I first heard about 826LA at the Downtown for Democracy event at UCLA last fall. As a McSweeney’s follower I was already familiar with 826 Valencia in San Francisco, and when Dave Eggers mentioned that he was starting a branch here in Los Angeles, I knew immediately that I’d want to be a part of it. Lucky for me, it turned out the space they’d chosen was in Venice, only blocks from where I live.
The first tutor meeting was in December and the turnout was fantastic. The house was packed with interesting and enthusiastic people from all walks of life. Dave had everyone go around the room and talk about themselves, which was absolutely terrifying to me since I have a deep fear of public speaking, but he quickly put everyone at ease, engaging each speaker with funny quips and insightful questions.
Work began on the space, a huge room and two offices in the SPARC building on Venice Blvd, in January. I showed up late the first day, having worked the night before and slept in, and was again intimidated by the amount of volunteers swarming over the walls with paintbrushes and hammers. I timidly asked the first guy who smiled at me what I should do and it turned out to be Steve Irvin, the volunteer and events coordinator and right-hand man to Pilar Perez, executive director of 826LA. Handing me a roller and a paint can, he showed me to the office where I spent a couple of hours painting walls and chatting with other volunteers.
It’s simply amazing the amount of work we all got done that first weekend – painting all the walls, assembling IKEA chairs and bookshelves, laying flooring and consuming vast amounts of guacamole and water. This past Saturday at the opening, you would have hardly recognized the space, filled with beautiful furniture, flowing curtains, and hordes of people.
The opening was kicked off by an amazing reading, held next door at Beyond Baroque Bookstore, featuring Aimee Bender, Josh Bearman, Salvador Plascencia, Rachel Resnick, David Ulin, Bernard Cooper, Deb Vankin and Jervey Tervalon. That’s not to mention Alice Sebold and Glenn David Gold who were just there to listen. Afterwards everyone flowed into the new 826 space, drinking wine and mingling.
I volunteer for another organization called WriteGirl which pairs professional female writers with under-privileged teen girls for mentoring in creative writing and so I invited my mentee, Zoe, with me to the reading. It was her first and I was thrilled that she got to hear so many cool authors all at once. Afterwards, back at 826, I was able to introduce her to Glenn David Gold and Dave Eggers – an experience she found to be quite impressive and which also sweetly reddened her cheeks in that way only a sixteen year old’s can.
On Sunday there was a three-hour training session led by Nínive Calegari and Erin Neeley, who head up the Valencia office, and again the turnout was impressive. My boyfriend, J. Ryan, and I decided to stick around for the workshop training session even though the idea of leading a workshop seemed daunting to both of us. I’m so glad we decided to stay!
Nínive began the session by asking the twenty or so attendees to go around and list any ideas they had for a workshop. I was fully intending to just sit and listen but by the time it got around to me, I was so inspired by some of the other ideas that I found myself offering to team up with a few people – despite my fear of public speaking!
This morning I even met with a couple of those women from Sunday and we had a lovely breakfast of omelets and lattes while we discussed our ideas for a workshop based on memoir writing. J. Ryan and I have decided to teach a workshop together on Greek mythology and he’s already agreed to team with up Bob Jury for the King & Queen workshop next weekend.
Overall, I’m thrilled to be part of all of this and really struck by how quickly and easily it’s all come together. Today in an interview on Salon, Dave Eggers had this to say about how he got the idea for 826: “So many people I knew were just tearing themselves up and devouring themselves, full of regret and torment, and I had this theory, based on nothing, really, that they might be saved if they leave the house and use their educations and healthy arms and brains to help people who might need their expertise or energy.” I think his theory is proving correct.
