Shiver me timbers!

Loyal readers, I am thrilled and altogether delighted to announce my most recent pursuit as a shiny new intern for the San Francisco nonprofit 826 Valencia. It's a writing center in the mission district that provides free and spectacularly fun help to kids ages 6-18 in all their literary endeavors (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, basically any form of expression with the written word).  This includes drop-in after school homework help; field trips in which a class collaborates on a story that is illustrated and published on the spot for them to take home; workshops taught by professionals in the field on things like publishing, graphics and journalism; and full-blown book projects in which students can see their work in print and for sale through major booksellers across the country.

The place also doubles as a fully equipped pirate supply store complete with peg leg sizing charts, scurvy begone, and belly of whale escape kits. They also sell publications of student work and all proceeds benefit the writing center. In case any of this interests you, they do take online orders. In fact, as a trusty intern, I just may be the one to package and ship it off to you!

826 Valencia was started in 2002 in part by author Dave Eggers who has taken the literary world by storm in the last decade. You may recognize him from his bestselling memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," his highly acclaimed novel "What is the What" about a Sudanese refugee, and his most recent book "Zeitoun," a nonfiction narrative about a Syrian-American family in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He also co-wrote the screenplay for "Where the Wild Things Are" with Spike Jonze, and "Away We Go" with his wife, Vendela Vida. See him talk here, with infectious enthusiasm, about starting 826 Valencia, which has since spawned locations in New York, Boston, Michigan, Chicago, Seattle and LA.

So now you know where I'll be every Tuesday and Thursday for the next few months! It's a perfect hyprid of nonprofit programming, education, and literary arts. Despite the commute into the city and the lack of wages (they are a nonprofit, after all), I am overjoyed to be involved, and to learn a few things along the way. I'll just have to keep this online pirate glossary I found handy when writing copy for the website. Now haul wind ye bilge rats!