The Words Alive Reader: May 18, 2021

Welcome to The Words Alive Reader, a regular newsletter keeping you up-to-date with the latest in how we've been connecting children, teens, and families to the power of reading. What have we been up to and how can you help? Read on to find out!

Author Adib Khorram Visits Words Alive Students

A picture of author Adib Khorram, next to the cover of his book Darius the Great is Not Okay.

"Sometimes you're afraid to start a story because it's getting at something that you don't want to share. My advice is to be brave and take it a little at a time." — Adib Khorram to Words Alive high school students

Acclaimed young adult author Adib Khorram recently visited one of our partner classrooms at San Ysidro High School to share his story and chat with students. Thank you to SYHS for partnering with us, to Adib for stopping by for a visit, and to the Words Alive volunteer who sponsored this experience for our students! Learn more about what Adib shared with our students and how they reacted here.

Plot Twist: Meher Gandhi

A picture of Meher Gandhi, our Engagement Volunteer of the Year.

Meet Meher Gandhi, an amazing Words Alive volunteer who supports us all the way from her home in India! She was recently named our Engagement Volunteer of the Year.

We talked to Meher about her love for literature, her experiences in volunteer leadership, and her international perspective on working together for literacy.

"We are really giving something to the community...not just in words, but in actions," she says. Read more here!

Oceanside Community Foundation Grants Words Alive $20,000

A screenshot from a Family Literacy Program session on Zoom. The kids are holding up their crafts to the camera.

Words Alive is partnering with the Oceanside Community Foundation to deliver our Family Literacy Program in the Oceanside community – connecting young children and families to the power of reading through play. So far, approximately 180 families have participated in this program year. Now, we are excited and grateful to share that the Oceanside Community Foundation has granted us $20,000 to expand our work in Oceanside with teen programming! The Oceanside Community Foundation has been an extremely supportive partner at every step of the process, and we are thrilled to continue working together.

Meet Our New Engagement Director, Alyssa Broda

A picture of Alyssa standing in front of a colorful mural that reads “You Are Radiant! Yes, You.”

We are so excited to announce the latest addition to the Words Alive team: our new Engagement Director, Alyssa Broda! ​​​​​​​

Alyssa is a dynamic fundraising professional with over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sphere. Here at Words Alive, Alyssa is working towards helping the organization reach new levels of engagement amongst donors and volunteers.
Read more about her and what she’s bringing to Words Alive here! 

Mental Health Month: Art & Lit

In honor of Mental Health Month, here are two ways that you can explore the connections between reading, art, education, and mental health with us.

1) Ben, a Words Alive volunteer and high school student, wrote a piece for our blog about how the pandemic has affected student mental health. Read the full blog post here.

2) With the trauma of the past year in mind, our Art & Lit project, created in partnership with ArtReach, was designed to help students explore mindfulness, emotional awareness, and belonging through connection with reading and art. This year, for the first time ever, the whole community can participate! Learn more here.

An example of this year’s Art & Lit Project: an identity circle drawn with red and gray markers.

Missed the Volunteer Appreciation Celebration?

The Words Alive logo, the words “12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration, Presented By” and the EY logo.

Did you miss our 12th Annual Volunteer Appreciation Celebration? Don't worry — we recorded it! Through our virtual program, you can watch the recording, hear from our presenting sponsor, EY, read about the incredible volunteers who were recognized at the Celebration, download special Words Alive bookmarks, and more.

We are so grateful to each and every one of our volunteers for helping us connect children, teens, and families to the power of reading. If you'd like to become a volunteer, click here to learn more. 

This newsletter, in addition to our blog and social media content, is written by us, a cohort of volunteers! Do you love writing and have an interest in helping Words Alive create this type of content? We'd love your help! Email to learn more.

- Zoe, Eli, Nia and Titiksha, Words Alive Storytelling Team

Author Adib Khorram Visits Words Alive Students at San Ysidro High School

A picture of Adib next to the cover of his first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay.

Acclaimed young adult author Adib Khorram recently visited one of our partner classrooms at San Ysidro High School to share his story and chat with students! Thanks to a Words Alive volunteer who donated through last year’s Author’s Auction, high school students who have been reading Adib’s first book, Darius the Great is Not Okay, were able to meet him and ask questions. With humor and honesty, Adib shared insights about his path to becoming an author, struggles with mental health, the importance of representation and diversity in books, and of course, the power of reading and writing with our students.

When he was a student himself, Adib said, "All the books we read were really boring books about rich, straight, White people finding ways to have problems." When he first started writing, this pattern appeared in his own work, too.

"I didn't realize that you were allowed to write about other people," he said.

It wasn't until the We Need Diverse Books movement started in 2014 that he began to ask himself, "What's a book that only I could write?"

Darius the Great is Not Okay grew out of Adib’s own experiences growing up in diaspora as an Iranian-American, being a queer boy who didn’t line up with other people’s expectations of masculinity, and living with depression. He wanted to write a story that was authentic to his own lived experience.

As he shared these experiences, Adib was candid about the struggles he's faced and the nonlinear journey he took to becoming an author. He assured students that it's okay to not have everything together.

"My life has basically been a long series of 'This seems like a good idea...on second thought, maybe not,'" he said, laughing. "I'm a disaster, but I'm also still a functioning member of society, and I feel like people need to know that you can be both!"

Though the experiences themselves may have been difficult, telling these stories has been a powerful path to healing.

"Writing's a lot cheaper than therapy," he joked. "Writing about the things that hurt me, that made me afraid, that made me nervous, and finding out that other people felt the same way and that it resonated with them, makes me feel a lot less lonely."

Ultimately, his hope is that reflecting on the difficult experiences he’s had through writing helps his readers with the challenges they face in their own lives.

"Part of my job as a writer of young adult books is to make the world better for young adults," he said simply.

Students had lots of questions after hearing Adib share. They asked everything from “Why does Darius go into so much detail about things like tea and Star Trek?” to “How has the pandemic affected you?” to “How are you able to be so open about vulnerable parts of yourself?”

When one student asked how to overcome the uncertainty that comes with writing a story for the first time, Adib had this to say:

"Sometimes you're afraid to start a story because it's getting at something that you don't want to share. My advice is to be brave and take it a little at a time. Sometimes we don't want to start a story because we're not ready, and then it's important to be gentle with yourself until you're ready. Sometimes it's hard because starting is hard and a blank page is scary. I'm a big fan of just writing something, letting it be crappy, and then it's something that you can fix instead of start."

And if all else fails?

"Laying down on the ground bemoaning existence is good too," he said with a smile.

We're so thankful for this opportunity to partner with San Ysidro High School and grateful to Adib for stopping by for a visit! If you’d like to make more partnerships like this one possible, click here to learn more.