Dear 826 Seattle Fan,
Happy 2010! November: big highlight. We had two publishing parties for our latest publication, When a Sentence Ends in a Surprising Gazebo, which includes the work of 35 826 Seattle students and a foreword by our celebrity host, Lemony Snicket. Yes, you heard that right, the Lemony Snicket. And, it gets better: Lemony Snicket came to Seattle for the publishing parties. He proved himself a bit frightening but inspirational, all at the same time. The book is terrific, and we are selling copies in the store. 
And speaking of Lemony Snicket, he (in the form of Daniel Handler) will be speaking at a special event for Seattle Arts and Lectures on March 15th at Benaroya Hall. For more information visit http://www.lectures.org/handler.html. Not only is Daniel our pal, he is enormously entertaining and not to be missed. This is primarily an event for adults, not children. And...if just telling you about this event isn’t enough, 826 Seattle has two tickets for the first person who hits ‘reply’ to this email and tells us the names of the first and the last books in A Series of Unfortunate Events. Yes! It’s a bit of a contest! How fun! (Fine Print: if you don’t hear back from us you didn’t win. Sorry. But don’t despair, we hear there are still tickets available.) Moving right along, over here in 826 Seattleland we spent December having fun, just the way Decembers were meant to be. Our volunteer appreciation white elephant party found some pretty intense competition between guests trying to end up with either the giant lightbulb, the plastic muscleman tie-on chest, or the exercise tape “Hip Hop Party – Drop Inches & Get Dancer’s Abs!” [sic...we know it is ‘dancers’]. About 50 folks gathered for a potluck, gift exchange, and a toast to the stunning efforts of our volunteers. The 826 Seattle staff holiday party found us battling it out on the WhirlyBall court up on Aurora Avenue North. If you haven’t played WhirlyBall, everyone at 826 Seattle (except Samar) will tell you it is a terrific way to spend an afternoon. Imagine bumper cars meets basketball, add 826 Seattle staff and a couple of uber-volunteers, a little beer, and you’ve got the perfect holiday party. 
And now, here we are in January, and we are psyched about our new year.
Alex, Kathleen, and I had our first ever Skype interview and have hired Janine Beaman to join our programming team, when she arrives February 1 from Philadelphia. Janine is a poet, has a Masters in Creative Writing, and has worked in a number of impressive jobs on behalf of young people at risk. I was personally won over when she reported that for her current 40-hour-a-week job she really works “50–60 hours” because “you gotta do what you gotta do.” (I’m actually not sure if that is a direct quote, but you get the gist of it.) Don’t get me wrong—I don’t really require people to work 50–60 hours a week, but I do look for folks who are passionate about our mission and will show it by working hard. With Janine and the rest of the crew at 826 Seattle, here are some things we are looking forward to:
The above is just a taste of what we will be doing in 2010. There will also be comic books crafted and drawn, chapbooks of student writing published, field trips galore, writing workshops aplenty, and a lot (and I mean a lot) of homework completed.
All of this work is made possible by some mighty generous folks, including notable donations from our pals Pearl Jam, and Wil Shipley at Delicious Monster, and many other donations of all sizes from people who really do care about helping children write better. You can check out our donor list soon (http://www.826seattle.org/support/supporters/), when we have the list updated. But that is just part of it. We have thousands of hours by hundreds of volunteers who mind the store and work with children and enter info on our database and fix the plumbing and selflessly do whatever it takes to accomplish our mission. And then there is the truly terrific 826 Seattle Board of Directors (http://www.826seattle.org/about/board-of-directors/)—folks who joined the board knowing they were going to have to do a lot more than just write checks, and they do—filling tables at fundraising events, committees, meetings here, meetings there, and offering smart support to our burgeoning little organization. And last but not least, a truly, truly, truly terrific staff of wacky folks who look darn intimidating on the WhirlyBall court but have hearts of gold and smart brains when it comes to being an essential part of this organization. Check us out at: http://www.826seattle.org/about/staff/ We are cruising our way into 2010 a very blessed organization—whether you think of being blessed in a religious way or just a good luck way.
Happy New Year
- Teri |