Coast to Coast - Pirates and Superheros!

Drawers will all kinds of surprises.

826 Valencia

While at a conference in San Francisco last September, I made sure I went over to visit the first-ever 826 location - 826 Valencia!


Nestled in the bustling (and extremely artsy and fun) Mission District below San Francisco city proper, 826 Valencia shares the block with eccentric taxidermy stores and upscale coffee shops.  Art is being sold on the street, people of all ages are walking on the sidewalks, and there was a children's mariachi band practicing up the street.  When I first approached 826 Valencia, I initially didn't spot it.  Once I saw the storefront, I entered into a Pirate's dream.



Everything a pirate wants.

The store is relatively small, and behind a velvet rope I could see upwards of 25 kids getting free homework help from friendly volunteers.  Everything was wood from the floor to the ceiling, with ropes and random pirate paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling.  Wooden drawers with descriptors lined one wall (like "illuminate", and when you opened it there were candles), a container of lard (you had to trade a lock of hair to take any home), and a small room off to the side with 7 chairs facing a fishtank with a sign that said "Do not judge the fish".

Don't worry - I didn't.

Gotta know the rules.

Even Dave Eggers teaches a class.




826 NYC

Anything a crime-fighting hero could want.

If 826 Valencia was everything a pirate could want, 826 NYC was everything a superhero (or superhero-to-be) could want.  In early October, Sarah and I were so fortunate to visit 826 NYC - The Superhero Supply Store.

The feel of the store was very industrial, with steel shelves and organized products.  Being set in a bright, upbeat section of Brooklyn, 826 NYC's storefront is dynamic but not out of place.  When we went in, there were two girls around nine years old trying out capes of all kinds over a fan.  When you try on a cape, you are required to do three different poses, and the employees encourage you to be as awesome as possible.  When you purchase something, you have to put it in a vault and say the Superhero Pledge in order to receive it back.

Megan tries out capes.

The products for sale ranged from Secret Identity Kits, to cans of Antimatter and jugs of Antigravity.  There was a panel of screens that were monitoring crime all over the country, and a skeleton displaying items that beef up any superhero's game.

Sarah watchin' out for us.

One of the best things that could have happened was about halfway through our visit, when a young  boy walked in the store, headed straight to the back and opened a hidden door that no one else had seen yet.  He was so casual about it, and when another girl in the store asked him what was back there he seemed   proud to tell her he was going to a writing workshop.  She wanted to go, too!  While we were leaving, there was another young boy that came in with his father and told everyone within earshot that he was there for the Halloween workshop.  His smile was so big that it was contagious.

That's the beautiful thing about the 826 locations.  People of all ages are attracted to the interesting storefront, and I have personally witnessed many people asking what it was.  When they find out, they want to volunteer or sign their kids up right away.  The kids have immense pride in what they do, and can't wait to tell you about it.  It's inspiring and incredible to witness.

Inspiration Overload!

The Boring Store on Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago

I was fortunate to find myself in Chicago last weekend, and took the opportunity to revisit the Boring Store (826CHI) on Sunday afternoon. Before moving to Pittsburgh, I had lived in Chicago and worked at a school not far from the Boring Store.  It was my introduction to 826 National - back then, like most everyone else, I had wandered in for the first time thinking, "What in the world is this place?"  Little did I know that I would return a year and a half later to visit the storefront from a whole new perspective!

The first thing you see!

What did I see? A giant pigeon, a wall of security cameras, a wide array of fake mustaches and fake noses, a mini Berlin Wall and an installation of television monitors and videotapes (and these are just a few of the quirky highlights). Pictures speak louder than words – so I’m posting a few visuals of the trip. Even with these photos, it’s still hard to convey what the experience inside its walls really is like – but if you’ve ever been to an 826 outpost, you know how exciting it is!

Perhaps even more thrilling about this particular trip was that I had the opportunity to chat with Molly, the friendly manager of the Boring Store.  Molly was more than happy to chat with me about the organization. We talked about the storefront design and their plans for the future of the storefront and its products. We also discussed programming and the process that they go through for volunteers to propose their own workshops.

Molly & Molly 

She shared her insight with me about the large volume of kids that come for tutoring and workshops and how they try their best to meet that demand. The classroom behind the storefront is, of course, beautiful and quirky as well. A map on the wall showed a total of 355 Chicago public schools served by 826CHI – very impressive indeed!

One of the books that I took home!

Molly was kind enough to give me a few publications of 826CHI students’ work.  Reading through the poems, screenplays and stories written by the kids is even more inspiring than stepping foot into the space (if that is possible!)

Overall, it was reenergizing to see their work on the ground level.  My teammates Paula, Megan and Sarah have also visited 826 outposts in other cities over the past few months, and it has been awesome for us to share these experiences with the group.

Sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the planning side of any intiative.  My visit to 826CHI offered a great midsemester boost, and I cannot wait to see what we can grow in Pittsburgh inspired by this model and in collaboration with so many great folks here in PGH!

The 826CHI classroom 

Oh My, MAYA Design!

We are happy to report that MAYA Design is very excited about our project, and has offered to contribute time and energy to helping us develop the mad scientist theme and experience.

As a matter of fact, Megan and I had the opportunity to join the MAYA team on Tuesday, October 11, for its annual staff retreat. We all donned our metaphorical lab coats and goggles for an intense hour of experimenting!

Senior Designer Paul Gould introduced the MAYA Design team of over 30 practitioners to our 826-inspired concept of a wacky storefront that attracts community members -- including students, families, and volunteers -- by capturing their imagination and engaging their participation in a truly unique shopping experience.

As an example, Paul cited the Brooklyn Super Hero Supply Co., where customers can choose from a wide variety of capes and test them out. After all, according to the store’s cape page, “Since the dawn of superheroism, nothing has said ‘hero’ like a good cape.”

The MAYA practitioners were divided into six teams and tasked with creating six key deliverables based on the Mad Scientist theme: a store name, logo, storefront entry image, floor plan design, singular experience, and product prototypes.

Megan and I joined these amazingly creative, multi-talented and energetic groups to generate and illustrate some really incredible ideas - with only one hour to work! In the spirit of mad scientists far and wide, the ideas were bubbling and bursting, bringing life to inanimate objects and prompting maniacal laughs. A great time was had by all!

Here are some brainstorms and pictures:

Names

• IGOR's (with an eyeball in place of the “I”)
• Frank & Stein's Mad Scientist Supply
• RAD Scientist Supply, (Un)limited
• Dr. Dimento's Weird And Wacky Science Supply

Storefront

• Shadows of scientists and monsters running around in the windows
• A street level light display to make the building look like it's floating
• Dungeon-like bricks and thick doors to represent the dark, hidden, underground lair where mad scientists conduct their hair-brained experiments

Floorplans

• Conveyor belts that carry products to and fro, and over-complicated gadgets a la Rube Goldberg
• Double-door dry-ice entryway
• A lofted tutoring center from which students can control lights and gadgets in the store below while observing customer reactions

  

• “Concoction Cafe" with beakers and jars full of crazy mixing options for juice, coffee, and tea (and maybe cocktails for fundraisers?)

Singular Experience

• Electrostatic haircuts
• Build-Your-Own-Monster lab
• Photo section where customers can experience and memorialize their head in a jar

Products

• Lab coats and goggles for every occasion - eveningwear, casual, beach
• Beakers and flasks that serve as flower vases, tea sets, etc.
• Free Radicals - 99¢ each

Needless to say, this was an incredible experience. We enjoyed sharing in the creative process and look forward to the next steps. Thank you, MAYA!

Why Write?

Did you know that today is the National Day on Writing?

The National Writing Project, The New York Times Learning Network and Figment have joined forces to celebrate writing. They are collecting thoughts from people far and wide, with professions that vary from teachers to scientists, to discover some of the motivations and mysteries of writing.

In a similar vein, Edutopia has invited folks to explore their own "why of writing" by following the hashtag #whyiwrite on Twitter.

As for me, I write for so many reasons...
There's the policy paper due at midnight tonight.
i.e. I write to complete my midterms!

But more importantly, I write today to share this celebration with you. After all, our project aims to create a space where students use words and stories to document, experiment and invent.

Why do you write?

First Presentation

As a team, we've hit our first big milestone on our journey to making our "mad scientists" vision a reality-- our first advisory board presentation. After spending so much time figuring out our work breakdown structure and researching Pittsburgh communities, it was wonderful to be able to share what we've learned and what we've done with so many supportive individuals.


Over the course of the last few weeks we've spent a considerable amount of time sitting down with different stakeholders from all sorts of backgrounds (from funders, to educators, to artists) to get a better idea of how our project can serve the Pittsburgh community. These discussions have been invaluable and really helped shape what we presented last Wednesday.


Not all of the individuals we've met with were able to make it out to our presentation (8am is pretty early, event with bagels and coffee), but those who did make it out gave us a lot of great feedback to help us with our vision for the rest of the semester. Issues were brought up dealing with things as varied as the legal issues of working with children (something that's certainly present in our minds) to the idea of making our organization mobile in its early stages and embracing the idea of a pop-up shop (something we had also been playing around with).

Being able to lay out the information we've gathered as well as bringing a bit of clarity to our vision for all of the community members who were present was a very rewarding experience. And we've certainly taken all of the feedback to heart and will continue to look to these people and others for as much wisdom as they are willing to give us. Without the stakeholders, our project can't become real, and I think after Wednesday's presentation we realize that there are a lot of others who are just as eager for us to make this happen as we are.