Our Girls Friday: Journalism Workshop Takes Place at a Brand New Venue, by Ashley L., WriteGirl Alumna

Nestled on the quaint periphery of West Hollywood, The Volunteer Assistance League of Southern California is a drastic shift in scenery from the concrete and steel contemporary domain of Miguel Contreras.  With its French doors, bow windows, and ivy-lined exterior, the two-story American Colonial evokes a classic Hollywood ambiance, the perfect environment for brilliant writing. The main entrance welcomes you into a majestic hall adorned with oak flooring, a winding staircase, and luxurious bergère sofas fit to accommodate even the most grandiloquent of tea parties. Our workshop was set in a private ballroom illuminated by cascading chandeliers and sunlight that flooded through open windows with a view of the sparkling fountain in the courtyard.

This month’s workshop theme was Creative Non-Fiction/Journalism, one of my personal favorites. We welcomed a surfeit of well-versed and distinguished women journalists as workshop guests, including LA Weekly’s nightlife virtuoso, Lina Lecaro, Tabby Biddle of Huffington Post, The New Yorker’s Dana Goodyear, CNF novelist Maggie Nelson, Molly Palmer of NBC’s Today, and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Erika Hayasaki, and Deborah Vankin of The Los Angeles Times. We kicked off the day with writing activities that placed mentees at themed journaling stations based on various aspects of journalism and creative non-fiction. Mentees, as well as alumni like me, had the opportunity to interview guests and obtain beneficial insight into the field of journalism. The day culminated with mentees reading reports of their own and receiving constructive professional appraisal of their works.

From listening to Dana Goodyear, a successful Yale grad, speak about personal creative principles that were similar to my own, to hearing Lina Lecaro, an influential club-culture savant, speak glowingly of her 4-year old daughter, I was reminded that these journalists were real women, with real-life experiences who work hard each day doing what they love— something that really resonated with me. No matter how apparently different these women seemed, they were united by a passion for edifying society. That is what the fundamental ethos of journalism is all about.

This particular workshop has always held a very special place in my heart, but this time, being a part of the workshop from the ground-up, seeing things from a more comprehensive perspective, and connecting with women I have a high regard for on a more personal level inspired me all over again, and were powerful reminders of what impelled me to pursue a career in journalism.

WriteGirl’s New Space

WriteGirl is officially settled into its new headquarters in downtown’s Arts District. The new office is a big upgrade, with lots of space for planning, proofing, eating and writing – and the WriteGirl spirit is as strong as ever (witness the shelves of past seasons’ books and the neon “Girls Rule” sign in the corner).

Two WriteGirl Volunteers catch up at the party.

I got a chance to go to the office warming party and was thrilled to see so many enthusiastic new volunteers, as well as plenty of returning members. As always, the food was great and the conversation scintillating, and I’m more excited than ever for the start of the new season. Having followed WriteGirl since near its much smaller beginnings, I’m thrilled to see the organization continue to thrive.

Speaking of thriving, we have also been invited to the upcoming Women’s Conference, where we’ll be sharing our thoughts on empowerment and finding our voice with some of California’s most high-powered women.

Here’s to an amazing new era for WriteGirls!

- Ariel, WriteGirl Alumna

Ariel’s writing has been featured on NPR, among other places.

USC Life, Part 2

Continued from USC Life, Part 1…

It was no surprise, then, that I started getting back into the swing of creative writing only a couple days ago. I sat down on my bed with my little notepad and began to scribble words down onto the page, not even knowing exactly what I was writing about. One minute, I was talking about how the dynamics of relationships are altered by being a student earning a higher education. The next minute, I was the official biographer of my brilliant Classic Rock teacher who performs air guitar solos every five minutes on Monday nights.

I cannot tell you how liberating it was to work endlessly on a piece of writing.

I’m ecstatic to say that I re-launched into my creative writing spirit because of WriteGirl. Some of the few of the books I brought to my college bookshelf were the WriteGirl anthologies in which I was published. I looked at the bindings of the WriteGirl anthologies on my bookshelf in which I am published, and remembered the heart and soul with which I had put into each of my words. I needed to recall what it meant to have that power of creating a world within a world.

And so, I continue to take a few minutes out of my day to sit down on my bed with my little notepad and scribble words down onto the page. While activities like reading gossip blogs and watching online video clips of a sneezing panda will fade away from my life in college, my writing will stick with me. Sometimes, there are things that are so important you can’t just leave them at home.

USC Life, part 1 (Mikayla C., WriteGirl alumna, age 17)

There are a few things you learn at college when you immediately arrive to campus.

1. Out of state students bring much more than they should, and they love to share what they do not need. Thank you, girl on my floor, for the fifty extra Staples brand pens!
2. Without a doubt, parents will cry at your departure.
3. The things you loved to do in your free time might fall out of your usual routine.

Mikayla reading her work at the WriteGirl Season-End Celebration in June, 2010

I have struggled with Number Three. I have been at USC only for four weeks now, and I am nostalgic for the time I spent at my computer writing several lengthy screenplays, horrific short stories, romantically fantastic poems, and songs the most bubblegum pop stars would not look twice at. With a new schedule and more on-campus opportunities, I find that my free time has disappeared.

My roommate now joins the equation. Forget quiet time –– the room below you will start playing Bristol-imported house music, disallowing you to hear the soft acoustic sounds of that Newfoundland guitarist you just purchased. And do not even try to go to the cafeteria and expect that decent glass of iced tea at nine at night because by then, it will be nothing but mere sweetened ice.

I missed flipping over new pages. I yearned for clicking my pen. I longed for the tumultuous plot line of a fictional romance between two college freshmen (who may or may not have been based on two people I became friends with and who I decided to creepily observe during the course of their relationship!)

Check back in tomorrow to read USC Life Part 2 — how Mikayla shifted her priorities and perspective to rediscover her (very obvious) strengths as a writer.

Reflecting on being an adult (or something like it)

I turned twenty a few weeks ago. I’m now a junior in college, working on a degree in English literature from a very nice private university. I have things like a debit card, fashion sense, and a small business from home, I write regularly, I recently published an ebook.

Thing is, I don’t feel like an adult. I don’t know what being an adult is, but I can’t possibly be one. Legally, though, that’s what I’m considered.

I guess the problem is that I don’t feel any different. I didn’t expect a parade exactly, but I didn’t expect nothing. But I still feel the same way I did ten years ago, only with more responsibilities and firmer footing on my identity.

When I was ten year old, I saw my adult life differently: impeccable clothes (all pink), handsome husband, cherubic children, picket fence. I don’t know how all little girls dream, but mine was pretty standard, except I had a keen desire to perform surgery on people’s pets (that is, to be a veterinarian, not a psychopath, though I suppose there is some overlap). Somewhere along the line, maybe, I started settling for reality.

Not that I don’t still dream big—oh no. One day I’m determined to own a castle in southern Scotland, too, possibly one filled with exotic creatures from all over the world (maybe even a man). In some ways I’m still very much a little girl with starry eyes.

But now, I think of the chill on the moors of Scotland, the cost of heating an entire castle, the time and expense involved in caring for that many exotic creatures, if they can even be caught. I had to adapt. I had to become more realistic. More grounded.  More aware of the fact I look bad in pink and don’t know anything about animal anatomy.

I started weighing my abilities versus my goals, starting seeing the flow-chart like options spread out before me, which outcomes they could lead to, where those would eventually lead, and if they could ever possibly lead where I’m going. I find myself laying aside certain dreams to take up duties that will lead to more fulfilling dreams.

I stopped thinking in pink and started thinking in color.

Somewhere along the way, I became an adult when I wasn’t even looking.

It’s probably better that way.

- Karly A., age 20

WriteGirl Alum