Archive for the 'WriterVolunteer' Category

April 4, 2010 | "Whoa whoa I gotta go...back to schoooool...again",2nd Semester,Life in General,Nonprofit Explorations,Prescott College,School Daze,Spring 2010,Sunday Scribblings,The 4-1-1 on Me,WriterMentor,WriterVolunteer

Today’s word of the day is brought to you by Sunday Scribblings: Mentor

Last year, I had the immense pleasure of being a mentor. From Sept to Dec I was a mentor through Free Arts AZ. For 14 weeks, another girl and I were placed at an all-girls group home. Every Saturday morning, for an hour, we drew, painted, wrote, cut and pasted, made bracelets…whatever. Basically, we played. These girls started to get used to us being there every week and couldn’t believe we were taking the time out of our lives to spend time with them. For free.

It was the best, most life-changing experience of my life.

I’ve been wanting to volunteer for a youth-based organization for a long time, but I was looking for a specific organization. And I found it with Free Arts AZ. They fit with the business I plan to open and I was able to utilize my writing skills there. I still volunteer for them when they have events on the weekends. If you ever get a chance to be a mentor for youth, do it. It will so change your life. I promise.

Currently, as I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I’m attending Prescott College to get my degree in Nonprofit Management. That business I mentioned above? I want to open a nonprofit writing center for teens. Actually, when starting out, it’ll probably just be different writing workshops, and not so much a building to conduct them in. I want to focus on putting these programs into public schools and youth-based nonprofit organizations.

But I digress.

The students who attend Prescott College create their own degree plan and then find mentors within their community—or nationally—to “mentor” the courses. They offer some online courses, but the majority of your degree plan is created by you. I’m actually looking for mentors for my classes right now, so if you’re interested, read all about it here. Since I know nothing about the nonprofit sector, I’m learning from the ground up and I created courses that, I hope, will prepare me for opening my own nonprofit. The Spring semester is almost over and the mentor for my Nonprofit Explorations course, Kristi, has been amazing. She’s also going to be the mentor for my Fundraising course. The difference between this college and other 4 yr colleges is that you’re learning by doing. You’re working side by side with a professional in the field and you’re getting hands-on experience. I think I learn best this way because I’m applying it as I learn it. And I’ll have all this knowledge for later.

The only thing that sucks for an introvert like me is going out and asking complete strangers to be my mentor. There’s a lot of stepping-outside-my-comfort-zone goin’ on, but I’m meeting some great people. And hopefully, I’ll be working with them in the future. On a professional level.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings

December 16, 2009 | Life in General,SARK-ism,The 4-1-1 on Me,The Sunny House,Writer Moment,WriterVolunteer

This week at The Sunny House: SELF-PORTRAIT POEM

Today was our final session with the girls. We did a self-portrait poem. We had to do it one of two ways: Fill in the blanks or answer a series of 14 questions. The fill-in-the-blank lines asked you to complete a sentence like “Who intends to….” “Who cares about…” and “Who wants to be respected for…” Some of the questions were “What do you like?” “What do you hate?” “Who is important to you?” etc.

This poem gave PA and I another chance to get to know the girls a little bit better. For some, I think answering the questions was a lot easier than filling in the blanks. It’s not easy trying to describe yourself because you really don’t think about how people see you until they come out and say it. “That girl is a great listener” or “She’s really loyal to her friends.” The questions and the fill-in-the-blank sentences asked the girls to think about their present and future (“What do you want to do when you graduate from high school?” and I think it was a little difficult for them.

As usual, the results were amazing. We only had 4 girls this time, and not all of them shared their poems. I had a great time participating in this Creative Writing series. Both me and the girls learned about different forms of poetry. We were exposed to local authors and got a chance to read poems by several talented local young adults. And the girls will receive a published booklet of all the poems they wrote during the session some time after the New Year. What a great gift!

I have a greater appreciation for poetry now. For those that write it and for those that have a great voice when reading it aloud. I’ll just stick to writing novels. Here’s my contribution:

Celise
Sense of humor, bookworm, loyal, caring
Who cares about sharing my overactive imagination with the world
Who intends to create a writing center for teens
Who wants to be known as the local writer who created a local place for future aspiring young writers
Who wants to be respected for loyalty to family and friends
Who fears of not living up to my potential
Who wants others to understand that sometimes what I want to say never gets said
Who gives 110% when I’m in Writing Mode
Who dreams of becoming a full-time writer
Who believes in the words of Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (aka SARK) “I am enough, I have enough, I do enough”.

Technorati Tags: Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, SARK

December 13, 2009 | Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me,The Sunny House,WriterVolunteer

This week at The Sunny House: A LITTLE BIT OF FORM

Me and the girls learned about a type of form poem called the Sestina: six words repeated in a 37-line poem. Thank goodness PA took pity on us and didn’t make us write a 37-line poem. It was hard enough writing six. The girls had to come up with six words and then write a poem around those words, but they had to be at the end of each sentence.

Once again, I was reminded of the reason why I never liked writing poetry in all those creative writing classes I took. LOL

I think those were the six hardest words the girls had to come up with, but the end result was amazing. As usual. They wrote about people, places…feelings. They manage to stun me every week. They’re so wise beyond their years and it shows in their work.

Since I love adult romance books, I chose six words that had to do with that: reading, escape, romance, gorgeous guy, pretty woman, happily ever after. Here’s what I came up with:

In the world of fiction, there is happily ever after
Quiet room, no distractions, lying covered up in the bed reading
5 foot 5, brown hair and eyes, he thinks she’s a pretty woman
Locked in a loveless marriage, she longs to escape
Muscular, black hair, ice blue eyes, she thinks he’s a gorgeous guy
“I’ll take you away,” he says. “I’ll be your love and give you romance.”

Corny, but that’s all I could come up with. Imagine having to come up with 31 more lines! After I read it, one of the girls asks, “Is that what happened with you and your husband?” LOL. Yeah, um, no. Adult romance. Gotta love it.

Next week is our last week with the girls. I’ll miss being with them and hearing what pops up from their creative minds.

November 9, 2009 | Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me,WriterVolunteer

On Sunday, I volunteered for a fundraising event: 15th Annual Palette of Home Tours. Be sure to click on the Silent Auction link to see all the lovely goodies that were given away. I was assigned to one of the homes on the Deluxe Dream Tour. Here’s the little info sheet we were given about the Formal Mediterranean Estate in case people asked questions:

Architecture by Mark Candelaria
Construction by Desert Star
Interiors by Bruce Stodola

· Gated estate with a formal, gracious and detailed-oriented 14,000-square foot home in a 2 ½ acre lot.
· Beautiful millwork and extensive use of applied decorative wood moldings and wall panels.
· Huge kitchen with two islands and high dropped-beam ceiling.
· Lots of water features, courtyards and other amenities, including 15 fireplaces (indoors and out), a putting green, tennis court, tennis pavilion, pool cabana, jogging trail and detached guest house with bar-b-que area.
· Covered outdoor living area off back of house.
· Club Room with wet bar in front of Theater room with coffered ceiling and Venetian plaster walls (this is where I was stationed.
I got to tell people about the drop-down screen hidden in the bookshelf and the guitar signed by country music artist Chet Atkins).
~ Spa patio with see-through fireplace off Master Suite.
· Epoxy floors in garages with space for 17 cars, some on lifts; separate “working garage” has drain, negative-ion water for washing cars

We got a quick tour of the home and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS!!! I never saw the 17 car garage, but he put some of his cars on display in his driveway. One was a 32 Ford, but my Dad’s Ford 33 has a WAY better paint job. In the master suite, they have his and her closets with their own bathrooms and shower stalls. But then there’s the “workout bathroom.” In this bathroom there’s a treadmill and a stationary bicycle and a HUGE shower with a little sink and, like, four waterfall-type showerheads! Incredible. In fact, all the showers in that place have those kind of shower heads. Pretty cool. The brunch was catered by chefs at the Phoenician Hotel.

The owner told us that a famous celeb made an offer on the house, but they declined. They were very gracious people, even saw the wife showing people around. I think my Mom would’ve been stressing out having so many people tramp through her home, but the owners were so nice and very approachable.

I wish I could’ve taken pictures but it wasn’t allowed. The homes in the tour had a spread in the recent of Phoenix Home and Garden magazine, though. It was only a 4-hr shift, but by the end, my feet, calves and lower back were hurting from standing. I should’ve worn my Comfort Walk boots.

Technorati Tags: 15th Annual Palette of Home Tours, Chet Atkins, Phoenician Hotel, Phoenix Home and Garden

November 2, 2009 | Life in General,The 4-1-1 on Me,The Sunny House,WriterVolunteer

Starting this Friday, I will be participating in a 6-week Professional Artist Series (P.A.S) through Free Arts AZ: Creative Writing. In addition to The Gurl House posts, I’ll be making posts about this experience as well. We’ve been placed at another group home for teen girls, 16-18.

These posts will be made weekly under the title WriterVolunteer. During my time with this project, you will not see three things in this post:

1) The name of the group home
2) Pictures of the girls
3) Writing samples

However, I will be talking about the topics we write about and my reflection of the session. The facility will be referred to as The Sunny House. I’m very much looking forward to participating and am really excited that I was given the opportunity to do so. Writing is my passion and I know I’m going to learn something from both the artist and the girls.