March’s Feature of the Month is: 826oneforty, or, as I like to write it, 826.140.

Are you guys familiar with twitter? We realize there are mixed thoughts on twitter and what it “means about young people,” HOWEVER, we are, with this project, hoping to make twitter a way to get people writing again. Writing what, you ask? Very Short Stories. In fact, stories that are under one hundred and forty characters.

And thus we present: 826oneforty, the brainchild of February Volunteer of the Month Sarah Dawn Johnson.

How does it work? Well, simply go here. Fill out the fields, and your submission to 826oneforty will be spirited away to our submission panel. Be sure to check our twitter feed! Every day, at noon exactly, we will post the very best submissions.

Handy links! 826oneforty. Our twitter feed. Check it out right now, we just posted our first winner!

 
Monday, February 1, 2010 – Feature of the Month: More of the Subtle Art of the Infomercial!

Here it is, the product of our last Subtle Art of the Infomercial workshop! Many thanks to Todd R. Pebbles for lending his expertise, to Blake Swihart for helping out, and to Catherine Calabro for being awesome.

 
Friday, January 1, 2010 – Feature of the Month: Our very own music video!

In November, 826michigan volunteer and robotier extraordinaire Tyler Brubaker created a music video for us, utilizing some of our favorite 826ers. Enjoy!

 
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 – Feature of the Month: A thank you note from our good friends at University Prep in Detroit!

Some of you may remember last spring when we did a multi-session workshop in Ben Curran’s class at U Prep in Detroit. The final catalog looked like this:

A few weeks ago, we got a heartwarming package in the mail. We loved it so much, we decided to share it with you as our Feature of the Month. Thank you cards are great, and we love getting them. But THIS, friends, is, hands down, the best thank you card we’ve ever gotten.

 
Sunday, November 1, 2009 – Feature of the Month: Superhero World of Words Podcast!

This October, Ami Walsh, MFA, and Cynthia Smith, BSN, RN, joined forces once again and reprised their Superhero World of Words workshop. This six-session workshop brought together two young writers who had faced a medical challenge, and showed them that words are a powerful tool for recovery!

Press play above to listen (5:21)
Or click here to download the mp3 (4.9 MB)

Ari and Sofia did an impromptu reading in front of the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair on the workshop’s final night:

Many thanks to Ami, Cynthia, and our magnificent and wonderful workshops intern, Catherine Calabro.

 
Thursday, October 1, 2009 – Feature of the Month: National Day on Writing Podcasts!

In July, Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra teamed up with UM Zell Fellow Brian Short to lead two installments of a very special workshop. The workshop, titled “Why Write?: Young Writers on Writing”, invited students to share their thoughts and experiences on the topic. Jen and Brian then put together two amazing, insightful, and hilarious podcasts, which are this month’s Feature of the Month.

Ages 8-11 workshop:

Press play above to listen (3:07)
Or click here to download the mp3 (1.43 MB)

Ages 12-16 workshop:

Press play above to listen (3:54)
Or click here to download the mp3 (1.79 MB)

The podcasts are also featured in the National Gallery of Writing, in conjunction with the National Day on Writing. For more information on the National Day on Writing, click here! We’ll be participating in Eastern Michigan University’s installment, providing volunteers and a fun activity in EMU’s Grand Ballroom from 10am to 3pm on Tuesday, October 20. Hope to see you there!

 
Tuesday, September 1, 2009 – Feature of the Month: Roboto!

Roboto! This summer, we held an intensive, week-long Animation Camp for teens led by Oscar-nominated animator and filmmaker Gary Schwartz. The students holed up in our basement for up to ten hours a day, and when they emerged, they'd made: Roboto, an amazing two-minute stop-motion film. The film will show at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival in Japan next year! Here's your chance to see it first.

Many thanks to our facilitators, Aaron Howard, Chris Hiltz, Martine Moore, Theresa Choe, and our sound technicians, Fred Thomas and Ryan Howard.

 
Saturday, August 1, 2009 – Feature of the Month: The Subtle Art of the Infomercial!

This spring, world-famous inventor and infomercial celebrity Todd R. Pebbles (who looks a WHOLE lot like longtime volunteer and former intern Blake Swihart, by the way) brought his genius to 826michigan for a six-session workshop called the Subtle Art of the Infomercial. Here is the finished result!

Many thanks to Todd R. Pebbles for working us into his VERY busy schedule.

 
Monday, July 20, 2009 – File Under: Where You'll be the Saturday Night of Art Fair 2010, AKA Our Feature of the Month

When we first hatched the notion of an Art Fair Film Festival, we thought it would be good. After all, EVERYONE in Ann Arbor has an opinion on Art Fair, love it or hate it. So why not host an evening to celebrate and/or roast this beast that brings thousands of people into our fair city every July? Why not let creativity beget creativity?

We are pleased to tell you that the first (and certainly not the last) Ann Arbor Art Fair Film Festival (or, as we like to think of it, AAAFFF) was a success. We ran out of chairs. We (almost) ran out of popcorn. We screened five hilarious and thought-provoking movies, all vying for the coveted Stick D’Or (the Golden Stick), the festival’s highest honor:

The Stick D’Or.

Chris Hiltz and members of the Better Bot’s ONWARD ROBOTS kickball team gave us: Ball of Lust - A Journey of Love, wherein a kickball falls in love with a pair of cleats at Art Fair. Tyler Brubaker offered Art on a Stick, a rousing photo-and-music commentary on most everyone’s least-favorite part of the fair. Donald Harrison brought us Ann Arbor Art Fair Filtered by the Ann Arbor Film Festival, a short which featured a megaphone and confetti eggs. Joey Ostrander dropped off Imagination Cramps, which was six — yes, SIX — ruminations on the fair, with reoccuring images of zombies and cattle. And our own Adam Colas, Huron High student and Robotier (that mean he has a shift in our robot store), made Spaghetti Western on a Stick.

Awards, including Most Romantic, Most Jaded, and the Townie Award, were given out, and the packed-house tensely considered who should win the illustrious Stick D’Or. By applause, it was determined that Adam Colas’s Spaghetti Western on a Stick was most deserving (though it was a close contest).

We’re sure you’re just DYING to see what Adam came up with. As one of the “stars” of the film (when Adam asked me to “help,” I had no idea he meant “be in it”), I am biased, but I think it’s pretty good. Enjoy!

Many thanks to the filmmakers, the audience, and the monster we have come to know as Art Fair, for inspiring it all. Hope to see you at the festival next year!

 
Monday, February 23, 2009 – Feature of the Month: Robot Radio Review

What happens when sixteen eight-to-ten year olds, five volunteer helpers, and one Michigan Radio reporter spend three weeks interviewing one another? The Robot Radio Review, of course. Many thanks to the wonderful Jennifer Guerra for teaching this HIT of a workshop! Please use the players below to hear the stories!

1. My Favorite Things: The students interviewed each other about their favorite toys, stuffed animals, games, books.

Press play above to listen (4:42)
Or click here to download the mp3 (2.2 MB)

2. Super. Period: If you could have any superpower, what would it be … and why?

Press play above to listen (5:26)
Or click here to download the mp3 (2.5 MB)

3. The Adventures of Fred McBob: The students wrote a group story about a boy named Fred McBob who has a run in with bullies, aliens, and lots of mysterious underwater sea creatures.

Press play above to listen (4:02)
Or click here to download the mp3 (1.9 MB)

 
Monday, November 3, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Superhero World of Words Podcast

For the last month and a half, Ami Walsh and Cynthia Smith have been leading a workshop called the Superhero World of Words. Please use the player below to listen to the amazing podcast that resulted from these sessions! Thanks to Amelia Buzzell for putting the podcast together, and a huge thank you to Ami and Cynthia for teaching.

Press play above to listen to the podcast (5:42)
Or click here to download the mp3 (2.6 MB)

 
Tuesday, July 1, 2008 – Feature of the Month: An Introduction to 826michigan

This month, we present, for your viewing pleasure, an original movie about 826michigan made by “our own” (if they’ll let us claim them!) Adam and Eva Colas. Adam and Eva are Huron High School students who’ve been coming around 826michigan for just over two years now. In addition to being brilliantly funny and great writers, this month they proved their filmmaking skills as well. Thank you, Adam and Eva! We continue to think you’re the best!

 
Sunday, June 1, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Little Robot Has MOVES.

You must know by now about the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair, and our big grand opening, and the now-famous (and certain to happen again) Robot Dance-Off. In case you missed it, please witness Seamus, hilarious son of one of our favorite volunteers, Billie Lanigan. As you can see in the clip, Seamus appears to have been waiting for his whole life for this moment. It makes us laugh every time. Enjoy!

 
Tuesday, May 6, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Hemingway's Michigan

Former Volunteer of the Month Ryan Howard taught a three-week literature workshop on Hemingway at Argo Park. In it, students discussed The Nick Adams Stories, Hemingway, sexism, machismo, and also went hiking, canoeing, and had a picnic. Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra featured the workshop in a piece that aired on NPR. Hear it here!

 
Wednesday, April 16, 2008 – Feature of the Month: The 826michigan Gazette

Journalist Erik Gable heads up the crew of the 826michigan Gazette. The culminating project of a workshop we’d like to offer every semester, you can check out the first issue here (686KB PDF).

 
Sunday, March 2, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Willow Run Radio Play!

This past fall/winter, stellar volunteer Chris Greene spent eight weeks working with third, fourth, and fifth graders from Willow Run Community Schools. Twelve students participated in this afterschool program in which Peter Pan was adapted for the radio. This program was part of the Bright Futures grant through Eastern Michigan University, and we were terribly excited to help the students write, record, and produce the final play.

We’ll be honest: we had high hopes for this program, but even we didn’t expect the finished product to be so good, so clever, so funny, and so well put together. Many thanks, pats on the back, and high fives to our one and only Chris Greene!

Press play above to listen to the play (7:56)
Or click here to download the mp3 (7.3 MB)

 
Friday, February 1, 2008 – Feature of the Month: Mitchell Elementary Radio Plays!

Last fall we sent a team of our best and brightest into Mitchell Elementary to work with a wonderful group of second graders and their teacher, Mrs. Babcock, whom we can only describe as divine. Jared, Jessi, Amanda, and Sydney spent about a month and a half working with small groups of reaaaaalllly energetic students adapting fairy tales, nursery rhymes, fables, and other famous children’s stories into radio plays.

At the end of the project, we had a big listening party that included a potluck of foods from around the world, international music, dancing, and a presentation to thank 826michigan. Have you ever had a group of second graders and their divine teacher give a big speech about how you helped stir up their creativity and then present you with a wooden spoon? Have you ever seen second graders get up, one by one, and say something really thoughtful and sweet, and then thank you and hand you a wooden spoon? Have you ever held a wooden spoon in your hand, rubbing your thumb along the smooth inside of it, and tried not to burst into tears in front of a classroom of second graders? We have. And all we can say about it is: Holy cow, it is something else.

Please enjoy these radio plays!

Press play above to listen to the plays (17:59)
Or click here to download the mp3 (12.4 MB)

 
Thursday, December 6, 2007 – Things You Wish You Could've Done When You Were in Middle School

This fall, Michigan Radio’s Jennifer Guerra taught a four-week workshop for us in which middle school students put together their own radio documentaries. These students interviewed people, wrote up scripts, and went into the studio at Michigan Radio to record their pieces. The final product? This awesome documentary, which, if you must know, made me cry when it played on WCBN a few weeks back:

Press play above to listen to the documentary (17:47)
Or click here to download the mp3 (16.3 MB)

Many thanks to Jennifer Guerra, who promised to teach this for us again next fall. (Now that I’ve put it up here, she’s got no choice!) Thanks also to Angi Stevens, who always helps out a lot, but who helped out an extra super lot with this one.