Our students have been writing books. Oodles and oodles of books that, perhaps, you've not yet read. Oodles and oodles of books to go with noodles and fresh bread while cooking up stories about Venice, Italy. In the process, the adaptable writing crew of 826LA West proved that they could add biographies to a metropolitan guidebook, showcase architecture, and channel the famous Italian canals—all activities where they, as residents of America's Venice, could already trumpet their background knowledge.

Xena reported on art from the Biennale di Venezia. Andrea told us that when we visit the Mediterranean, we should keep our eyes peeled for the cormorant, the kingfisher, and the little egret. Julio, Kelly, and Malik sent in dispatches from the gondola docks. And by the time volunteers got to read the final Venice stories in book format, 826LA student authors had partied in style with carnival masks and penne bolognese.

Our warm-ups were the two chapbooks released by these same students earlier this year, part of 826LA in Venice's Dogtown Books imprint. One, Logomisia, is conceptually subtitled The Hatred of Words, and it contains pieces like this:

People hate writing because they think it's so dumb, and because it's boring and because you have to write stories that have to be long. Those are just a few of the things that they do not like. They also don't like writing because they want to go home fast to play, but they can't because of boring writing.

But it's not that way for me, Uriel. I think writing is fun, and I love to do it.

Logomisia's follow-up, We Attack You With Tiny Claws, is notable for having the story of an exceptional lemur. Drop-in tutoring has become a laboratory for student ideas, a testing ground for brave tutors, and a place where, Monday through Thursday, talented sculptors of the written word are doing their homework.