Studio
Our summer workshop series included a wide range of classes. There were 100-word Mystery Stories, a Write a Novel in a Month class, Music Covers, and Northwest Mythological Creatures, just to name a few. Some of the writing produced by the students in these workshops is going to be published in our first anthology, 826 Seattle Writes the Rain set for publication in the winter of 2007. Here is a sneak peek at some of the stories:
Your Television Hates You, by Rose Fredericks
Why Hippos Close their Eyes, by Cora Tipping
The Northwest Mythical and Unknown Creatures Organization Meeting #66, by Noah Sather
Josh the Good, Leonardo the Bad and Fred the Cool, by Shivam Tripathi
Your Television Hates You
By Rose Fredericks, age 18
Your television hates you
and talks behind your back
The OC and The Gilmore Girls
both say that you are fat
Your MySpace page is two-faced
it visits other sites
it gossips with the White House
and violates your rights
Your cell phone called me yesterday
and told me all about
how you pretend you’re chatting
when its battery has run out
The clothes you wear
your awful hair
your nails, your teeth, your nose
there is no hope
you’re one big mess
say Seventeen and Vogue
The friends you hold so dear to you
just stab you in the back
their sole reason for being is
to show you what you lack
But someone loves you secretly
and cheers all your endeavors
this someone has a crush on you
and thinks you’re very clever.
This someone hides inside yourself
just waiting to break free
so let that other girl come out
so you can finally BE
BE the one who says, “Enough!
My body’s not for sale
my brain is not detachable
I am a package deal.”
The mystery is in you, and
it is not okay
to cover it in make-up
and make it go away
Take back the power, ladies
take back what you have lost
your God was once a woman
and you were once the boss.
Why Hippos Close their Eyes
By Cora Tipping, age 9
Once hippos lived in the big river in the savanna with fish and eels. The nicest hippo was River Horse. He had two friends, Silky the eel and Fishy the fish.
One day, Silky’s family met up with the sharks and the sharks asked the eels to scare River Horse.
Silky said, “But he’s my friend.”
“We don’t care,” hollered the sharks. “Do it or we’ll eat you!”
So the eels swam as fast as they could to do as they were told so they wouldn’t get eaten. When they got back near their home, they scared River Horse by sneaking up behind him and jumping on him. This made River Horse very mad. Silky tried to explain but River Horse wouldn’t listen. After 15 tries, Silky gave up.
The sharks heard about this, so they decided to eat Silky.
The next morning Fishy wanted to play, so he went up and tapped the hippo’s back. River Horse was so scared that he dove into the water and closed his eyes so he couldn’t see. He thought it was Silky but it wasn’t. Silky had already been eaten by the sharks.
From then on, if River Horse felt something jump on his back, he would close his eyes, hold his breath and dive underwater.
The Northwest Mythical and Unknown Creatures Organization Meeting #66
By Noah Sather, age 13
“Order, Order!” yelled the living tree, “May the Northwest Mythical and Unknown Creatures Organization meeting commence! Does anyone have any questions to bring up?”
“Aye, aye, bend thy ears in my direction!” said a large stone troll, “Can thou getteth this poultry to cease messing on my feet? Tis’ a habit most unsatisfying.”
“I told you to plug your ears when they play Shakespeare on you. I cannot understand a word you are saying!” exclaimed the tree,
“Now, does anyone else have anything to say?”
“I would like to say that you are full of sap,” hissed a shadow in the corner.
“That was uncalled for,” said the unaffected tree, “And now on to the problems. As this is my cave, I will go first. The loggers are cutting my kind down, so I want the whole of you in the forest tomorrow causing mayhem. Next on the list, and I believe, last, the rain pixies.”
“OUR HOME IS BLOCKED BY A MOUNTAIN OF ACORNS ON THE GROUND, SO WE CANNOT GET IN!” screeched the pixies.
“That is simple enough to fix,” said the tree, “Troll, I want you to… troll! Have you been drinking coffee again?”
The jittery troll had a large jug of coffee in his hands, was shaking uncontrollably, and was talking very fast. “Tis true my dear fellows, I loveth coffee, I lovethlovethlovethlovethlovethloveth thy fine and earthy grounds!”
“Okay,” the tree said uncomfortably, “Without the troll, I will burrow underneath the nuts with my roots sinking them into the ground. Orange goo, you eat the nearby squirrels, shadow, you make the place invisible to humans, and the rest of you, hide the acorns that have sunk into the ground with dirt. All right, we will do that Thursday. Meeting adjourned!”
And with that, all the creatures went to get some sleep, for they had much work ahead of them.
The End… or at least until the next meeting.
Josh the Good, Leonardo the Bad and Fred the Cool
By Shivam Tripathi age 10
Joshua is a wild dog, the heir of the pack who has five twin brothers. But he beat them all in a rock-paper-scissors duel so he gets to rule first. Ha ha! He also lives with his parents. His worst enemy is Leonardo Da Lion. His best friend and pen pal, whose name is Fred the Porcupine, lives all the way out in the tundra. Fred is the heir of a high-tech company called Tundra Tech®. Even though Josh thinks the company is very cool, Fred is bored of his high-tech life. He wants something more adventuresome.
Josh was being crowned king of the pack when, AAAAHHH!!! THUMP!!! ROOOOAAAARRRR!!! Leo and his gang! Josh used his martial-art skills to take down some of Leo’s gang. Soon, he was face-to-face with Leo himself. Josh tried his best to defeat Leo, but his enemy was too strong. Soon Josh was pinned to the ground. Suddenly, he had an idea. Picking a stone up from the ground, he threw it far, and I mean far. Leo went for it, as Josh quickly and successfully launched a bottle of hand sanitizer into Leo’s eyes. Leo roared in pain as Josh easily escaped.
Two hours later…
The war was over. The wild dogs had won! Everybody celebrated and had a hearty meal and slept very well.
But that morning…
Leo and his gang had taken gear from the armory, weapon room, catapult & cannon bunkers, and were restarting the war! The wild dogs were losing badly. When it seemed like the wild dogs were about to be defeated, suddenly tranquilizer darts zipped through the air, shooting down all the lions. Everyone gasped, except Josh. He knew that Tundra Tech® was a very reliable company. Together, Fred, Josh, and everyone else loaded the lions onto a mega catapult and launched Leo and his gang to a different universe.
The End