Washington Write a Story Day served about 230 participants, ages 8-80. The monsoon conditions, and the sheer magnitude of the project (in its first year), meant that the weekend was full of chaos; but it was also, for many who participated, full of wonder as people came out to meet their neighbors and relect on places that are important to them.

Workshop participants included seniors, teens, domestic violence survivors, Hispanic janitors, cleaning ladies, students, blues musicians, women prisoners at Jessup prison, recovering drug addicts, pregnant Latino teens and Latino mothers, a gay ex-priest, and many people who came on their own and who couldn't be easily categorized.

IN JANUARY, SOME OF THE STORIES FROM WASHINGTON WRITE-A-STORY DAY WILL BE POSTED HERE.

Participants were taught by an amazing group of over 40 DC writers, and some, like Esther Cohen and Jeff Allen, came in from out of town. DC was drenched with nine inches of rain in just under 48 hours, a record. As a result, some writers, like Donna Hemans and Jeff, arrived at their locations to find that they had no students; Lisa Page showed up to a locked recreation center; and one writer failed to show up to teach because that morning, half of his porch fell off off his house, and into a sinkhole caused by the heavy rains. A few writers who hadn't visited their locations previously had trouble getting there. But in spite of these mishaps, 35 workshops were conducted, and both teachers and writers said they had a great time. Several workshops had 15 or even 18 participants in them. Dana Roeser graciously lent her house to a little cocktail party afterwards, and the next morning, Connie Kibler who graciously came in to open the GW English Department office--twice--so that I could get the stories that the writers had faxed in. Jonathan Safran Foer, graciously hosted by Howard Norman and Jane Shore, carefully read about fifty stories, an amazing batch of wonderfully diverse tales, and he gracefully introduced them at the Sunday evening reading, which about 150 people attended. Many of the participants who were chosen brought family members, who took pictures of them as they read their stories.

A number of seeds planted by Washington Write-a-Story Day are still sprouting. About a dozen writers have made some sort of long-term commitment to the people at the organization they visited. Susan Coti was greatly impressed with the Elvans Road Community Center, and decided to conduct a workshop in the future, and to organize a book drive for it. Dallas Hudgens will take one of his participants, a teen who is also named Dallas, and who wants to be a sports agent, to the office of a friend who works as a sports agent. Mary Tabor, who says that Washington Write-a-Story Day showed her why she had been studying Spanish all these years, will continue to volunteer at The Mary Center, assisted by one of the participants in her workshop. Khris Baxter has decided to start a prison writing workshop at Jessup Prison, and Matt Klam, who visited Beacon House, has agreed to take part in their "Literary Lock-Down" Event next year. Wendi Kaufman organized a book drive for Ford Davis. Helen Winternitz will return to House of Ruth. The 6th and I Synagogue, where Lisa Shamess led a workshop, decided to put out an open book for people to write their stories in. One of the students who helped out with the event, John Shortino, will investigate whether he can teach an ESL class to Ethiopian Refugees that Sophy Burnham met and taught at the Masjid Mohammed Community Center.