New York Times Reporter Coming to KPL

Hello everyone!!

I wanted to say, first of all, how wonderful I think workshop went last week. I know that we made significant progress in my group and I believe the workshops were helpful. But above all, I was incredibly impressed by the brave subject matter of the stories and the willingness by the group to tackle hard issues with art and strong story telling. I was just super thrilled to get to read them and I can't wait for the final drafts. If anyone wants me to take a look before turning it in, again, I am more than happy to. Fresh eyes always help.

I also wanted to inform everyone of a really neat opportunity tomorrow. Michael Benanav, a writer who submits travel pieces to the New York Times will be doing an author visit at the Oshtemo Branch of the Kalamazoo Public Library tomorrow at 7:00. His book "Men of Salt: Crossing the Sahara on the Caravan of White Gold" is an incredible demonstration of narrative writing and immersion journalism. For forty days, he traveled by camel back in Mali with a camel caravan. What's really interesting is that he initially believed that the caravans were a dying trade practice and that trucks were rapidly replacing this harsh way of life. But when he went there, he discovered he was wrong! The writing is really good, but I think the program is going to be even better. He's going to discuss the experience, show photos and talk about his writing process. I wrote an article about him for the Gazette. I believe it's coming out today and you can usually search for my work by typing in my name in the search panel of mlive.com .
Unfortunately, I cannot attend the program, because I have class. But I really encourage anyone who can to go; I think it will be really cool.