This month the National Writers Series awarded me with the Bill Montgomery Literary Service Award.
Literary and service. What a wonderful pairing. Here are a few examples in my life.
At age 5, my paternal grandmother gave me stamped self-addressed note cards so I could tell her about my life when we weren’t together. As a former executive secretary, I watched my grandmother every week, write to missionaries, soldiers, and church friends who didn’t get out much. She also wrote lots of consumer complaints and compliment letters. She got important stuff done through her writing.
My father was also drawn to community writing as a Detroit newspaper reporter who went on to become a Madison Ave. Madman. While as a reporter, he tutored Detroit children to read and write. At home, he’d play the recordings of those tutoring sessions and teach me.
This led to the work I did a few years ago with two colleagues. We ran an Northwestern Michigan College weekly writing workshop for folks without housing. Participants included students, veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, single parents, and the underemployed. The two-year program received grants, won awards, and showcased performances by the writers. Now all of those people have housing.
A while ago I wrote my Record-Eagle column about the power of neighbors. In one year my neighbors experienced suicide, divorce, foreclosure, domestic violence/arrest, unemployment, death and serious health issues. My family was overwhelmed as to how to help. A group of us decided to talk to the neighbors and learn what they needed. Then small groups of neighbors took on those needs. People who had lived near one another for decades without much contact, became closer. That column was well-received and led to me performing a TEDx talk and teaching other neighborhoods how to do what we did.
I’ve been with my husband for 44 years, married 42. The way we met also involved writing. As a university senior, I went to a touring Broadway play at a Nederlander theater in metro Detroit with a friend. During the evening there were some issues with our seats, access and so on. The staff solved every concern. Days later, as Ms. Wheelchair MI, I wrote the theater a thank-you for their care of persons with disabilities, highlighting the leadership of the house manager. Soon, I received a callback. It was the house manager, who because of my letter, had received recognition from his boss. My letterhead had my phone number at the top. The manager thought he’d never see me again. Instead, he became my husband.
Some of the other things my family is doing with writing and community service may inspire you.
For more than 10 years, my husband and a friend have offered the monthly Poets Meet Musicians. He’s also a TCAPS elementary school mentor. Two of his students are writing a play, many are improving their reading and all love his “Spelling Difficult Words” dictionary.
For me, I’m the past president and current treasurer of the Traverse Area District Library, president of MI Writers, NWS host, past president of the Keeweenaw Storytelling Center in the Upper Peninsula, Record-Eagle columnist, Ragdale Artist Residency Curiatorial Board member and Caring Bridge blog writer.
Perhaps you’ll help our community by writing a check, creating something or volunteering.