Art Beat, the blog of PBS's NewsHours program, is running a story about The Way We See It, the recently-published book written by students at Cardozo High School in collaboration with Capitol Letters. The video includes students reading their work at the release party, as well as an interview with project lead volunteer Mike S.



The full article contains more information about the project and Capitol Letters.

In addition, Art Beat chose the poem "Graffiti," by The Way We See It co-author and recent Cardozo graduate Javairia Henry, as its poem of the week! Congrats, Javairia!

Sean C's Dispatches From An Environmental Lawyer Who Is Trying To Grow a Mustache No. 2 and No. 3 are now up on McSweeney's. Check 'em out for the real scoop on Capitol Letters's wildly successful 2009 Moustache-a-thon!

Maria F is the CLWC 2009 Summer Intern. A little about her: Maria Fortino just finished her first year at Stanford University. She plans to major in International Relations or Political Science with a minor in Spanish. She is a member of the FACE AIDS National Programming Team, which organizes new campaigns and events ideas for their over 134 chapters across the country and helps with the fundamental needs of the National team and their efforts toward fighting AIDS in Rwanda. She is also a member of the Varsity Lacrosse team and an active tutor around campus and around the Palo Alto area. Maria is excited for the opportunity to be part of Capitol Letters Writing Center and contribute to their efforts towards bringing out the writing skills of students in the DC area.

This Sunday, May 31 from 2 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. at Politics and Prose in Northwest DC, join Capitol Letters Writing Center for their monthly creative writing workshop. CLWC volunteers Lucia and Luke will be leading a time capsule writing workshop for middle school age students. In this interactive workshop, participants will reflect on what they would do if they were the parents/in charge and then seal their essays in a time capsule! Students will gain inspiration from Judith Viorst's "If I were in charge of the World" and their imagination. RSVP today to the programming director!

Follicle Farmer Sean C has penned a series of dispatches describing his Capitol Letters Moustache-a-thon 2009 experience for Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency, the online presence of the illustrious literary journal. Read Dispatch 1, "I Am Catapulted Into the Unknown" and keep an eye out for the rest!

On May 12 and 13, several senior English classes at Wilson High School participated in a CLWC workshop called “Dear Freshman.” The purpose was for seniors to reflect on their high school experience and offer advice to incoming ninth graders in the form of a letter, essay, poem, or creative dialogue.

We had lively class discussions on the topic, and the students came up with long lists of “Do’s and “Don’ts” for their younger peers. Then we broke up into small groups and read excerpts from a commencement address President Obama delivered at Wesleyan University last year. We used the address as a model of how to impart advice to others in a respectful, useful, and direct manner.

Each student completed his “Dear Freshman” piece in class and read it aloud. Some were funny, others poignant. The seniors were genuinely engaged by the workshop, which gave them a chance to write about a topic on which they are all experts—themselves!

--Amy P.

Readers, listeners, and curious onlookers alike gathered last Tuesday, May 12 at Big Bear Cafe in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Northwest DC to share their love of the written word at CLWC's first ever reading series.

The event, which offered our volunteers a chance to share their talent by reading their original poetry and prose to an audience that filled the cafe to bursting, covered a wide range of topics and emotions. From a suspense-filled scene involving a gun and a banana to introspective reflections on homesickness to alliteration-infused poetry about brunch, the words we heard impressed us all and reminded us of the power of strong writing.

After the readers finished, there was time for visitors to mingle, enjoy Big Bear's tasty offerings, and learn more about CLWC's work through one-on-one conversations with our trusty volunteers. Many thanks go out to Big Bear for hosting, and to those who stood behind the microphone and wowed us with their words! If you'd like to share something at our next reading series (date TBA), contact Steve S.

-Julia S.

Photos from "the lowercase": Mike S. guest reading the poetry of volunteer Julia S., and a portion of the lovely audience filling Big Bear Cafe.
  

On Sunday, April 26, 2009, Capitol Letters volunteers led a dialogue workshop at Politics & Prose with a talented, large group of middle schoolers and preteens. Students took inspiration from a collection of photographs to create their own fictional characters. They started out with some prewriting exercises in which they identified their character's voice.

In a lively discussion, students asked themselves, "Why is dialogue important to a story?" Once their characters had taken shape, students paired up and wrote a twenty-line conversation between their characters. Students performed the dialogues in front of the group and received feedback from the audience. What a great collaborative experience!

-Erin J

Students writing dialogue at Politics & Prose.

Monday, April 27, was a heroic day in Mariam Al-Shawaf's English classes at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. That day, Capitol Letters volunteer Sufiya A-R led five volunteer assistants in a writing workshop for Ms. Al-Shawaf's classes on the theme "Heroes and Sheroes."

Each class began with Sufiya and the other volunteers reading essays they had written about the heroes in their lives. Then Sufiya had the students take turns reading an article about Richard Norman, a local artist who is creating a life-size sculpture of Harriet Tubman for the newly-designated Harriet Tubman National Park in Buckstown, Maryland. Sufiya then led the students in a discussion of what made Ms. Tubman and Mr. Norman heroes, and who Mr. Norman's heroes are and why.

After going over a list of adjectives the students might want to use in their essays, it was time to get to work. The students broke into small groups and, with the help of the teaching assistants, crafted their own essays about their heroes. They wrote about their mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles, and brothers and sisters. Their essays told compelling stories about people who have protected them, lifted them up, and inspired them to do great things.

The next day volunteers Steve S and Kira W recorded the students reading their work. The recordings will be presented at the fundraiser for the Maya Angelou School, to be held Thursday, April 30, at D.C.'s historic Lincoln Theater. With the help of Ms. Al-Shawaf's students, the fundraiser -- which will be attended by Ms. Angelou, Toni Morrison, and Quincy Jones, among others -- will celebrate heroes of every generation.

-Sean C