By Yvonne J. Medley | LJWG Executive Director/Project Leader
Dear Givers and Lovers of the Literary Arts,
LJWC’s last Big Quarterly of 2021, its production of Poetry is Power that graced the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts stage, is still making an impact, now streaming online via https://poetryispower.link/support.
On February 12, LJWC’s first Big Quarterly for 2022, Bestselling/Disney Producer/Poet Kwame Alexander was our guest speaker. It was a virtual event, and attendees from around the country were delighted by all the writing and publishing industry tips and encouragement. We were so inspired that LJWC purchased $1,500 worth of Alexander’s poetry books from two black-owned booksellers (to celebrate Black History Month) and donated them to Title I schools: two middle and two elementary schools. In April 2022, National Poetry Month, its poetry mentors conducted read-alouds to kindergarteners and second graders.
On April 23, LJWC’s Springtime Big Quarterly highlighted the written word via music/collaborative songwriting and showmanship. Our guest presenter was DC’s Queen of the Blues Carly Harvey. She displayed her singing, composing, and teaching chops.
At present, LJWC is at the mid-point of conducting Life Journeys Writing and Mentoring Workshops in our nation’s Capital to inner-city, at-risk young adults. We have completed the first three of six fruitful workshops, featuring our Literary Therapy with a licensed clinical therapist on board. We partner with a dutiful nonprofit, ProjectEDEN, to make a difference. ProjectEDEN’s motto is Gardens, Not Guns, and it also teaches teens and young men and women to eat healthily and grow their food (in the midst, life skills abound and LJWC seasons to the mix).
May was designated National Older Americans Month, Mental Health Awareness Month, and National Drug Court Month (Whew). LJWC attended to it all. It conducted a Life Journeys Writing and Mentoring Workshop and presented at a Health and Wellness Fair for senior citizens. We conducted our workshops for those dealing with depression. In conjunction with the nonprofit, Families in Recovery, Inc., we celebrated those attached to Maryland’s Charles County Drug Court program, achieving and working to change their lives for the better. Planned workshops for them are in the works. Our endeavors were all in-person, which adds to our virtual platforms.
Overall, LJWC is looking forward to conducting more monthly writing workshops, changing lives, and making an impact moving forward in 2022.
For fifteen years and counting, the LJWC has served as an economic bridge of access for those wanting and needing to engage in the literary arts. Its Life Journeys Writing and Mentoring Workshop Project brings the act of writing, i.e., its creative, critical thinking, life skills tools, an appreciation for writing, and its fun-filled/therapeutic nurturing qualities to new and broader audiences. It is a vehicle to create socially impactful statements of awareness, social, cultural, and gender tolerance, and civility that stir fruitful discourse at the hearing and writing of creative works. The LJWC activates inclusion—especially for those who feel unheard and shut out. The LJWC was deemed the most diverse organization in its local tri-county area. And in every region it touches, it seeks to mentor, inform, and give platforms to poets and fiction/nonfiction writers alike. It aims to widen one’s sensibilities to all types of voices that can be dutifully expressed, especially through poetry, raising the visibility of an artist and art form. It seeks to encourage engagement in literary arts and the publishing industry, once thought to be unattainable to some. It works to include underserved and underrepresented populations, including the incarcerated and disabled populations (e.g., the visually impaired and the hearing impaired).
Kindly, I hope you will spread the good word on the wealth of writing, how we’re working hard to make a difference, and that even a modest monthly gift such as $10 (tax-deductible) can make all the difference—in our outreach and work!
All in all, we are very grateful!
Thank you,
Yvonne J. Medley, Founder/Executive Director
***The Life Journeys Writers Club, Inc. (our DBA is Life Journeys Writers Guild) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable organization celebrating fifteen years, serving those passionate about the Literary Arts and making a difference in the world around us. The LJWG serves as an economic and empowerment bridge of access to the Literary Arts and its therapeutic benefits through Literary Therapy. www.lifejourneyswritersguild.org 240.427.LJWG (5594)
***DONORS, a copy of Life Journeys Writers Club’s current financial statement is available by writing LJWC, 1282 Smallwood Drive, W., Suite 107, Waldorf, MD 20603 or calling (240) 427-LJWG (5594). Documents and information submitted under the Maryland Solicitations Act are also available, for the cost of postage and copies, from the Maryland Secretary of State, State House, Annapolis MD 21401, (410) 974-5534.
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