Well, it’s my turn to add to the absolutewrite.com blog chain again. Preceding me was Peggy at the Road Less Traveled blog who talked about Paying it Forward. She writes:

“I try to do my best, but I know I could do more to “pay it forward”. So that’s one of my goals for the year: do more for others. Check back next February to see how I did.”

Now, before I start my post I have to say Peggy already is a big giver, for without her help much of my projects would have been filled with spelling and grammatical errors and my website would never get updated. She is the one who I turn to when I need a logical voice and a person to listen to my problems. Of course she is also my sister which dose not cloud my judgment…too much.

Now I can attest to the power of “Paying it Forward” since I volunteer for causes I believe in…namely the arts. Peggy’s post got me thinking of all the experiences I have had with volunteering AND the karmic rewards received. I have been volunteering at is the Cartoon Art Museum(CAM) for the last 5+ years by giving classes, doing graphic design work, and bar-tending at fund-raisers. The result of giving of your time and experience is Karmic. It’s great way to get job experience, reach out to a community of choice, share your passions, meet new people, and to even get out of the house more often. For instance I have now taught quite a few cartooning classes at the museum, which in turn has lead to paid teaching work.

Of course there are other places I like to help out at besides the CAM. (I hope my post does not make me sound like a self-centered-ego-maniac)

I thought it would be fun to pass along an experience that I had just two days ago, on Thursday February 15th, 2007. 826 Valencia is a writing center founded by author Dave Eggers who is the editor of McSwneey’s literary magazine. The center is a special place as it works at its goal of helping kids to improve and enjoy writing. Beyond the Pirate Supply Store there are areas for writing with desks, computers, comfy couches and sofas. Now you might ask, how does a guy who mostly draws pictures fit into volunteering at a writing center for kids. Well…

A couple times a week 826 Valencia hosts a special field trip. School groups get to come to the center and work together to write a book for our unseen editor, the mysterious Mr. Blue. The team includes a story leader, typist, production staff, and my role…the artist. The goal: to create and publish a original story in two hours. Usually this happens thanks to the help of modern technology with the kid’s story being typed and projected onto a screen while I illustrate the story in real time on a pad of paper. When each of the two pages are done they are handed off to the HAND OF DOOM who makes sure they get prepped so each child gets to take home a one of a kind book all their own.

Well, that’s how it usually works.

So last Thursday we were starting out with a group of young and eager (and amazingly polite) school kids from the third grade. The leader had helped them come up with a main character (a Mantacore named Bob) and all the other details for the story. Then it happen….the construction workers doing road work outside somehow shut down the power for the whole block.

Here we had 25 kids sitting in the dark as we tried to continue as normal. But there was no computer to type on, no lights to see, no xerorx machine to print the pages, and no binding machine to put it all together…all of them require electricity.

So our publisher Mr. Blue told us to take the kids outside to a nearby playground where our typist wrote down the story by hand in ball point pen and I did my drawings in the hot glaring sun of a spring like day in San Francisco. The kids were troopers as they wrote in their best penmanship their own personal endings to the story.

In the end it worked out fine. For me, having been thrown off for the normal speedy schedule given by Mr. Blue, I was actually able to draw more art. Plus I gained a bit more confidence in my power to adapt when things go haywire. It was fun being around the kids and there boundless energy, so I am sure I will be there again next month.

Next week, each kids will each get a bound one-of-a-kind book with their personal ending of the story typed up for them. (and my artwork too, yay)

There are seven 826 locations including: Michigan, LA, Chicago, Seattle, New York. If you live near one, why not donate some of your time.

Next up is Dawno with her NVNC ID VIDES, NVNC NE VIDES blog.

So here is the Chain List:
asorum – A View From the Waterfront
BK_30 – Just A Small Town Girl
Gillian – Even in a Little Thing
aruna – Down From the Garrett
Simran – Writing-From-Within
Forbidden Snowflake – Incoherent Blabbing From an Incoherent Person
Cath – Curiouser and Curiouser
Peggy – The Road Less Traveled
YOU ARE HERE: Atomic Bear – BTGC Production Log
Dawno – NVNC ID VIDES, NVNC NE VIDES
XThe NavigatorX – Fireflies in the Cloud