Writers Room

UnMapping is a 3-year project celebrating and advancing the role of literature and story in truth-telling and social change. We are so excited to introduce our second cohort of fellows and course instructors selected for 2024-25! Many thanks to the Mellon Foundation for supporting this work. These scholars, artists, and activists are the second cohort of UnMapping, and their work takes us throughout the history of Philadelphia's unique neighborhoods and cultures, and into the future of what's possible when people, and story, are centered in justice work. Our radical approach means everyone enters UnMapping’s alternative learning spaces as both students and teachers valued for the unique contributions they bring. So, meet the Unmappers! Pictured here through the portraiture of Dejah McIntosh. We will be featuring each of our UnMapping awardees and their projects throughout the coming months! Stay tuned for updates and public programming info. Fellows: Yolanda Wisher Pia Deas Taryn Flaherty Shavon Norris Yannick Lowery Wilfredo Hernandez John Morrison Instructors Lauren Lowe Carol McCullough Stephanie Dorenbosch Karen Harvey Andrew Zitcer Susanna Gilbertson Tariem Burroughs Colin Hennessy Elliott

Ten years! A decade is a long time...and this one was maybe longer than some. On Tuesday June 11th Writers Room gathered at the Dornsife Center to celebrate the publication of our tenth Anthology. It is stunning to think that what began as a sort-of traveling show—a series of workshops held wherever Drexel students, West Philly residents, and anyone who showed up could share stories—has evolved into a community of care with a dedicated home. Our founding director, Rachel Wenrick, made sure of it. During these past years at Writers Room, we have grown acutely aware that a home cannot be taken for granted. The poet Robert Frost once wrote: "Home is the place that, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." But that's not the end of it...not for us. Why we choose over and over to let each other in is a whole other matter. Maybe it has something to do with what another poet, Lucille Clifton, said about opening up: “You might as well answer the door, my child, / the truth is furiously knocking.” And so we invite the truth in for a spell, for tea, or for spilling the tea. We know, we've grown to know, there's always more to learn—about each other, about ourselves. A decade is just a beginning. We arrived at Writers Room sensing that stories had power, but over the past decade we've learned that the time and space to share those stories can be increasingly hard to come by. We are beyond grateful for all the people who have helped make Writers Room into the home it is, including our partners: Canon Solutions America with AmeriCorps, The Barra Foundation, Mellon Foundation, National Science Foundation (NSF), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, and Drexel University's Office of University & Community Partnerships.

March's 2nd Tuesday: Translation The meaning of our writing doesn’t survive only by the definitions of the words we use. Sometimes to get the idioms, you have to learn the whole language. A translation is always a matter of interpretation: it’s not a copy, it’s something brand new. You know that feeling when you’re trying to retell a story but it’s like…you had to be there? All writers translate, even the ones who only work in one language. Community Dinner Directly After! See you there!

2nd Tuesday: Dear you, I’ve missed you. It can be so hard to say what needs to be said. Too rarely do we get to hear enough of the truth within the short window of time where it is worthwhile to act on it. The best writing is running headlong into that wall, over and over, believing it will break through any moment and manage not to be misunderstood. Letters are such good practice. Anything you’ve been meaning to tell somebody, but haven’t faced up to yet? Please send a sign. Love, Writers Room. Open to all and Community Dinner right after!

Jayla Washington interviewed UnMapping instructor Steve Dolph about his course on food and land security in Philadelphia. As part of this Mellon-funded initiative, Steve—in collaboration with his co-instructors Alexis Wiley, Cesali Morales, and Cesar Viveros Herrera—has created a class that puts inquiry front and center, asking questions about the complex relationships that students and residents have to the food they eat and the land it is grown on. These intensive classes take place at project sites across the city: Sankofa Community Farm (Bartram's Garden), Iglesias Gardens, and Norris Square Neighborhood Project. The partners represent three cultural traditions integral to the composition of Philadelphia's minority communities: West Africa (Sankofa), Mesoamerica (Iglesias), and the Caribbean (NSNP). Students learn directly from local experts about traditional practices of horticulture, cuisine, and storytelling while confronting their own histories and understandings of food and land.

Happy New Year and Happy 2nd Tuesday! As writers, we're observers; obsessive noticers, note-takers. We follow threads of inspiration, weaving words together, stitching up the gaps with careful craft. We turn the jumbled spools of our experiences over in our hands until we can hold them up as tapestries, whether true to life or fabricated. That said, this month's workshop is dedicated to something that even we may tend to overlook, or take for granted. Have you guessed what yet? A collaboration with the Fabric Workshop Museum of Philadelphia. Community dinner directly after and we hope to see you there!

Norman Cain, a proud UnMapping Fellow, explores his ongoing project and his recent travel experiences. Mr. Cain recently went to the Bronx to meet with his family and trace his ancestral roots. It had been 23 years since he had stepped food back in NYC. On this two-fold mission, Norman was able to capture oral history and connect his younger relatives with one another. Visit Norman's UnMapping project at the link below!

Silly Putty or Tamagotchis, hula hoops or Razor scooters. Do you remember playing with the dial on a rotary phone? Stepping smack on a Lego? When saddle shoes were the thing? 25 cent double-feature matinees are a throwback for some of us. For others, it's Vine. Childhood sure was a trip! December's Second Tuesday is on memory lane, but the truth is: not everything is as you left it. Come reminisce with our new teaching artist, Gabriele Preston! Cookies during! Community dinner after!

Dejah McIntosh (instagram @wonderers_.eye) is a woman of many talents. If you're following us, you've seen her work many times before and it has probably stopped you in your tracks. Yes, that good. In this Q&A, Dejah reflects on her UnMapping portrait shoots and the serendipitous connections between her different art forms. Check it out at the link below 👀

Very cool opportunity to work with Ayana Allen Handy and the Justice-Oriented Youth (JoY) Education Lab dream team!