The Underground Writing Podcast: Recent Episodes
Underground Writing
We are a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation. We do this at five sites, including our newest weekly workshop with incarcerated adults at the Skagit County Community Justice Center.
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Jen Bradbury, UW Teaching Writer, shares student writing from What No One Ever Tells You. My Cell -Victor I Won’t Front -J.S. I Am Not What You Think I...
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Jen Bradbury, UW Teaching Writer, shares student writing from What No One Ever Tells You.
- My Cell -Victor
- I Won’t Front -J.S.
- I Am Not What You Think I Am -Luciean
- Nascar Dialogue -Josh
- Survival -M.
- We Sit Here Together -Students and Teaching Writers, in a circle, one line each
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-need communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
Yesica joins Matt and Alvin in the park on a sunny day. She shares new work and updates us on her journey. Matt gives updates on workshops, events, and amplifying voices.
LINKS OF INTEREST: Podcast Review: Underground Writing
Dear America chapbook
The Change - Book Pipeline
Marilyn Montufar
Jacob Lawrence Gallery
Claudia Castro Luna
Letters to a Young Inmate
The War and Peace of Tim O'Brien
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-need communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
We’re still here. Matt and Alvin read excerpts from DEAR AMERICA, the newest collection of student writing, packaged as our latest chapbook. They check in on the state of… everything, having made it into the new year. Matt gives updates on writing workshops and amplifying voices.
LINKS OF INTEREST: DEAR AMERICA CHAPBOOK THE CHANGE - BOOK PIPELINE MARILYN MONTUFAR CLAUDIA CASTRO LUNA LETTERS TO A YOUNG INMATE Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Matt shares student writing from the e-workshops at the Skagit County Community Justice Center site.
- Finding Hope (excerpt) - Garrett
- Helping - C.
- Seven Aphorisms - Michael
- I Need You to Unlock Heaven's Door - Kyle
- Being locked up - Leland
- Fulfillment of Last Laugh - Joshua
- My Answer - Brian
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
It’s been something—this year of 2020: the pandemic, the quarantine, the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, the wildfires currently occurring up and down the west coast, the looming November election . . . It’s been a year of great challenges, and a year of hope for true and lasting change. How will this year—and how will we—be remembered? In this episode, Matt and Alvin read pieces circling the theme of remembrance, written before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, they share a summary overview of the situation for Underground Writing, as well as program updates, forthcoming projects, and great news about a just-announced grant.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
'Last Will and Testament' – Sherman Alexie
'No Many of Them, It's True' – Gregory Orr (part of the “The World Has Need of You” collection)
'Orpheus and Eurydice: A Lyric Sequence' – Gregory Orr
'Poetry as Survival' – Gregory Orr
'Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes' - Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by Steven Mitchell)
Hope in These Times: e-deliverable writing worksheet
Underground Writing’s active writing workshops:
- Mount Vernon Migrant Leaders Club in the Mount Vernon School District
- Skagit County Community Justice Center
- Skagit County Juvenile Detention
- Skagit Valley Recovery Site (hosted by Brigid Collins)
- YMCA Oasis Daylight Center
The Change list of suggested books
- Long Way Down - Jason Reynolds
- I'm Still Here: Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness - Austin Channing Brown
- The Vintage Hughes - Langston Hughes
- Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
- The Winter of Our Discontent - John Steinbeck
Letters to a Young Inmate is in the home stretch, launching later 2020
Academy of American Poets
Community of American Magazines and Presses
National Book Foundation
COVID 19 pandemic
PNW wildfire smoke
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
To say that the Coronavirus has changed things is an understatement. The world is in a state of forced improvisation. Things have been quite different for us, too, during the quarantine. In this episode, Matt provides a summary overview of the situation for Underground Writing, program updates and adaptations, and shares new student writing created in response to the current COVID-19 era.
LINKS OF INTEREST: The Decameron – Giovanni Boccaccio
David Budbill
Lucille Clifton
Underground Writing News & Photos
What No One Ever Tells You
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
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.
“Club Icarus” is a poem by Matthew W. Miller that was brought in to UW writing workshops at the Skagit County Community Justice Center. Elizabeth Riley, local high school teacher and grad student, joins Matt and Alvin in the studio to explore the myth of Icarus. LINKS OF INTEREST: * Hadestown * Mythology by Edith Hamilton * Myth of Icarus * Club Icarus by Matthew W. Miller
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
Note: As you know, friends, our program is focused on providing creative writing workshops that promote writing, reading, self-discovery, and voice amplification in a variety of community settings. Because of the current health threats presented by the coronavirus to our students and the Underground Writing family of workers and volunteers, we are suspending all workshop activity for the time being. In doing so, we are following county, state, and national mandates for precautionary measures. A variety of Underground Writing projects and administrative functions will continue via independent tasks and meetings conducted via e-mail and video conference. We will keep you updated as the days and weeks progress. Thank you for your interest and impact on our students and the Underground Writing community. Keep listening. Keep healthy and safe.
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Susanne Antonetta, UW Teaching Writer and editor of the Bellingham Review, shares student writing from the workshops at Skagit County Community Justice Center.
- I Have to Swallow the Time by C
- Ode to My Socks by Robin
- I Have Been Known by Alison
- I Have Been Known by Hannah
- I Have Been Known by anonymous
- Dear ICE by Adriana
- Dear System by Robert
- I Have Been Known by Marcus
- I Have Been Known by Patrick
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
We’re back for the first podcast of 2020. Matt and Alvin revisit the numbers from 2019 and give you a heads up of what’s planned for 2020, so mark your calendars.
Thanks to the Rick Epting Foundation for the Arts and ArtsWA for supporting our efforts.
Talk About Me, by Yesica Solano is available now
Upcoming Events:
Dear America chapbook
To be published in early 2020
Finding Home: A Foster Youth Story, produced by UW Teaching Writer Laurie Parker
Thursday, March 12, 2020 at the Lincoln Theatre
Migrant Leaders Club reading
Saturday, April 18, 2020 at Lopez Book Shop on Lopez Island
Hidden Truth, by the Migrant Leaders Club, produced by UW Teaching Writer Jennifer Morison Hendrix
Thursday, April 23, 2020 at the Lincoln Theatre
Letters to a Young Inmate initiative
May 2020
FilmVerse screening
Thursday, May 21, 2020 at the Lincoln Theatre
When people ask, "What's Underground Writing?" the quick answer is that we're a creative writing program for at-risk communities. One of the follow up questions we sometimes receive: "How does it all work financially?" We think this is a great year-end question! Matt and Alvin discuss these aspects of the organization, and invite listeners to partner with Underground Writing so as to continue and help sustain its transformative impact.
Partner with Underground Writing
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
“His Cup” is a piece of student writing from the Skagit Recovery Community Site. Matt gives context on this site and he and Alvin discuss grief and mourning, as we carry the items of our deceased loved ones.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Brigid Collins Family Support Center
Habibi, retail pop-up shop in Mount Vernon, Washington—in collaboration with Skagit River Poetry Foundation and Voices of the Children
Talk About Me, upcoming chapbook from local poet and UW’s intern Yesica Solano. Hear some pieces and a short interview on KITE 5 with Yesica Solano, parts 1 and 2
What No One Ever Tells You
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
KITE:
A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING A. Muia, UW Teaching Writer, shares student writing from the workshops at Skagit County Juvenile Detention.
- Where I’m From by E
- I Am From by J
- I Belong Here by A
- Visitation Hours by B
- One Medicine I’ve Taken by M
- I Feel Like a Loaded Gun by J
- A Painting by Vincent Van Gogh by C
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
Habibi is Arabic for beloved, darling. It's also the holiday pop-up market in downtown Mount Vernon sponsored by Voices of the Children, Skagit River Poetry Foundation, and Underground Writing. This short episode has the directors of those local organizations and Habibi's Featured Artist Asil Jabr around the table at the pop-up retail space.
Features:
Asil Jabr and Aaron Wagner: Voices of the Children //
Molly McNulty: Skagit River Poetry Foundation //
Matt Malyon: Underground Writing
Julie Ryan and UW Director Matt attended graduate school together in Vancouver, B.C. Earlier this year, Julie reached out to Matt from her English classroom in Dunedin, New Zealand in response to The Underground Writing Podcast episode about our 2018 week-long intensive at juvenile detention. She has since started a creative writing group at St. Hilda's Collegiate School and is with us in the studio to discuss literary education and cultural shifts.
LINKS OF INTEREST: kia ora, Maori greeting
St. Hilda’s Collegiate School in Dunedin, New Zealand
International Literacy Association: 2019 Conference in New Orleans
Equity in Education
Renée Watson, author of Piecing Me Together and Some Places More Than Others
David Kirkland, Executive Director of NYU Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools
Hamish Brewer, author of RELENTLESS: Changing Lives by Disrupting the Educational Norm
Jennifer Bradbury, Teaching Writer, on the Underground Writing Podcast
Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds
Tomas Tranströmer, poet
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
This episode of KITE 5 is part 2 with our first intern, Yesica Solano.
KITE:
A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD
B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING
- Smile Like You Mean It
- My Favorite Lesson
- Get Up
- Jose Luis
LINKS OF INTEREST:
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika L. Sánchez
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
This episode of KITE 5 is part 1 with our first intern, Yesica Solano.
KITE:
A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD
B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING
- Stranger
- Letter to My Mom
- No Woman’s Land
This piece comes from our site at Skagit County’s Juvenile Detention. UW Teaching Writer Suzanne brought in a poem from a Chinese factory worker. Matt and Alvin discuss protest, despair, hope, and transformation.
Links of Interest:
What No One Ever Tells YouIron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Worker PoetryIn the Words of China's Workers
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
KITE:
A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD
B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING
-
Dear Self by Jay
-
Broken by Rocky
-
Lost Boy Rich by Richard
-
Border of Paradise by Rocky
-
There Have Been So Many Times by Ray
-
This City is a Map of Pain by Jay
-
Goodbye to My Addiction From a Psychotic Poet by Nick
-
Reconciliation by Skylar
-
A Letter for Hope by Nick
-
Brain Spill by Skylar
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
Matt and Alvin meet with Migrant Leaders Club students to discuss the piece OUR STORY from the collaborative anthology WHEN THE DUST RISES.
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
We’re back! Matt and Alvin witness a short piece from the Community Justice Center of Skagit County.
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
Chris Hoke, UW Teaching Writer, shares recent student writing from the workshops at the Skagit County Community Justice Center.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Rainer Maria RilkeRaymond CarverWriters in the School (Seattle)
SUMMER RECOMMENDED READING:
MemoirAnother Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick FlynnThe Ticking is the Bomb - Nick Flynn
Short Stories and NovellasBirds of America - Lorrie MooreSeparate Flights - Andre Dubus
NovelThe Fishermen - Chigozie Obioma
Non-Fiction & EssaysBlindspot - Teju ColePoetry as Survival - Gregory Orr
PoetryThe Complete English Works - George HerbertThe Lice - W.S. MerwinPoems from Ish River Country: Collected Poems & Translations - Robert SundUncommon Prayer - Kimberly Johnson
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
Migrant Leaders Club
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.
This piece comes from the Migrant Leaders Club of the Mount Vernon School District. Matt and Alvin find common ground on themes of isolation, loneliness, hatred, and division.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:What No One Ever Tells You
Migrant Leaders Club of Mount Vernon School District
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Emancipated Stories
Zoe Mullery and Brothers in Pen - Our Podcast
Zoe Mullery and Brothers in Pen - Program
FilmVerse
Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington through literacy and personal transformation.
KITE:
A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITINGThis episode features six pieces of writing from Brothers in Pen, the creative writing class at San Quentin State Prison.
- Kenny Brydon, short story, "A Course in Reconciliation"
- Emile DeWeaver, memoir, "Crumbling Brick Dreams" from Brothers in Pen: The Ninth Annual Public Reading
- Rahsaan Thomas, short story, "Recycled"
- Udukobraye Pela, short story, "My Momma's Baby" from Pens Up, Don't Shoot
- Michael Zell, short story, "Wisdom Exhortation" from Brothers in Pen: The Ninth Annual Public Reading
- Kevin Sawyer, short story, "The Bus Driver," from Brothers in Pen: The Eleventh Annual Public Reading (not yet published)
Links of Interest: Brothers in Pen
William James Association
Chris Hoke is a Gang Pastor and Prisoner Reentry Organizer as the Founder and Director of Underground Ministries. He joins Matt and Alvin in the studio to discuss what he’s encountered in his almost four years as a Teaching Writer at Underground Writing.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
What No One Ever Tells YouChris HokeRainer Maria RilkeJellyfishMigrant Leaders ClubAldo Leopold Martin Espada
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.
Kite:
a. a note passed from an inmate to an inmate in another cell or to a guard
b. Underground Writing’s audio zine featuring student writing
This episode features twelve pieces of writing from the Skagit County Community Justice Center, read by Matt Malyon.
I’m Cold and the Temperature Doesn’t Change. Pancho.
After the First Lightning, Where Does the Rain Go? Zachary.
- Zachary.
I Will Ask Your Permission. Victor.
After Sherman Alexie’s After the First Lightning.
I Will Ask For Your Ear. Scripted Verses.
After Sheman Alexie’s After the First Lightning.
The Old Man. Mario.
After Adélia Prado’s Lesson.
Alcoholism. Mario.
A Day So Happy. Mario.
After Czeslaw Milosz’s A Gift.
I Want My Story to Be About You. Jeff.
After Sherman Alexie’s After the First Lightning.
I Flirt With the Idea. Jeff.
It Was a Shadowy Yard. Anonymous.
After Adélia Prado’s Lesson.
I Started This Week Thinking I Was Going to Get Out Today. Anonymous.
Zoe Mullery has been the creative writing teacher of Brothers in Pen at San Quentin Prison since 1999. This writing group has produced eight anthologies of:”fiction, memoir, creative nonfiction, or some hybrid.” She joins Matt and Alvin in the studio to discuss truth/facts, the purpose of humans in community, generosity and story, and the gift of listening inward in a world of posturing and ego.
The class exists because of the big vision and the big heart of the William James Association (WJA) and its Executive Director Laurie Brooks. WJA sponsors the Prison Arts Project at San Quentin State Prison and many other prisons throughout California. The Prison Arts Project is implemented at San Quentin by WJA Program Manager Carol Newborg, San Quentin Community Partnership Manager Steve Emrick, and Public Information Officer Lt. Sam Robinson. williamjamesassociation.org
Brothers in Pen has a website with occasional news, information on many of the writers, and links to purchase anthologies: brothersinpen.wordpress.com. You can contact Brothers in Pen at brothersinpen@gmail.com.
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.
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.
We continue exploring the DEAR AMERICA prompt from our site at the Skagit County Community Justice Center: ideas of balance and counter-balance, frustration and allure.
Matt shares updates from a satellite program on the east coast, The Change: a book pipeline to—among other sites—the library at Green Hill School in Chehalis, WA, and a teaser for our next Community Spotlight episode.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You
Langston Hughes
Skagit County Community Justice Center
Washington States Arts Commission (ArtsWA)
One Year Writing in the Margins
The Change - Book Pipeline
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.
Matt and Alvin wrestle with the implications of a poem of blessing from the Skagit County Community Justice Center site, and meditate on its beauty and selflessness. They also discuss the recent Hidden Truth event, performed by the Migrant Leaders Club and directed by Underground Writing’s Teaching Writer, Jennifer Morison Hendrix.
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.
Links of Interest: What No One Ever Tells You
Writers in the Schools
Seattle Arts & Lectures (WITS)
Washington State Arts Commission
Poets House
The Hidden Truth (news article)
AWP 2019 Conference
Suzanne Paola Antonetta
The Kenyon Review
The Georgia Review
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.
Matt and Alvin read a piece of vivid memory from juvenile detention, aftering poems by Osip Mandelstam and Marina Tsvetaeva. Matt shares updates about UW Teaching Writers, Chris Hoke and Suzanne Paola Antonetta.
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.
Links of Interest: What No One Ever Tells You
Washington State Arts Commission
Osip Mandelstam
Marina Tsvetaeva
Christian Wiman
Ilya Kaminsky
Jean Valentine
Chris Hoke
Suzanne Paola Antonetta
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.
The day after the What No One Ever Tells You book launch, Matt and Alvin enjoy/labor over a piece from the YMCA Oasis Daylight Center that afters the poem REVERB by poet Robert Rottet.
Matt shares updates from UW’s collaboration with the Washington State Arts Commission and HIDDEN TRUTH, the upcoming showcase from the Migrant Leaders Club.
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.
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.
Matt shares a poem from the Skagit Juvenile Detention site, aftering a poem by Mahmoud Darwish. He and Alvin discuss confronting one’s own outcome and cause-effect.
Matt shares about UW’s newest teaching writer Laurie Parker and UW’s Anthology What No One Ever Tells You being launched at the Mount Vernon City Library on February 21.
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.
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.
Matt and Alvin wrestle with a piece from the YMCA Oasis Daylight Center. They discuss hope, despair, rebellion, and protest.
Matt shares updates about the anthology What No One Ever Tells You, the incredible On Being podcast on NPR, FilmVerse now underway in its second year, the support of Red Door Thrift Shop and Christ Episcopal Church, the Washington Arts Council, and the upcoming AWP Conference in Portland.
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.
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.
Today’s piece of writing is the Foreword to What No One Ever Tells You, Underground Writing’s first anthology of student writing. Playwright and UW friend, Quiara Alegría Hudes, wrote the piece we’ve titled, “Did You Ever Feel Invisible?”
Matt and Alvin talk about the anthology, give a brief update on UW’s Teaching Writers, and present music by the Marimba Band at LaVenture Middle School, led by Amy McFeely.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:What No One Ever Tells You
ArtsWA (Washington State Arts Commission)
Quiara Alegría Hudes
Marimba
LaVenture Middle School
Walt Hampton, Composer
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.
“The Salish Sea” is a poem that “afters” works by Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes. Matt and Alvin discuss the poem—which comes from our Skagit County Community Justice Center site—the Salish Sea, and other related topics.
Matt updates listeners about the release of UW’s first anthology, What No One Ever Tells You—just in time for the start of 2019!
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:What No One Ever Tells You
The Salish Sea
Walt Whitman
Langston Hughes
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.
This episode features writing from our Juvenile Detention and YMCA Oasis Daylight Center sites. Matt Malyon and producer Alvin Shim discuss how the writings engage with and expand the title of What No One Ever Tells You, our first anthology of student writing. The book will be released in December 2018 and is supported in part by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission.
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.
If you listened to this week’s catch-up podcast the day that it was published, you were probably confused. We had an error on our end uploading the correct file, which has now been fixed. Matt provides some detail on the mix-up.
We thank you for your patience, for listening, and for keeping in touch with Underground Writing.
Matt reads from a piece by a juvenile detention student, after Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem. He and Alvin celebrate the courage of voices from the underground. Matt shares about UW’s new non-profit status, thanks board members, and gives an update from our friend Quiara Alegría Hudes’ show Miss You Like Hell.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
What No One Ever Tells YouWhat's a "kite"?Jimmy Santiago BacaMiss You Like Hell | New York Trip
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.
UW Director Matt Malyon chats with Producer Alvin Shim about “I Am Waiting,” a piece of student writing from our site at the Skagit County Community Justice Center. They share stories of waiting in incarceration, bearing the lack of options that the justice system offers, and the individual posture of waiting vs. action. Matt reads from a letter of advocacy regarding youth offenders being tried as adults.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
What No One Ever Tells You - Underground Writing’s first anthology, available December 2018The Seattle Times, "Seismic Shift . . ."NPR - The Teenage Brain
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.
This episode features writing from our Juvenile Detention and YMCA Oasis Daylight Center sites. Matt Malyon and producer Alvin Shim discuss how the writings engage with and expand the title of What No One Ever Tells You, our first anthology of student writing. The book will be released in December 2018 and is supported in part by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission.
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.
Student writing from the Migrant Leaders Club site. Matt and Alvin remember the performance of this piece from their trip to New York earlier this year, read on stage after the musical Miss You Like Hell, written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
UW updates:
Matt shares about a recent meeting with the Migrant Leaders Club of the Mount Vernon School District. As the school year starts up again,
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.
Student writing from the Migrant Leaders Club site. Matt and Alvin remember the performance of this piece from their trip to New York earlier this year, read on stage after the musical Miss You Like Hell, written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
UW updates:
Matt shares about a recent meeting with the Migrant Leaders Club of the Mount Vernon School District. As the school year starts up again,
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.
Matt and Alvin explore odes and the ongoing conversation of Pablo Neruda, the Skagit Recovery Community Site, and the Oasis Daylight Center site.
UW Updates:
Matt updates listeners on UW’s first workshop at the Community Justice Center, now a weekly site serving men and women on alternating weeks.
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.
Matt and Alvin explore odes and the ongoing conversation of Pablo Neruda, the Skagit Recovery Community Site, and the Oasis Daylight Center site.
UW Updates:
Matt updates listeners on UW’s first workshop at the Community Justice Center, now a weekly site serving men and women on alternating weeks.
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.
We read "Journeying," from the juvenile detention site. This is a piece in response to exploring The Odyssey, Homer's epic poem. Matt and Alvin talk about the transformation that might be produced after an intense series of adventures, struggles, and danger.
UW UPDATES: Underground Writing's 2018 newsletter is published, written by Teaching Writer A. Muia.
Week-long intensive at juvenile detention is complete.
New site at Mount Vernon's Community Justice Center to begin September 19, 2018. Hear more about this site on episode 6, titled, "The Book Was Fat and Big."
The student writing “Dreams” comes from the Migrant Leaders Club site, exploring the gap that interrupts our aspirations, hopes, and goals. Matt gives updates on the week-long intensive coming up at juvenile detention and the Community Spotlight episode featuring Randi at Oasis Daylight Shelter.
This is the first Community Spotlight episode of the podcast. We speak with Randi Breuer, the lead at the Oasis Daylight Center and site host for Underground Writing. Randi speaks about how the center operates, what the strategy is in serving at-risk youth in the community, and the role of creative writing in personal restoration.
Student Writing from the YMCA Oasis Daylight Center, after Langston Hughes' I Too. Matt and Alvin talk about the courageous nature of declarative works that these pieces have in common. Matt discusses how Hughes took the lead from Walt Whitman's work, cataloguing the nation. What is a voice? What is a country?
UW updates: -Upcoming week-long intensive at the juvenile detention site, based on the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, led by teaching writer Jennifer Bradbury. -Community Highlight podcast coming up, profiling YMCA Oasis Daylight Center site host Randi Breuer.
Student Writing from the YMCA Oasis Daylight Center, after Langston Hughes' I Too. Matt and Alvin talk about the courageous nature of declarative works that these pieces have in common. Matt discusses how Hughes took the lead from Walt Whitman's work, cataloguing the nation. What is a voice? What is a country?
UW updates:
- Upcoming week-long intensive at the juvenile detention site, based on the book Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, led by teaching writer Jennifer Bradbury.
- Community Highlight podcast coming up, profiling YMCA Oasis Daylight Center site host Randi Breuer.
Student writing this week, "The Book Was Fat And Big" comes from the juvenile detention site. Matt and Alvin discuss how this piece of dream-vision literature joins the ranks of Paul Valéry, Coleridge, and John of Patmos. UW writing workshops often introduce poems and invite students' response to "after" them.
Matt gives an update on a future teaching site: the Skagit County Community Justice Center. They discuss logistical tasks and the Justice Center in the context of Mount Vernon's former jail.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology
The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry
Paul Valéry
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Book of Revelation
Skagit County Community Justice Center
Peter La Grand music
Student writing this week, "The Book Was Fat And Big" comes from the juvenile detention site. Matt and Alvin discuss how this piece of dream-vision literature joins the ranks of Paul Valéry, Coleridge, and John of Patmos. UW writing workshops often introduce poems and invite students' response to "after" them.
Matt gives an update on a future teaching site: the Skagit County Community Justice Center. They discuss logistical tasks and the Justice Center in the context of Mount Vernon's former jail.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST:
What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology
The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry
Paul Valéry
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Book of Revelation
Skagit County Community Justice Center
Peter La Grand music
Matt reads a piece from an Underground Writing class at juvenile detention. The piece, titled 'Dear America' was written the day after the presidential election in November 2016. Matt and Alvin talk discuss the ongoing internal battles that our nation and world undergo, the histories of oppression and hatred that divide us, and the anthems that propel us forward. They also remember visiting the Ellis Island Museum with the students from the Migrant Leaders Club.
Matt gives us an update about the week-long intensive that just wrapped up at the Oasis site and relays some news on some of Underground Writing's teachers.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology Port Townsend Writer's Conference James Baldwin Underground Writing Newsletter: June/July 2018 Another "Dear America" poem
Matt reads a piece from an Underground Writing class at juvenile detention. The piece, titled 'Dear America' was written the day after the presidential election in November 2016. Matt and Alvin talk discuss the ongoing internal battles that our nation and world undergo, the histories of oppression and hatred that divide us, and the anthems that propel us forward. Matt gives us an update about the week-long intensive that just wrapped up at the Oasis site and relays some news on some of Underground Writing's teachers.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology Port Townsend Writer's Conference James Baldwin Underground Writing Newsletter: June/July 2018 Another "Dear America" poem
Our student writing this week is titled "Society Weighs Me Down." Matt and Alvin talk about the individual and the larger community, and how one affects the other in deliberate ways or not.
Matt gives an update on the process of publishing the UW anthology and thoroughly recommends the book of poetry by Tyehimba Jess titled Olio.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology Olio, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize winner by Tyehimba Jess Commonplace Podcast by Rachel Zucker music by The Eisenhauers
Our student writing this week is titled "Society Weighs Me Down." Matt and Alvin talk about the individual and the larger community, and how one affects the other in deliberate ways or not.
Matt gives an update on the process of publishing the UW anthology and thoroughly recommends the book of poetry by Tyehimba Jess titled Olio.
This week, we read a piece titled "Trying to Catch Up to You," from one of our earlier sites. Matt and Alvin discuss the vulnerability and courage required to share an all-too-common grief that many of our students carry. It was raining at the UW headquarters; please ignore that rattling sound at the beginning.
This week, we read a piece titled "Trying to Catch Up to You," from one of our earlier sites. Matt and Alvin discuss the vulnerability and courage required to share an all-too-common grief that many of our students carry. It was raining at the UW headquarters; please ignore that rattling sound at the beginning.
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.
LINKS OF INTEREST: What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology “After" a literary convention (an interesting dialogue with poet Robin Robertson) YMCA Oasis Daylight Center Zines (and further Zine resources)
Student Writing from Migrant Leaders Club of Mount Vernon Public Schools. Discussion of recent FilmVerse event with Voices of the Children, the Lincoln Theatre, and Underground Writing. Music by Luis Lopez and the Migrant Leaders Club.
This is our first bi-weekly update podcast! Director Matt Malyon and Producer Alvin Shim met briefly in the UW admin headquarters to touch base on the many program goings-on. It's a short six-and-a-half minute podcast that features a piece of writing by a UW student and a quick update about our recent trip to New York with the Migrant Leaders Club to see Miss You Like Hell, written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
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.
Links of Interest:* What No One Ever Tells You, the UW anthology * More information about the New York Trip * Migrant Leaders Club of Mount Vernon Public Schools * Quiara Alegría Hudes, Miss You Like Hell, and the Emancipated Stories Project