BEFORE any stay-at-home orders were in effect, Elizabeth Riley joined Matt and Alvin in the studio to talk about her research project, the high school classroom vs leading a creative writing workshop with UW, and how she navigated a love of reading/writing into a career. Elizabeth is a graduate student at Gardner-Webb University, researching the effect/outcome of Underground Writing’s workshops on the individual level.
What has grown into a generative collaboration began when we first met in June 2015 with Janice Blackmore, founder and advisor for the Mount Vernon Migrant Leaders Club. Underground Writing was a few weeks out from its official launch and we were meeting with Janice to talk about the club becoming our second site. Given the fact that one of the primary goals of the club is having students tell their stories, the idea of facilitated writing workshops interested her immediately. The dialogue continued over a number of months and we officially launched our site with the club in early October 2015.
Janice joins Matt and Alvin in the studio to remember MLC’s earlier days and give us an update on the future.
Note: We are a creative writing program serving at-risk populations. We do not broadcast names or identifying details of the students we work with.
Migrant Leaders Club
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Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in Northern Washington through literary engagement and personal restoration.
