<p class="MsoNormal">Dear UCR MFA family,</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">This is Ky-Phong Tran, MFA Fiction 2008, and I'm trying to raise books for a library at the high school I teach creative writing at in south central LA.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If you can help, please do. My students are dying to read cool books.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">Thank you so much,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Ky-Phong</p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">11 DAYS LEFT!<span> </span>Have
you changed someone’s life today?<span> </span>Send a
book today and you will!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:22.0pt">“Change-A-Life/Birthday Book Drive”</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WHAT:<span> </span>For my 37<sup>th</sup>
birthday, I don’t want a gift.<span> </span>I’d like
people to send a beloved used or new book to my students at Burton Academy in
south central Los Angeles, where we have lots of cool stuff but sadly NO SCHOOL
LIBRARY. <span> </span>My students DON’T know
Hemingway, Faulkner, Achebe, Salinger, O’Connor, Roy, and Marquez and that is
NOT RIGHT.<span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WHO:<span> </span>My name is
Ky-Phong Paul Tran and I’m a writer and creative writing teacher at Burton
Academy.<span> </span>Also, my students are
clamoring for books, desperate to “get away” for a bit. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WHEN:<span> </span>Please send a
book by September 6, 2012, my 37<sup>th</sup> birthday</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WHERE:<span> </span>Mr. Tran,
Burton Academy 10101 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90003</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">WHY:<span> </span>Cause you’re
cool and ALL kids deserve books!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">HOW:<span> </span>Walk around your
house, find a book that changed your life, and mail it OR go online and send a
book.<span> </span>This will take about $5 or less
and 10 minutes of your time. Promise.<span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">UPDATES:</p>
<p><span><span>1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>I’m going to name the library after my mom who
passed away in 2009.<span> </span>It’ll be known as
the Yen Thi Tran Memorial Library, after the woman who read to me all the time,
whenever I asked/demanded, even after long days at work.</p>
<p><span><span>2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Joy Liu of Swash Designs will design a special
“Yen Thi Tran Memorial Library” sticker that will go inside the books.<span> </span> <br></p>
<p><span><span>3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>Books have already been sent from friends of
friends (amazing people I don’t even know) from Australia and the Midwest, so
yes, I am expecting a lot from my friends <span style="font-family:Wingdings"><span>J</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>In just 3 days, 11 students have checked out
books from my small class library (more than all of last year!) So far:<span> </span><i>The
Catcher in the Rye</i>, two <i>The God of
Small Things</i>, one <i>The Great Gatsby</i>,
one <i>The Things They Carried</i>, one <i>The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in
Heaven</i>, and even a DVD of Casablanca!<span>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">BONUS: </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in">“<span>Literary readers are
more than twice as likely as nonreaders to vote, to volunteer, and to be active
participants of the communities in which they live. They are more likely to be
healthy, to be hired, to create art, and to achieve both academic and economic
success. Reading encourages and develops empathy and emotional sophistication,
logical thinking, clear expression of ideas, and the ability to comprehend
complex and opposing thought systems. Reading opens minds and changes
lives.”<span> </span>--Narrative Magazine</span></p>
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