Knowing Imagination

Here’s a link to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from April 24, 2008, about a program for teens at King County’s juvenile detention center. It is run by Richard Gold, who founded Pongo Publishing, a nonprofit devoted to working with youth in difficult circumstances and bringing their words to the world. Pongo volunteers have compiled seven chapbooks of youth poetry, which
they sell at the Folklife and Bumbershoot festivals, though the authors
are identified only by their first names and ages. Be sure to read down to the bottom of the page and read some of the moving poems written by these kids.

I love to see this kind of program for so many reasons but mainly because it assumes the best of the people involved and offers them a vehicle for expression that just may change their lives. I wish the program and the teens all the best in this endeavor. (Sent in by Linda Chapman, ATR-BC. Thanks, Linda)