Pongo
Friends,
BRILLIANT
news! This Thursday, March 1, KING5 News in Seattle is airing a
7-minute (!) story about the Pongo Teen Writing Project in juvenile
detention. It features youth, Pongo volunteers, and a supervisor from
detention. The story occurs during the 5 pm news, at about 5:45.
Set in the dramatic context of detention, the story is all about the youth and the Pongo writing process. It doesn't make light of the crimes that brought the teens to detention, but it focuses on the childhood traumas that burden these teens, and the role of Pongo writing in healing.
I was very
happy to work with the award-winning team of reporter John Sharify and
photojournalist Doug Burgess. Their story is sensitive, insightful,
and artistic. I believe it's a very special production!
You can look for the Pongo story on the KING5 web site right after the Thursday broadcast. I hope you'll have a chance to check out the story on TV or the web, and I hope you'll forward the link to friends and colleagues.
FYI, Pongo is
in its 16th year, and has provided therapeutic writing to youth in King
County juvie since 1998. Overall, we've worked with 5,500 distressed youth
(in homeless shelters, the state psych hospital, and other sites, as well as
detention), published 13 books of youth poetry, given away 13,000 copies of our
books, and talked to over 10,000 people in the community about the poetry and
lives of abused and neglected youth. Pongo's latest book, "There Had to
Have Been Someone," is our 8th book from juvie.
Please visit our web site, which includes 50 interactive writing activities for youth, as well as resources for counselors and teachers.
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