This past summer, I ran two workshops for street-involved youth at the Evergreen Youth Shelter and Street Outreach Services. Some of the poems and stories written by workshop participants are now online, and they’re unbelievably moving.
When the program coordinator asked me to say a few words at the launch of their web-magazine, I wrote up a little speech (it’s posted after the break, if you want to read it).
Doing these workshops, I was struck by the openness of the youth participating. They really wanted to be there with me, and the writing that emerged was incredibly honest. I got them to come up with song lyrics based on the feeling that their favourite tunes evoked, and come up with character sketches that could be developed further on their own.
It’s not easy to write something on demand and then share your personal thoughts with 30-40 of your peers! What was incredible was how trusting and kind everyone was. No one made fun of anyone else, no matter how raw the writing, and nobody just cracked jokes to get out of doing the work.
The experience actually inspired me very much. I’m thinking about starting a writing group for at-risk teens in the neighbourhood where I grew up.
Speech for the Launch of TYSS.org
I’m happy to say a few words about Toronto Youth Street Stories and the need for more programs like this in our city, because literacy is an important issue. I grew up not far from here, in Parkdale, and had to learn how to navigate life when you’re surrounded by poverty, brutal violence, and a great deal of callousness.
Many young people grow up downtown without family support. They face massive hurdles, like how to survive to become an adult when you’re faced with a lack of options, no skills, and poverty. When you’re reminded over and over that once you’ve got a few strikes against you, it’s even harder to get your life in order. When you’ve even seen people you love hurt badly or even killed because they made certain choices.
Given that kind of context, writing workshops might not seem like the highest priority for teens. However, the ability to craft language is unbelievably integral to getting what you want in life. Teens engage with writing on so many levels—through television and movies, video games, comics, those free dailies that help pass the time on the subway, advertisements on the street, and songs playing on their MP3 players. Not to mention, if you happen to get in trouble, in police reports, lawyer’s statements and even the way the media spins situations involving at-risk youth.
Yet our high schools, which are supposed to encourage kids to learn and develop abilities like writing, are still using outdated curricula and the same reading materials I read at that age. There seems to be more interest in avoiding controversy than in inspiring young people. Is it any wonder it’s hard to get them reading and writing?
Katharine King and the other people behind these writing workshops and the webmagazine are conscientious and open-minded about how to appeal to youth. They understand that way to get people to read and write is to show them how relevant these activities are to their lives. To get them to share their own experiences.
The most touching thing about the workshops I ran was the willingness on the part of so many youth who’ve been through hell and back to openly share their own stories. It felt really good to be trusted.
Plus, as a writer, I’m usually the only one who shares a piece of herself with the audience. I can tell you it’s nerve-wracking. Most of the time, I’d rather be hiding behind my computer.
But when there’s a give and take, and everyone’s able to set aside their fears for a little while, a writing workshop can transform into a situation where everyone gets to take advantage of the kind of catharsis that comes from writing honestly and openly. I appreciate the trust that was given to me in these workshops and loved reading to an audience that understood all my sometimes creepy or intense references to growing up in Toronto.
