The Warm Fuzzies That Just Were - Feedback from Summer Programs That Slowly Rekindle the Flame For Why We Do What We Do.

I received an email from a mom, simply to say thank you for hosting Young Adult Literacy Labs at Fairfield University, and to outline how her daughter had an aversion to writing, but after one summer has returned to school with a passion - one her teachers notice and celebrate. 

Then I heard from another, who said that the young many who partook in our programs has returned to school and is getting tremendous praise from his teachers for his writing and joy for sharing information through text. It was such an achievement that he was taken out for ice cream to celebrate his excellence and applause. I put my head on his body (don't have permission for the photograph of him), but the message simply said, "Look at his tremendous smile. That is because of CWP."

No, that was because of the ice cream. I get it. Who doesn't smile when taken out for a cone?

In a perfect world, I'd work with more young people and their teachers, offering a slogan, "Come write with us...perhaps there's an ice cream cone in your future!"

Seriously, I am simply thrilled to know that for nine years we've had great success with student writers and teachers in southern Connecticut. I don't have a cone or ice cream, but I definitely know how to channel the smile. There happiness is my happiness, and it doesn't get any better than that.