HD!
I know we always say this, and we always mean it, but this time we really-extra-super-mean it: It’s hard to know where to start with HD. Girl’s got energy, enthusiasm, pizazz. She often toes the line for being “too much.” Not only has she helped 826michigan out with a billion things over the last few years, she continues to volunteer large amounts of time for us.
We don’t want to get all Dickens on you, but ’tis the season, and so we’ll divide her accomplishments into three categories.
- The Ghost of HD Past: tutored, helped out with college essays in area schools, sat at booths, created marketing events, and got our books into Barnes & Noble. She also helped us put together a reading, taught a number of excellent workshops, and more.
- The Ghost of HD Present: is a staple on our workshop schedule. This fall, for example, she taught two workshops: Destined for Darkness, an extremely successful and well attended horror writing workshop (See? This whole “Ghost of” thing isn’t that farfetched!), and Why Art?, a four week art critique workshop at UMMA/Offsite. (Which she co-taught with another stellar volunteer: shout out to Alison!)
- The Ghost of HD Future: next semester alone, will teach another workshop at UMMA/Offsite, and will teach two separate workshops for us at a site in Ypsilanti. And, we predict: she will change lives, enlighten and inspire students, and make us laugh.
And now we’ll say a few words about the “best part” about having a volunteer like HD around. She has an incredible knack for working with students. She encourages even the most reluctant of writers; students feel so comfortable around her, they do things they never would’ve felt capable of on their own. She pulls things out, asks a lot of questions, is sincerely engaged, and geniunely wants to know what they have to say.
So, hey! HD! We think you’re hilarious. Thanks for everything you have done and continue to do for us!