ARTS ENCORE
Making Writing Fun
Junfu Han
RAWK empowers kids to read and write what they want
Writing is an endeavor many students find daunting, anxiety-
ridden, frustrating and boring. But Read and Write Kalamazoo cofounders Anne Hensley and Emily Kastner don’t want it to be that way — in fact, they believe that in the right environment, kids can find reading and writing to be empowering, enriching and, yes, fun. Read and Write Kalamazoo, or RAWK, started in 2012 to provide a kids-only creative space for reading and writing. The mission of the nonprofit — located in the Reality Factory, at 213 Frank St., in Kalamazoo’s Northside neighborhood — is to support development in these learning areas, which RAWK does by hosting workshops for students from preschool through high school to perform, collaborate and study different forms of writing and reading they may not be exposed to in school. RAWK is modeled in part on 826, a national network of writing and tutoring centers, the first of which was started in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and incorporated a pirate supply store as a “front” for the writers’ space, making the workshop area special and specific to the kids who came. “We feel very strongly about how empowering it is to give students the tools they need to say what they want to say and then let them
38 | ENCORE JUNE 2015
RAWK co-founder Emily Kastner with participants Jamara Harper, far left, and Jamari Harper. Opposite page, Guthrie Harris writes by a window in the RAWK location on Frank Street in Kalamazoo.
say it in a caring and supportive environment with people who will validate their work,” Hensley says. Writing is only one part of RAWK workshops; the organization also has public readings and performances so the workshop participants have the opportunity to share their work. “They’re emboldened by the opportunity,” she says. RAWK workshops span from day- or week-long events to workshopping series and include in-school programming, partnership programming with Communities in Schools, and performances and readings at public locations such as the bookstore Bookbug. Workshop themes and topics differ for every event. In March, participants made their own journals and learned about the art of journals and journaling. Another March event featured RAWK flash poets reading food-themed poetry at the annual meeting of the People’s Co-op. Preschool students participated in a “Build & Write” workshop in April, in which they used craft materials to help tell their own stories, which were written down and narrated by adult partners. “Preschoolers don’t have any problem at all thinking up stories,” Hensley says. “It’s innate.”