Piratey Things

"Not long ago—just two years ago, in fact—San Francisco was a city without a pirate store. Itinerant pirates, having landed upon these shores, could wander the streets for weeks without finding a source for replacement mop heads, boots, rope, bottles, lard, quill pens, black hats, glass eyes (or eye patches, for the more modest)...
No longer."
      —Julie Orringer,
        Foreword to "The 826 Quarterly, Volume III"

"Definitely one of the top five pirate stores I've been to recently."
      —David Byrne

"Hey! That's right! We're supposed to sing about piratey things."
      —VeggieTales

I made my first visit to the pirate store at 826 Valencia in the Mission District of San Francisco last week. My time was limited; I was running late, out of gas, lacking coins for the meter, and thoroughly lost. But I was as least as impressed as David Byrne, and I plan to return soon for lard, quills, and other "piratey things."

Of course, as most anyone who has been there will tell you, the pirate store is merely a front for the more interesting enterprise in back, a non-profit writing and tutoring center for students aged 8-18. That is the real promise and wonder of 826 Valencia. Founded by Dave Eggers and others two years ago, 826 is staffed by hundreds of volunteers. There they teach writing skills through individual tutoring sessions, workshops, homework assistance, and class field trips offering custom curriculum or popular programs such as the bookmaking workshop where students can write, illustrate, print and bind their own books in two hours. The response to 826 has been so overwhelmingly favorable that volunteers in New York have now opened an 826NYC.

There are several publications at 826 featuring the students' work. While there, I snapped up a copy of Volume III of The 826 Quarterly ["Published twice yearly at least"] so I could sample the student writing at my leisure. It includes stories and poems by authors aged 8 to 18 and includes some impressive writing.

As I was settling in to sample their work, I discovered a story from one of Dave Eggers's writing workshops on "revealing character and developing tension through dialog" called "And They Both Suspect That Somehow This Is All Completely Irrelevant." What quickly caught my eye was that it was written by my 16 year old buddy, Rachel. What a treat! I read and enjoyed it; it's really quite clever, well written, and amusing. I'm about to email her my kudos. For the rest of you, I quote the first paragraph:

Here is inevitability, here is conversation. These are the words which he says. Here is what she replies. Mathematically, Matt takes up approximately 78 percent of the conversation. She, called Lea for short, takes up another 9 percent. The rest we leave to awkward silences.

I plan to return to 826 one day this week when I have more time. I not only want to learn more about their writing workshops and the adult seminars, but I have a calling card of sorts to leave behind...but more on that another time.