September Community Outreach
Dear Friends of Project Write Now:
It’s the last day of National Poetry Month and what better way to celebrate than by having the winners of our annual Voice & Verse teen writing contest read their pieces during our PWN Teen Lit Fest!
Which is happening TODAY! In just a few hours!
There is still time to be a part of this incredible day of writing workshops, an informative teen panel, and a culminating Open Mic!
We love these winning pieces so much that we are excited to share these excerpts from the 1st place winners.
Poetry (Ages 15-18)
From “Breaking the Chain” by Kai Sarcomo, 16
i feel the weight of the world on my back
hunched over with white hands pressing into my shoulders
i felt my mother in me
and i felt her lift the weight off me
pushing my feet into her feet
i can finally walk with her
Poetry (Ages 12-14)
From “Untitled” by Lorena Camargo Carcano, 13
I used to know everything about you, and now I don’t even know anything about you.
I somehow still love you, not like before though, I learned to try and love you from a distance.
Prose (Ages 12-14)
From “Untitled” by Wendy Perez, 13
Swish! The wind was howling through the dazzling night, stars illuminating the dark sky. Gillian was in her room falling in and out of consciousness. She had this pit in her stomach, like someone was watching her.
To hear the rest of these pieces and more, join our Open Mic tonight, beginning at 7 p.m. ET, or you can read them in an upcoming feature issue of our online young adult literary journal, Bridge Ink!
Congratulations to all of the winners!
We would not be able to hold these annual teen events without YOU! Whether you’ve taken a class, signed your child up for a class, participated in one of our events, or given a generous gift, YOU help us provide meaningful writing experiences that foster authenticity, connection, and empathy.
With love & gratitude,
Here’s what else we’ve been up to this month. If you are interested in bringing a program to your school or organization, email executive director Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org.
Algonquin Theater – Teen Night
We are so excited to have a new partnership with the Algonquin Theater in Manasquan. Last weekend, we invited playwright Matt Barbot, whom we met last year at the Two River Theater’s Crossing Borders Festival, to lead a playwriting workshop as part of the Algonquin Theater’s Teen Night program. For two days, we wrote in response to prompts to generate material and then used the themes that kept emerging—friendship, identity, loss—to create a short play. We performed the play on Sunday in front of an audience of family and friends. We are looking forward to doing more programs together!
Asbury Park High School
PWN’s Spoken Word Project at the Asbury Park High School has been active as students are preparing an anthology booklet for an event at the school on May 12 to culminate their writing from this school year. PWN instructor Mannikka Rosa was a special guest speaker in the class for National Poetry Month.
Basie Center Cinemas – PWN On Stage
We are thrilled to launch a new program with the Basie Center Cinemas. For this month, we kicked off our new live storytelling event, Firefly: Stories Out Loud, during which participants wrote in response to the theme of “Beginnings” and then shared pieces on stage. We will be alternating between first-person true stories (similar to The Moth) and original script readings. The next event will be Tuesday, June 20. Register here.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Project Write Now recently hosted storytelling workshops at Bolger Middle School in Keansburg and at Monmouth University for mentors and mentees in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Middle school, high school and college students alike participated, where they wrote and shared their own true stories.
Boys & Girls Club – Teens Take the Lead
We recently hosted an effective email writing workshop at Boys & Girls Club of Monmouth County as part of our Teens Take the Lead community outreach programming. High school students who are part of the program participated in a live demonstration of how to write a professional, business-related email.
embrella
We were so excited to be invited to do a journaling workshop as part of embrella’s Passport to Education event. We began by sharing the positive impact of having a journaling practice and then gave participants the opportunity to do some freewriting in response to poetry. We first shared Ada Límon’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up” and then Ellery Aker’s “Fifteen Strokes of Luck.” We were inspired by the pieces that were shared and encouraged participants to keep writing!
Lunchtime Write-In
On Fridays, we host a one-hour writing workshop on Zoom during which we write in response to themed writing prompts. This month, we explored the themes—“Good” and “Birthday.” We also held a special three-hour “Second Helpings” workshop where we wrote to prompts to help us find our stories, such as “I Am/I Am Not,” “I Remember,” and “Where I’m From.” Then we experimented with perspective, trying to write the same stories from different POVs. A lot of the pieces shared played with ideas of connection and individuality, and all of the pieces were so powerful. The best part of the day was how everyone lifted each other up as they listened. We certainly left feeling FULL! We always have such a blast writing and sharing together! Join us for our next Lunchtime Write-In to see what our upcoming themes will be!
Monmouth Arts – Creative Aging
We were so grateful to be part of Monmouth Art’s Creative Aging program for Red Bank seniors. We did ekphrastic writing (writing in response to art) using the art pieces they have been working on in the program together as inspiration. To find the stories hidden in our works, we asked ourselves: What images are in the art? What colors? Shapes? Textures? What feelings are evoked? If this art were set to music, what would it sound like? If this art were edible, what might it taste like? What do we imagine this art smells like? Also, since we made the art ourselves, we asked about intentions and thought-process when creating. Then we used those notes to craft meaningful stories and poems that we incorporated right back into the art!
Superior Court of New Jersey Monmouth Vicinage
Last month, our executive director Jennifer Chauhan did a presentation and writing workshop on women poets for the Superior Court of New Jersey Monmouth Vicinage. It went over so well that they asked her to come back and lead a writing activity for their 2023 Volunteer Recognition Dinner, which was held at Jumping Brook Country Club. Jennifer shared the poem “When Giving Is All We Have,” by Alberto Ríos, and had attendees write in response to the theme of giving. We are so grateful for the opportunity to create spaces for storytelling, even during a dinner event.
Poetry & Plants
At Kula Urban Farm in Asbury Park, PWN hosted its second quarterly Poetry & Plants event to kick off National Poetry Month. MotMot Collective provided an herbal tea exercise for the community, which led into writing prompts and an open mic. The summer edition of Poetry & Plants will be held on Sunday, July 30. More info coming soon!
PWN India (adults)
During our adult journaling club this month, we wrote in response to poetry, including Ada Límon’s “Instructions on Not Giving Up” and Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s “Naming the Heartbeats.” We love this group that has formed through writing and sharing our stories!
PWN India (teachers)
This month with the teachers of PWN India, we read “My Name” from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Here are some of the pieces they wrote from that idea:
- Khushreet simply means happiness and the name was given to me by my father as he always says I brought happiness to the family.
- My name is Ruchi and I love my name, it was kept by my grandparents. At first I thought it was kept by my mother, but now, after discussing it with my sister, I know that it was kept by my grandparents. I only learned last week after the name class that my name means light and beauty.
- My name means prayer and worship. I was given this name by my grandfather after his mother and I really love my name.
- My name means honey and I was named by my parents. It’s given to me after their famous Bollywood actress, Madhubala. I don’t like when someone has a similar name as me.
- My name is Vinnie. I make my name different by its spelling. It means “to always win” and was given to me by my grandmother. My name also resembles a famous cartoon character, Winnie the Pooh.
Red Bank Middle School
– 7th & 8th Grade AVID
We were thrilled to announce to the RBMS 7th & 8th grade AVID students that FIVE of the winners of our Voice & Verse Writing Contest came from their classes! Rejuvenated by the news, we went back to revising our anthology pieces with vigor! We read “Looking at My Father” by Wendy Xu and “After the Reading” by Tiana Clark as the Poem of the Day(s). Then we tried different revision techniques. We wrote a few sentences to tell a story on the board and asked each class to add one sentence between each line to make the story stronger. We also tried eliminating our adjectives, making word clusters, and changing our tenses and POVs. We’ve really been deepening our descriptions and imagery! We can’t wait to share their final pieces at the end of the year.
– 6th Grade AVID
We did ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by art) with the 6th grade RBMS AVID students this month. First we read “Joy” by Melissa Madenski. Then we looked at the art that inspired the poem: “The Kitchen Goddess” by JoAnne Tucker. We made our own inspiration board from the art, jotting down images, shapes, colors, and feelings evoked. Then we used our inspiration board to come up with our own original works. The next session, we brought in our own art to use as inspiration. We read “Starry Night” by Tupac Shakur and then we made idea boards and wrote stories off of the art we brought in. We always love seeing how the art brings creativity into new directions and how differently each of us approaches this assignment!
– 4th & 5th Grade AVID
With another round of 4th and 5th grade AVID students this month, we continued writing mini “I Remember” books, inspired by the technique of “automatic writing” and author Joe Brainard’s memoir I Remember. We brainstormed, shared ideas in a group, then we began to write. The students were encouraged to allow their minds to explore all of the years of their lives in no particular order. We loved their unique perspectives!
– PWN Writing Club: 4th & 5th
The fourth and fifth graders in our RBMS PWN Writing Club have been focusing on using their senses to be extra descriptive in their writing. At the end of one activity, the students circled all of the feeling words they used to bring the reader into their stories. One student described the sunlight hitting her as a “bright blanket covering her in a protective way.” There’s some real talent in this class!
– PWN Quest Club: 6-8th
We kicked off the spring session of PWN’s Quest Club (our after-school program for 6-8th graders at RBMS) by getting to know one another. The students wrote lots of questions and one of the questions prompted us to write about our besties—who they are and why we love them. We also brought back one of the club’s favorite things, Speed Writing. Speed Writing gives the students an opportunity to think quickly using timed writing in a creative way. The students loved the fast paced activity! At the end, we all shared and tried to catch our breath. Students shared about which questions were the most challenging to answer and which ones were the coolest. One question in particular—“What do you want for your birthday?”—led the students to write about special birthday quests. They each wrote a handful of lines that made a unique story. We hope this process will inspire them to write more creative stories and see all of the possibilities questions hold!
Red Bank Public Library
This month with the writers from the Red Bank Public Library, we read the new essay by Beth Kephart in Oldster magazine entitled, “Steps.” The essay focuses on her obsession with the gadget on her phone that tracks her steps and infiltrates her life. We wrote about what obsesses us, if anything, and what our partners/dear friends obsess over. Obsession was the theme for the night, from Instagram, to shopping, to checking blood pressure, to not allowing oneself to put a book down they don’t like, forcing themselves to finish it. We ended the class writing about the ways we can break free of our obsessions and be kinder to ourselves. Baby steps! We also pretended to take on the role of Philip Galanes, the NYTimes advice columnist, and answer his queries. Writers were encouraged to answer ethically or snarky. Most importantly, they were encouraged to have fun and play!
Senior Space
This month with the writers of Senior Space, we read Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” in celebration of her birthday. We then did an exercise where we identified our complimentary traits and wrote about the ways our lives make others’ lives better. Resilience, courage, perseverance, honesty … We then asked the class to share with one another positive traits we may have missed in ourselves that others see.
Shore House (Long Branch)
Shore House member and our mentee, Tina, ran the classes again this month at Shore House! Both days, we met with Tina before class to help shape her lesson plan, then Tina took over from there. Her first lesson of the month was all around advocacy—what it means to advocate for yourself and for others. Tina opened some pretty powerful conversations by sharing her own story and inviting others to do the same. For her second lesson, she had recently lost a loved one and channeled her grief into creativity. We were so blown away by her strength and commitment and willingness to be vulnerable—it was such a powerful day! Tina talked about the importance of connection, how she is more grateful for having known someone and lost them than not having known them at all. She had us write to the prompts: “I am enough,” “I am strong,” and “I am a poem.” She also asked us to write about how we feel when others show us love. We continue to be so proud of and inspired by Tina, and we’re thrilled to have her as our Shore House teaching assistant!
Teacher Writing Collaborative
We love giving space to teachers to come together to write and share their stories. Our teachers have shared how important it is for them to be able to take a breath and just write. We are slowly winding down the year with two sessions left (May 11 and June 1) but we are so excited to announce a weeklong summer program, “The ART of Social Justice” in collaboration with the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center and the Two River Theater, which will be held July 31 through August 3. This program is open to all teachers. Learn more here.
Wall High School
The creative writing group at Wall High School invited Project Write Now to come in for a special after-school program on poetry and storytelling. This was PWN’s first visit to the school, which came from a request from an eager student who helped make it all possible. We look forward to returning soon!
Write Out Loud
We are so grateful to all who came to our Write Out Loud event this month at the Asbury Book Cooperative! We celebrated National Poetry Month by reading “Valentine for Ernest Mann” by Naomi Shihab Nye and using lines from the poem as writing prompts. We then went around sharing both what we just wrote and any outside works we brought in for the open mic. Don’t miss the next WOL on May 9!
Scholarship Seats
Through our mission as a nonprofit organization, we remove barriers to participating in our fee-based classes by providing full and partial scholarship seats as well as payment plans. Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the need for financial assistance and therefore have met that need by offering more scholarship seats. For 2022, we awarded 72 seats totaling $15,150! For 2023, we’ve already awarded 28 seats totaling $11,425. For information about our scholarship program or to become a valuable donor providing these seats, please email Jennifer Chauhan at jennifer@projectwritenow.org.
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