[CW-Grad] UCR MFA Alum holding a Book Drive for his South Central Los Angeles High Shool

[Robin Russin]

What a great project! Books will be on the way soon -- right, everyone??

And happy birthday, Ky-Phong.

Robin



On Aug 25, 2012, at 9:14 AM, Ky-Phong Tran wrote:

Dear UCR MFA family,



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.

If you can help, please do.  My students are dying to read cool books.



Thank you so much,

Ky-Phong







11 DAYS LEFT!  Have you changed someone’s life today?  Send a book today and you will!




“Change-A-Life/Birthday Book Drive”

 
WHAT:  For my 37th birthday, I don’t want a gift.  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.  My students DON’T know Hemingway, Faulkner, Achebe, Salinger, O’Connor, Roy, and Marquez and that is NOT RIGHT. 

 
WHO:  My name is Ky-Phong Paul Tran and I’m a writer and creative writing teacher at Burton Academy.   Also, my students are clamoring for books, desperate to “get away” for a bit.

 
WHEN:  Please send a book by September 6, 2012, my 37th birthday

 
WHERE:   Mr. Tran, Burton Academy 10101 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90003

 
WHY:  Cause you’re cool and ALL kids deserve books!

 
HOW:  Walk around your house, find a book that changed your life, and mail it OR go online and send a book.  This will take about $5 or less and 10 minutes of your time. Promise. 

 
UPDATES:

1.     I’m going to name the library after my mom who passed away in 2009.  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.

2.     Joy Liu of Swash Designs will design a special “Yen Thi Tran Memorial Library” sticker that will go inside the books.  

3.     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 J

4.     In just 3 days, 11 students have checked out books from my small class library (more than all of last year!) So far:  The Catcher in the Rye, two The God of Small Things, one The Great Gatsby, one The Things They Carried, one The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and even a DVD of Casablanca! 

 
BONUS:

“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.”  --Narrative Magazine


_______________________________________________
CWgrad-announcements mailing list
CWgrad-announcements at lists.ucr.edu
http://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwgrad-announcements

Robin Russin

Associate Professor and Director
MFA for Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts
Department of Theatre
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
(951) 827-2707
(213) 949-1061 cel
robin.russin at ucr.edu
http://robinrussin.com

"I try all things; I achieve what I can." - Ishmael in "Moby Dick," written by Herman Melville

"Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." - William Munny in "Unforgiven," written by David Webb Peoples

"Hunger is the best spice." - Spike Spiegel in "Cowboy Bebop," written by Keiko Nobumoto