Hungry Minds

The article Hungry Minds: Tales from a Chelsea Soup Kitchen by Ian Frazier, is fascinating in its description of a writing workshop within a soup kitchen in New York. The stories within the article are amazing, moving and disturbing. I really liked how bizarre some of these people's stories were...who ever heard of a traveling homeless men soccer team? It shows that there are all kinds of people even when they are put together in a common group, such as homeless. They are still individuals; they still have their own stories and voices.
I will admit that when I think of writing workshops, my mind goes directly to the classroom atmosphere. Whether it be college or high school, I picture the teacher and students sitting in a circle discussing the use of concrete language. While I know that workshops are more in depth, and they often contain more feeling than that, I think that this article opened my eyes even more to the possibilities of workshops. It even made me think of what a great service project idea. Students could become more involved in the community by participating, or perhaps in some instances, leading writing workshops with other community members. I am not necessarily suggesting homeless shelters or soup kitchens, because as was described in the article, several of the workshop members had criminal backgrounds, very often involving drugs and alcohol. While it might perhaps be an eye-opener for students as to the negative affects of some of those habits, it also poses a safety risk, and I think one of the most important roles of a teaching is protecting the well-being of your students. Perhaps the students could participate in writing workshops in other venues, such as elementary schools or nursing homes. This would allow them to interact with people in different age groups, and maybe to allow them to better understand different aspects of writing and creativity.
However, this article also proves that a workshop outside the classroom is not a necessity. As I said, it seems to reiterate how unique every individual was. How every person had their own voice; their own writing style. The same would be true for a classroom, as I am sure our own class will see as we do our writing workshop.