Today was my last mandatory at PEN. Today was very interesting because we used our learning to help PEN and actually be a part of what PEN does. Josh, Catherine, Nathaniel and I went to the PEN American Center offices without knowing what we were going to do, but basically willing to do anything. Stacy Leigh spoke to us about what we wee going to do and what impact it would have on the people around us. Stacy told us about two events that PEN had had in the past couple of weeks. The first event was a speech and discussion with Professor Taric Ramadan, the other was an event devoted to writing that breaks boundaries. We were to listen to the audio pod casts of one of these events and pick out the key information within the audio to post on PEN’s website. These little tid-bits were being posted to not only promote people to listen to the pod cast, but they were also used to pin point moments in the audio where there was a certain topic of discussion. We were split up by audio recordings. Josh and Nathaniel had the event about writing that broke boundaries, while Catherine and I listened to Professor Ramadan’s speech and discussions with other writers. Professor Ramadan was denied access to the United States by the Bush Administration because he was muslim. Fear overcame America after 9/11 but that should not give the nation the right to get rid of a culture. Professor Ramadan has recently been given access to the nation and this event was his first on American soil. He discussed the differences between Western Muslims and European Muslims and how after 9/11 it was us vs. them (them being the muslims). Basically Professor Ramadan was addressing what Bush truly meant “Here is the problem with Muslims”. Professor Ramadan wants to change the mindset from perceptions to facts and figures. The Professor wants change, but healthy and progressive change. He doesn’t want the world to think “the muslim presence is a threat to society”. There are two lines that particularly struck me. First Professor Ramadan said” we are advocating a new ‘we’, look at this room, muslims, non-muslims, jews, christians, we have a common future”. He bluntly told the world, we are together now, this is what the world should be like. The other quotation I would like to share is also from Professor Ramadan “There is a lack of knowledge. There is a lack of memory, because we are scared of the present and reducing the past”. This audio pod cast is an hour long so I could only listen to Professor Ramadan’s speech, but it was powerful. I’m so glad I was able to listen to this speech and if you would like to go to pen.org and it should be on the homepage.

Today was a great visit with PEN. Josh, Nathaniel and I went to the PEN American Center offices  for one purpose and came back with  a lot of knowledge in the process. We went to PEN to interview Stacy LEigh an incredible woman who has worked with us through our entire PEN experience. Stacy is the director of Readers and Writers, as well as an advocate for teens and literature. We sat down with her one sunny afternoon to discuss her work, what PEN means to her and any other questions we had lurking in our minds. Stacy entertained all of our questions and shared personal memories. She is amazing. My first questions were pretty simple and basic. I asked what she does at PEN and how she got into her job here at PEN. Stacy told us that her goal for the PEN American Center was “to reach non-traditional audiences” and “break this idea of a writer”. She told us to draw a writer and see the similarities. Even though Josh, Nathaniel and I had different perspectives, they had the same baseline. They want everyone to feel like a writer. “It doesn’t matter what you look like, as long as you’ve got passion and a mind, your a writer”. Stacy started by working with high school students that wanted literature in their lives. She helped them gain opportunities such as meeting famous writers and helping them fine-tune their writing skills. Stacy also worked as Barnes and Noble as the Community Relations Manager which let her explore different aspects of writing at work. Although she was trained as a librarian she wanted something more and that is when she came to PEN. Stacy Leigh proudly said ” It will be 8 years in July working here at PEN”. She has sent authors to explore different parts of life, she has read to kids, set up tours with writers from all over the world, has over seen many book clubs for adults and teens and has had many other accomplishments within her time at PEN. When I asked her about who PEN specifically works with,  she said simply ” Everyone.  The age minimum is 8, because we want people to be literary independent, and we continue our work with senior citizens. We are very broad and we are all about educating people”. According to Stacy “PEN will continue as long as there are people. People who have got something to say, people who have there rights crushed, people who have a fear of words and people who make mistakes.” PEN is 3000 members strong, 1400 associate members and growing.” Stacy truly believes in what she does and I fully support her cause. If you want to become a member please visit pen.org, every person counts, every voice counts.

*Also a special thank you to Stacy Leigh for EVERYTHING!!

Wow. Yesterday was a lot of fun and extremely tiring. I thought the Social Justice Teach In was a success. The morning was a little stressful because of all the set-up we had to do and the weeks of preparation for it. it took me a while to find an organization I was interested in but once I did everything fell into place. Setting up visits was easy and very fun. Just being able to help the world with just one contribution. Also the time that was set aside in class devoted to the Teach-In was very helpful, but the day of was the most stressful part. It took a lot of work just to get ready before the kids get in. From having all the materials out to making sure that you are saying the correct information to your students. Teachers have it rough. They have to make the lesson interesting, educational and in this case powerful. Teaching is a very noble profession and I actually liked it a lot, even with all the stress. I had the rush of being in front of people and the satisfactory feeling of educating someone. My Teach-In helped kids express themselves and told them that by using their voice they can change the world. We made a huge Democracy Wall devoted to answering the question “What does freedom of expression mean to you?”. Two things that went extremely well was the activity and the learning process. Thank god the weather permitted us to go outside and create our democracy wall. All the kids picked a square and decorated it with positive words about what they thought freedom of expression meant to them. The final product looked amazing and is still outside for the world to see (well for New York to see). The entire teaching process went so well. Josh, Catherine, Nathaniel and I explained everything with ease and I felt like the kids actually learned something about freedom of expression and themselves. If anything, the only thing I would change is getting more sidewalk paint. We ran low by the second class, but that is all I would change. The lasting piece of knowledge that I know I will have for the rest of my life is that one voice can change the world and with this power I will change it. My set up group worked really well together and our tasks were finished efficiently. The kid were assigned to their groups and each kid got a workshop they really wanted. I thought the assemblies tied the Teach-In together well. They were interesting and kept the kids’ attention. I especially liked the music aspect, the writing was powerful (GO LENNY!) and it simply rocked. My only suggestion for next year is to have more time set aside for getting the assemblies organized and more time for the set up groups because those two things were down to the wire. Overall though, the Teach-In was great!