Tutoring Center Aims For the Heart With Student Anthology

By Bill Thorness

March was a whirlwind month. Every school day, right after lunch, a group of tutors would huddle with students from two of Seattle's alternative high schools to help them get their thoughts down on paper. We worked furiously toward a May publication date of 826 Seattle's first book, an anthology of student writings. The students' theme was to be, simply, family.

Each day the students would fill a cacophanous computer lab in one corner of the cavernous Marshall school. We watched them pace the floor, stare at the screen, high-step across the tops of the tables. Agitated music leaked from forbidding headphones as some students blocked out external stimulation and the solicitous inquiries of do-gooder writers and editors eager to wring some words out of their minds. Sometimes we sat and watched them work, sometimes they sought us out, to help them with a phrase, discuss storytelling methods, or organize jumbled images into a cogent picture.

By April, the essays and poems had been revised, edited, reviewed and placed in the hands of professional copy editors. The students brainstormed on ideas for the book's cover image and title. The group decided on "It's Not Always Happily Ever After: Essays in Family Life from Students of John Marshall and American Indian Heritage Schools." The young authors filled out biography forms and sat for their photographs. They squeezed out a few more words at the request of copy editors.

Here is a bit of what they wrote:

"Most of all, the biggest inspiration in my life was my father. The man who said, 'Look forward, not back. You can be whatever your mind and heart tell you that you can be.' I love you and I miss you. R.I.P., Dennis Robinson." - Vincent Robinson

"Her father never bothered with basements, and her mother was too disgusted by the dust and cobwebs. Emily liked it, the darkness, the sound of bugs scattering around, and the eerie glow that always came from the corner." - Rachel V. Hammer

"I have a way of being all my sisters. People consider me the quiet one of the group, but I am loud in my mind." - La'Quinta Williams

"I mean, come on, if you only said nice things, you wouldn't talk very much, would you?" - David Bullock

Twenty-seven students saw their ideas go from thoughts in their heads to ink in a professionally produced book in less than three months, a schedule that might be the only thing misleading in the process of teaching these talented young adults about writing and publishing.

On June 6, a standing-room-only crowd lit up the Marshall gym as student authors took the stage to read excerpts and listened to 826 Seattle executive director Teri Hein and sponsoring author Sherman Alexie talk about writing and about the project. Then they signed their names 150 times as audience members bought books and walked along long tables to make personal connections and get autographs from each author.

The Seattle Times profiled the students' achievement. 826 Seattle is selling the book from its store in the Greenwood neighborhood, and soon the book will be available at real and virtual bookstores.

On the day the books arrived, I celebrated the project at my desk, reading once more through the 27 essays and poems that had grown so familiar through the tutoring, editing, and proofreading processes. Going back to school resulted in education for both student and tutor, about the bravery it takes to open up, get personal, and take chances. About the power of turning your story into ink on paper, for anyone to see.