

1. Everyone Wore Their Pajamas (Except the Fifth Graders, Who Were Probably Too Cool to do That) and Had Cookies and Milk

Pretty cute, right? Usually pajamas in school is the stuff nightmares are made of. I will say, at the very least, it felt strange to get up, shower, and then get BACK INTO my pajamas to start my work day. And by "strange," I mean AWESOME. And so, I've been wearing my pajamas to work every day since.* It's so freeing!

A bunch of adults took turns with the microphone, and I had an epiphany: I LOVE talking into microphones. I'm not much of a public speaker, but holy cow, you put a microphone in my hands, I will talk into it. Coming this fall: 826michigan Tutoring Open Mic! (Please note that there was no asterisk after that sentence.)

2. We Had an Unveling, and This is What the Crowd Looked Like Just Before

3. There Was an Unveiling, and When the Veil Came Off, This is What the Table Looked Like

This book is really, REALLY pretty. Like, WOW DID WE REALLY MAKE THIS pretty. Don't you agree?

4. Everyone Spent a Few Minutes Looking Up Their Stories and Reading Them on the Spot

The excitement in the room was a little overwhelming, smile inducing, and certainly adorable. We had about ten students read their stories. There was a lot of clapping and cheering. Do you wonder what it looks like when you hand a student a gorgeous book that his or her story is in? Something like this:

5. This is the Part Where I Stretched the Truth a Little...But It's Just One File, I Swear

Publishing student work is CRUCIAL to what we do. I wish I could show everyone reading this, first hand, what it looks like when you publish a student's writing. Chapbooks, zines, catalogs...it doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't have to be hardcover and gorgeous (although it's great when it is!). Students respond to our publishing program because they know we are taking their voices and what they have to say very seriously, and want to bring their words to as wide an audience as possible. It builds confidence in writing, in my experience, almost instantaneously.

This year, we have been lucky to publish several incredible books of student work, including the 826michigan OMNIBUS, Volume 2, Just Making Some Rhymes and Shooting Hoops, and Talking Back, Giving Thanks, and Why It Never Pays to Drink the Haterade. All told, our publishing program reached over FIVE HUNDRED STUDENTS this year (yes, 2010, the year that's only halfway through).

Want to support increased confidence in writing through publication? Make a donation to 826michigan, or stop by the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair and pick up one of our student publications!

* Denotes a lie, or at the very least, a stretching of the truth

 
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 – Feature of the Month: 826michigan and University Prep Project!

Every spring, Ben Curran lets us take over his class at University Prep in Detroit. This year we did a pretty ridiculous social justice workshop. Watch the video to find out what happened!

 
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 – Feature of the Month: COMING SOON.

Some of you may have heard about the hilarious workshop we just taught at University Prep in Detroit. It was a social justice initiative, wherein we staged a protest against child labor, made up slogans, and rewrote the words to "We Will Rock You." The forthcoming video is going to be AWESOME, buuuuuut it's going to take us a bit to put it together. Hold steady!

 
Sunday, May 30, 2010 – It's About Time: Our First Writing Conference for Adults!

As you know, we quite often have writing workshops for adults, which have two roles: 1) Helping adults in our community hone their craft, and 2) Raising funds for all our student programs. It's pretty neat, when you think about it. For starters, adults are often super jealous about all the sweet student programs we offer. So it's great to offer something similar for an older audience, and to help pay for just-mentioned sweet student programs in the process. EVERYONE is happy.

And so, we are THRILLED to announce our first-ever 826michigan Writers Conference. It takes place September 24-26, and features Jack Driscoll, Michael Delp, Barbara Shoup, Margo Rabb, Kathe Koja, AND Lara Zielin. Quite a line-up, don't you think?

Click here to check out the flier, and here to see the brochure. Spots are already filling up, so act quickly!

 
Saturday, May 22, 2010 – Our Last Day of Tutoring at West Middle School!

I CAN'T BELIEVE I don't have photos to show you. I mean, I really CANNOT BELIEVE it. First off, I forgot my camera. THEN, I realized that I could just take a photo on my phone. THEN, I got busy eating pizza and chips and cupcakes and strawberries and carrots and clementines and celery and hummus and drinking grape pop and pomegranate limeade and laughing and high fiving and hugging and handing out books for summer reading and well, I just got overwhelmed and forgot to take a picture.

My bad. Seriously, friends: My bad. And so, to TRY to make up for it, I'll do what we try to teach young writers to do: I'll make a picture with my words.

Yesterday was the last day of our tutoring program at West Middle School in Ypsilanti. We've been offering free, drop-in, after-school tutoring to the students there since September. I haven't the words to illustrate the bond that we've developed with these students, the ways they've made us laugh, the things they've taught us. I can say this: I go in just about every Thursday afternoon, and I work with Drew. We haven't been officially paired up, but at this point, when Drew walks into the tutoring room, he just comes and sits next to me. We work on homework, and read, and play Hangman. Sometimes it seems that Drew's eaten nothing but sugar all day and I have to chase him around, or fight him a little to keep him focused. Honestly, I'm a little worried about how I'll feel at 2:30 next Thursday. I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss my afternoon with Drew.

Times this sentiment by a hundred or so, roughly, for Phoebe Goldberg. Phoebe is our West Tutoring Intern, and she's been there every single day, all year long. She knows every single student's name, what homework they rock through, and what they struggle with. She knows that Latina loves to work with Robert, that Robey only needs the tiniest bit of help with his homework, that Sydney will be sweet and well behaved and remind her fellow students that, "These tutors are working with us for FREE, because they WANT to, so you BETTER be grateful," that Darius will be a handful, but also that he's incredibly creative, and that, if he gets out of hand, he'll probably make her a thank-you card to make up for it.

Phoebe showed up yesterday in the most beautiful spring dress: Pixelated roses in magentas, oranges, and plums. (As long as I'm painting a picture, I'll add this detail: The tutors and students presented Phoebe with three dozen roses, and they perfectly complimented her outfit. Can't you picture it?) Phoebe also showed up with about twenty pizzas. The tutors rounded it out with all the yummy things I described in the first paragraph.

We managed to work for about a half an hour. Drew and I played Hangman, and in a stunning twist, I immediately determined that _ _ _ _   _ _ _  _ was Iron Man 2 (in all fairness, he had a wikipedia article about the movie printed out and right next to him). And then, PIZZA PARTY! Phoebe was presented with roses; Phoebe, Bethany, and Robert (the two co-captain interns) were presented with thank-you cards signed by all; the students were presented with copies of The Wild Things for their summer reading; everyone chanted Speech! Speech! Speech! until Phoebe gave one; all pizza and cupcakes were devoured; and THEN everyone went outside to run around in the beautiful, eighty-degree day.

All in all, a wonderful cap to a wonderful year. A BILLION THANKS to Phoebe Goldberg, who, quite frankly, managed the most challenging internship we've ever offered with grace and calm, and could not have been more impressive. A HUNDRED THANKS to Robert Schuster, Bethany Rickwald, and our In-school, On-site Coordinator and AmeriCorps member Frances Martin, who helped Phoebe and the students in every possible way. A HUNDRED MORE THANKS to Deianira Smith, Sandy Hummel, and Marcy Sliwinski, our West staff helpers, who stayed late and helped oversee everything. And, finally, a GAGILLION THANKS to the smart, talented, and funny students at West, who touched the lives of all of the volunteers who went in every week. Hope to see you all next year! (And I promise I'll remember my camera. Honestly, I wish I could show you the lovely Phoebe in her stunning dress with all those roses.)

 
Wednesday, May 19, 2010 – The Storymakers Dinner Wrap-up!

I hope that everyone who reads this is also on our mailing list, and as such, read the full round-up on our Storymakers Dinner event in our last newsletter. (Note, if you are NOT on our mailing list, why not? You'll get no more than thirteen emails a year, and we can assure you, they are CHOCK FULL of good information, and who doesn't need a little more of that? Just email "subscribe" to info@826michigan.org.)

To those of you who missed our May newsletter, I'll just say: The Storymakers Dinner was LOVELY. It was probably the best and most lovely event in 826michigan's history. For the purposes of this wrap up, though, we're going to stick mostly to pictures. These gorgeous photos were taken by Kate Marchewka, a stellar volunteer, whose website you should consider checking out here.

Zingerman's made what I can only describe as uber-delicious, super-yummy food, and served it in the perfect spring setting. See?:

Our three new favorite people, students Jasmine and Justin, both published in Talking Back, Giving Thanks, and Why It Never Pays to Drink the Haterade: Huron High Students Discuss Their Experiences in Education, our new chapbook, and their teacher, Quinn Strassel, stole the show. Jasmine and Justin, quite literally, brought the crowd to tears, and Quinn gave a heart-warming speech about how helpful 826michigan has been in his classroom this year. Here they are:

Special guests also included some of the magnificent volunteers who go into the just-mentioned classroom at Huron High every Wednesday. They help the students with whatever they need help with, AND help Quinn plan lessons, AND work one-on-one and in small groups, AND a bunch of other things. From left to right, the unbelievable and beloved Katie Jones, our gorgeous and irreplaceable and oh-man-I-don't-have-a-big-enough-vocabulary-for-how-much-I-love-her AmeriCorps member and In-school On-site Coordinator Frances Martin, and the back of the wildly intelligent and fun Mitra Dunbar's head.

And then, of course, there was THIS guy, who we pretty much could not love and respect more if we TRIED.

Food was consumed, tears shed, hugs given, feelings of goodwill abounded, AND we managed to raise more money in one night than we've ever raised in one night ever before. And that, essentially, wraps it up. We WILL be doing it again next year, so be on the lookout for details, and tickets, because, yes, this event sold out, and the next one, I am quite certain, will sell out even more quickly. Many thanks to our sponsors: Clear Seas Research, our Great American Novel sponsor, as well as AnnArbor.com, Borders, Dykema, Fifth Third Bank, Kolossos, Q LTD, Third Mind Books, Thomson-Shore, and Zingerman's.

 
Saturday, May 1, 2010 – Feature of the Month: Writing Funny Stories!

Last semester, Jonathan Schwartz taught a two-session workshop on comedic writing. We here at the 826michigan lab put together a video of the students performing their pieces. Enjoy!

 
Monday, April 26, 2010 – If You Can Believe It . . .

There are any number of things I, at any given time, cannot believe. Often they are amazing, wondrous moments, and sometimes they are not. Really, quite a bit more often, though, they are of the amazing, wondrous variety. For example, one of our former students is about to graduate from college. Can you believe that? It is hard to believe that 826michigan will turn FIVE this June.

Even more hard to believe, for some reason, is that the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair turns TWO next month. Can YOU believe that there's been a functioning robot shop in Ann Arbor for two whole years? It seems like just yesterday that we staged a robot dance-off to celebrate our opening. That dance-off was not yesterday, though; it was May 17, 2008.

What are we doing to celebrate? Good question. It's been an entire blog post since we used bullet-points, can you believe that? Here goes! To celebrate our store opening, for the ENTIRE MONTH OF MAY:

• We'll be offering a choice between a free mini-cupcake OR two percent off your entire purchase!
• We are going to have a drawing! For every $10 you spend, you can enter your name to win a PAIR of Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair t-shirts!
• We will be giving away a FREE STUDENT PUBLICATION to: 1) twins (both must be present), 2) anyone who pays with a $2 bill for something else in the store, 3) any customer who brings in pictures of TWO robots (we get to keep them!), 4) creative types who bring us TWO cans of TUNA (two-na) repurposed as a robot (again, we get to keep them!), 5) more stuff as it occurs to us!
• We'll have a Brand New Window! That's right, new window display going in this weekend, make sure to stop by!
• We'll be open EVERY SUNDAY in May from 12pm to 6pm!

We're thinking of it as celebrating our Not-so-Terrible Twos. Please stop by and wish our bots a happy birthday! (Most robots do not even have birthdays. Isn't that sad? Together, we can change that. Won't you help us?)

 
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 – OH. MY. GOODNESS.

When robotier, in-school resident, workshop leader, and ONWARD ROBOTS kickball team member Amy Wilson told us a few months ago that she was going to be on Jeopardy!, we were THRILLED. When she came back from the taping and implied that the experience, while incredibly positive, wasn't exactly lucrative, we were STILL THRILLED.

Last night, after MONTHS of waiting, the episode finally aired. We, of course, tuned it. We, of course, found it delightful. For the first round, Amy didn't score well, but it seemed to be because the returning champ was quicker on the buzzer than she was. She answered everything she got through on correctly. In the second round, she OWNED the Shakespeare category (that's our girl!), bringing her total to $10,000. The returning champ had almost $20,000. Final Jeopardy: A Seinfeld question that Amy got right and the returning champ didn't, thereby making AMY WILSON THE NEW JEOPARDY CHAMPION.

This was, in a word, T H R I L L I N G. Watch Amy Wilson as the returning champion tonight at 7:30! (You can't imagine how proud/happy/excited it makes us to know that one of our sweetest, funniest, and cleverest volunteers has done something so cool. YOU, however, can sign up to take the spring workshop she's teaching, Famous Lady Writers and You: Electric Boogaloo, here.)

 
Friday, April 16, 2010 – Good Stuff, Etcs.

Hello! Happy Friday. I hope this blog finds you well. We wanted to share something with you today, but we didn't know what it was, initially. A quick five-minute brainstorm elicited enough good things to share that I've made an executive decision. That's right: Bullet-pointed list.

• Tutoring! Do we still have it? YES! Is it still FREE? YES! We are quite pleased to tell you that we have a TON of tutors right now: Eager, creative, intelligent, caring tutors, just waiting to work with your kids! Tutoring happens, as ever, Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 5:30pm. It's a drop-in program, so come whenever there's work that needs to be done! Call us if you have questions!
• Don't Stay Up So Late: A Treasury of Bedtime Stories, our new in-school publication, was delivered to the printer yesterday! That means that in just six short weeks, we'll hold a gorgeous, hardcover, fully illustrated collection of fables, make believes, mysteries, and tall tales in our mitts. All written by about a hundred and fifty students participating in our In-school Residency at Erickson Elementary in Ypsilanti! We'll have more details on the release party soon.
• Mustache-a-Thon IV wrap-up! We concluded our fourth hair-(and fund-)raising event on Monday night. Melanie Maxwell at Annarbor.com has put together a beautiful slide show of all our growers. Check it out here! Thanks, Melanie! And thanks also to our growers, who managed to raise over nine thousand dollars for our free student programs!
• Spring Workshop Schedule. It's *almost* full. Click here to sign up for workshops, before it's too late!
• Great Lakes, Great Times Reading Series. It happens next Saturday, April 24, at 7pm here at 826. This free reading series features the incomparable Deb Olin Unferth, the talented Jeff Parker, and the amazing Kendra Grant Malone. Our advice? Get here early. This event will be packed! And THEN:
• Join us the next day, April 25, for an Adult Writing Seminar! That's right, we've added another workshop to our How to Write Like I Do series for adults. We are thrilled to present: Deb Olin Unferth/A Lot Less: Writing a Very, Very Short Story. Click here for more details and to register.
• National Poetry Month is still going strong on our website. Check out our daily poems here. Aaaaand don't forget to follow our twitter feed. In addition to news, events, anecdotes, and more, we publish one 826oneforty submission every day!

Okay, I think we'll let you digest that for a while. There's information on the Seven AM Challenge, which Eric, our tutoring intern, and I completed this week, here, in a quite lengthy Annarbor.com blog. Have a great weekend!

 
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 – Stuff that is Neat, Stuff We Enjoy

Hello! Greetings from just inside the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair. We have a sunny bit of news to share with you all on this rainy spring day. (By the way, did any locals hear that astounding stomp of thunder at a little after 9am this morning? Spectacular! I'm pretty sure my cat will not come out from under my bed until next week.)

Are you guys familiar with Lara Zielin? She's the writer of delightful young adult books like Donut Days and Make Things Happen, the teacher of the popular publishing workshop called Teen Ink, which we offered as part of our Winter Workshop Schedule, one of the judges in the library's Peeps contest, and a wonderful person to sit next to at a dinner party.

Furthermore, she has a lovely blog called Lara Writes. And very recently, she offered her readers a challenge, wherein $1 was donated to 826michigan for every comment readers left on her blog. Long story short (for once): She raised $400 for 826michigan! Check out the results on her blog, and THANK YOU LARA!

 
Thursday, April 1, 2010 – National Poetry Month!

As you may know, April is National Poetry Month. As part of NPM, poets are challenged to write thirty poems in thirty days, one for each day of the month. To that end, we've decided to devote our Feature of the Month to just that. Check back here every day to see a new poem written by 826michigan students, volunteers, and supporters.

(If you are interested in submitting a poem, please email me at Amy[at]826michigan[dot]org.)

 
Monday, March 29, 2010 – This is Too Exciting to Adequately Title. Bear with Us.

Perhaps you've heard about the event we're planning for May. It's called the Storymaker's Dinner, and if that's not enough for you:

• It takes place at Zingerman's Roadhouse, and if that's not enough for you,
• Dave Eggers will be on hand to talk about his new book, Zeitoun, and if that's not enough for you, It features a New Orleans inspired menu, and if that's not enough for you,
• One of our very favorite teachers, Quinn Strassel from Huron High, will be on hand to discuss our work in his classroom this year, and if that's not enough for you,
• Some of Quinn's students* will be on hand to share stories from our latest chapbook, Talking Back, Giving Thanks, and Why It Never Pays to Drink the Haterade, and if that's not enough for you,
• The money raised will go toward our next in-school publication, and if that's not enough for you,
• If you'll pardon my saying, what's the MATTER with you? Because we're *pretty sure* this event has it, well, ALL.

The Storymaker's Dinner takes place on Thursday, May 6 at 6:30pm at Zingerman's Roadhouse, 2501 Jackson Ave in Ann Arbor. Space is limited, so do not tarry! You can click here to order your tickets right now!

* Last Friday night, we teamed up with our friends in the Michigan Education Reform Club for a tribute to education, where MERC members, substitute teachers, teachers, and our very own Huron High students read their work. Check out this picture of Justin, also known as Fuzz, who wrote one of our very favorite pieces in the chapbook about being evicted from his home and the affect it had on his schooling:

 
Monday, March 15, 2010 – We're Planning a BIG Saturday.

Do you have plans this Saturday? If you do, you'll want to break them. If you don't, we've taken care of everything for you. Join us this Saturday morning and night for two uniquely fun and fabulous events!

Saturday morning, we're planning a little get-together to celebrate our mascot's anniversary. Colby the service dog has been helping out people in our community for five years! Join us for snacks and activities (aimed at five to ten year olds). You'll want to stop by if for no other reason than to pet Colby, who is, hands down, the sweetest dog in the world. I'm pretty sure she'll be fresh from the dog-o-mat and ready to snuggle! For more information, click here. This event is free and open to the public! It happens here at 826michigan from 10 to 11:30am on Saturday.

THEN you have the afternoon to yourself. The weather's supposed to be lovely, so may I suggest walking around downtown and eating outdoors. At about 6:45, though, you should hustle back to 826michigan for this month's installment of the Great Lakes, Great Times Reading Series. This month is, well, Really Big. Dan Chaon (!!!! -- I sort of can't type his name without parenthetically putting in a bunch of exclamation points, as it turns out), Laura van den Berg, and Christian TeBordo will read from their illustrious bodies of work. Click here for more information on each writer. The reading starts around 7pm, is free to the public (although it should be noted, this is not a family friendly event), AND is a great way to start your Saturday night, promise.

Have a great week, and I hope to see you at one (or both) of these things this weekend!