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Mindy Hardwick is an author and educator who teaches a variety of writing courses, including a creative writing
workshop for teens in the Denney Youth Detention Center located in Everett, Washington.
In addition to chatting with The Edge of the Forest about her writing life
in A Day in the Life, Mindy tells us all about
the books that excite her students.
The Edge of the Forest: One of the many hats you wear is as an instructor for the creative writing workshop
at Denney Youth Detention Center. How did the workshop come about?
Mindy: I have always been drawn to what we sometimes call at-risk youth. These are youth who may be dealing with a vast
array of issues including addiction, homelessness, and youth in juvenile detention. Before I left teaching to pursue
writing, I taught at Chrysalis High School, an alternative high school for kids who don't quite fit the main system. I fell
in love with these kids! They were bright, creative, and risk-takers who just didn't fit into a regular high school setting.
Then, a couple years ago, I was at the AWP conference and attended a session on Teaching Writing in Prisons. I knew that
was something I wanted to try. Writing has always been a healing force for me and I wanted to share it with others who need
a way to express themselves.
A good friend of mine, Ann Teplick, works with youth in detention in Seattle through a program developed by Richard Gold
called Pongo Publishing. She offered me a chance to volunteer in Pongo's
program. However, I didn't want to commute into Seattle...this can be a real nightmare with traffic! So, I contacted the
program director at Denney Juvenile Justice Center which is near me, and asked if they would be willing to let me volunteer
and run a writing workshop with the kids. coincidentally, the principal of the school inside the juvenile justice center
turned out to be a man who taught across the hall from me my early years of teaching, so I immediately had someone on my
side inside the prison.
The Edge of the Forest: What format do your workshops take? How often do you meet? Do you work with a different
group of kids each time?
Mindy: We meet once a week for two hours a week. I go onto the units and meet one hour with the girls and one hour
with the boys. There are anywhere from six to twelve kids on a unit. They usually stay about thirty days. The kids seem to
cycle back through the prison. Many of them are in for drug related crimes. When they show up to probation with a dirty
UA (Urine Analysis), they return to detention.
I work with the long-term and high risk offenders, although I never know why they are in prison. They are not allowed to
talk about their crimes with me, or in their poems. When I first started, there was a very high-profile case, and I had the
boy in the group. He has been the only one whose crime I knew of, because of the news coverage. When I work with the
teens, I see them as writers. Not as criminals. I think that is a big part of the power and success of the work I do.
There is always a guard in the room, but I never have any problems with the kids. At first some of them say, "Poetry? We're
doing poetry?" But once they realize it's poetry written about their life they get into it. It means a lot to them to have
someone volunteer to be with them. These are kids who think they aren't worth anything, and believe they are failures. I
always wish more people could see what happens when an adult chooses to be with these kids even for just a few hours a
week.
The Edge of the Forest: If you do work with a different group each time, do you have the opportunity to follow
up with your students afterward?
Mindy: I've been doing this work for two years now, and a year ago with the help of the Miller Trust we published an
anthology of the youth's work called, Call it Courage. I always start the session by reading some of the poems
from that book. Sometimes one of the authors will be in the writing group. In the book, we could not use the writer's names
to protect their anonymity. So, sometimes when the writer is in the group, they won't say they wrote the poem and let
everyone discuss their poem before they say, "I wrote that!" I always love that moment when the kids turn to the writer
and say, "Yea? It was good." And the writer beams. It's this moment where the writer knows that something they did touched
and reached someone else in a positive way and you can see it on their faces how much that moment means.
The Edge of the Forest: While conducting research for her most recent book
500 Great Books for Teens, Anita Silvey discovered that teens preferred fantasy to problem novels. Do you find
this to be the case with your students?
Mindy: I find the kids in juvenile detention don't like fantasy. The boys read a lot of John Grisham and true crime.
They seem to really love the suspense. And the girls read romance and poetry. They also like contemporary stories by
Terry Trueman, Alex Flinn and Chris Crutcher. I think they can see themselves in some of these characters and don't feel
so alone.
The perfect fantasy for kids in juvenile detention, both boys and girls, is someone to love them. For them, this usually
means a significant other. It's very common to find juvie kids with children of their own. They try so hard to love that
child and give them everything they do not have with their own families. Often their poems reflect their love for a child.
The Edge of the Forest: I understand you received a grant last year from the Hobson Foundation
for your continued work with the Denney kids. Congratulations. Where do you see the program headed from here?
Mindy: Ah...that is a good question! I have lots of ideas and the kids want to write. The problem is funding! Right
now, I do the work on a volunteer basis, and occasionally the Miller Trust hires me to work with some of the kids
individually. The Miller Trust is a foundation established by Blanche Miller, a former Snohomish County Juvenile Court
Administrator and first woman in the state to be a chief probation officer for a juvenile court. In a wonderful twist of
fate, her property sold for 1.2 million dollars and the money is partially used to hire artists to work with the youth in
juvenile detention. Youth have made blown glass, fused glass, willow trays, collage and walking sticks with some of the
best artists in our area.
In Washington State, there are many grants available for working with youth at-risk, but I am not allowed to apply for
them as an individual artist. I must be aligned with a non-profit. I would like to expand this work to include other
populations besides kids in juvenile detention. I'd like to work with kids at a homeless shelter called Cocoon House.
I am in the process of searching out non-profits to partner with for this work.
The Edge of the Forest: Do you have any plans to publish the work that comes out of your writing workshops with the
Denney kids?
Mindy: We did publish a forty-page anthology of the kids' work called Call it Courage. (Due to the
release forms on the poems, I am not allowed to reproduce the poems beyond the book. I'm sorry! I wish I could send you one
to post!) The book was published with the help of the Miller Trust. We printed five hundred copies. The book has been
distributed to the kids whose poems were included, guards and lawyers, educators in the area, and each month, I give away
books to the kids currently in detention.
And yes, the money from the Hobson Dream Foundation Grant will pay for a second book that we are planning to publish this
summer. Each week, I collect the youths' poems, and then I will choose forty poems which best represent the kids' voices
as a whole to include in the second book.
The Edge of the Forest: Wow, sounds like a worthy project, Mindy. Continue the great work and thanks for taking time
out to chat with us.
To learn more about Mindy, check out her Day in the Life interview here,
or surf on over to her website at MindyHardwick.com or
her blog.
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