A few months ago the staff at 826michigan got super excited about the prospect of the amazing Desiree Cooper’s interest in facilitating a master workshop at the Detroit Robot Factory while she was in town on February 10. She constructed a workshop that was a beautiful combination of critical, engaging, and unstoppable — you might recall that an entire foot of snow fell across the area. The students who attended had interests ranging from manga to journalism and they dug deep into both the power and dangers of a single story. They started on the micro level, unpackaging the stereotypes and assumptions that persist about who they are. The writing is illuminating — look for it in the workshops chapbook at the end of the school year.
The winter season of workshops also saw us working with students who actually make real robots! We partnered with the Michigan Engineering Zone (MEZ) to support students participating in the FIRST Robotics competition as they nominated mentors for their annual Woodie Flowers Award.
Heading into the warmer temps, we have a dynamic schedule of workshops coming up, all facilitated by local teaching artists Cambrey Thomas and Martez “Sheezy Bo Beezy” Hogan. The titles are enticing: “Be The DJ! Writing the Playlist of Your Past, Present, and Future Self” and “There’s a Storyteller in Your Belly.” And of course, Wee-Bots, our program for our youngest writers will be running until the end of the school year. I’ll leave you with a few of their words which will hopefully inspire you to sign up and come out to the Redford Branch of the Detroit Public Library on Wednesdays from 6-7pm:
The Snow Day by Gabriel E.
Snow, snow all day so we can play
Snow, snow all day so we can play