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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 2004)
january 23, 2004 » 1ST73 & K ■ 3 I >%iV 3 If SS An excerpt from "Spider on the Windshield" I looked ahead, only to realize that I hadn't noticed the curve in the road, or the tree trunk that was now directly in front of me, lit up like a phantom in the glare of my headlights. I saw it brightly lit before being swallowed in darkness as my headlights shattered, scattering pieces of glass. The windshield cracked into a mosaic of a hundred fragments. Liza Halley and Ben Moorad founded Write Around Portland in 1998 of the queer community. This fall, in addition to nine other locations, W RA P offered work shops at the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center and through Cascade AID S Project. SM YRC provides a safe place for queer and questioning youth to hang out. In addition to socializing, computer use, structured activities and support groups, it also provides counseling, job and health resources, and mentoring in a dmg-, alcohol- and violence-free environment. C A P is Oregon and Southwest Washingtons largest community-based provider of HIV ser vices, housing, education and advocacy. Individuals served by these organizations were among the 50 readers who stood up in front of the crowd at D ecem ber’s W R A P event to share their work. Som e were read ing in public for the first time. For others, it was old hat. But for all,' the W R A P experi ence was powerful. One of the readers was Jeff Sullivan, who has lived with AID S for almost 17 years. He moved to Portland from Southern California in 2002 and participated in his first W RA P work shop in the fall of that year. “I decided to take the workshop because I was new here and iso lated,” he explains. “I felt the need to relate to others living with HIV.” The W RA P workshop did help him make new friends, hut that’s not all he gained. “I’ve learned that I have something of value to con tribute. I have discovered that if a person does n’t continue to try and say what it is burning in their heart for them to say, they often forget that they have something to give that others will appreciate.” if # - He adds: “Most important of all, though, is that I must continue not for the appreciation of others, but for the sense of self-worth that comes from this process. The self-respect and sense of achievement that I get from it are well worth the time and effort.” R community inuestment **11** hat sense of self-respect and self-worth is exactly what W RAP hopes to promote. Its S mission statement gets at the heart of this unique social service/arts program approach: “It is the belief of all of us at W RAP that writing can transform people’s lives, giving them a sense of ownership over their experience and pride in their ability to articulate their hopes, fears, desires and needs. Bringing people together to help each other find their individ ual voices gives those people a real sense of belonging to a community that values them. W RA P sees that those who could use the powers of community writing the most are often the ones most excluded from both main stream cultural and educational systems.” Once people know about WRAP, they often want to continue their involvement with it. “The more opportunities you provide, the more people want to participate,” Halley says. "If you put out the effort, people will partici pate. It’s a community investment.” Many W R A P participants have taken three to four workshops. Some have taken as many as eight. Individual voice is the The impact launched my body forward, slamming it into the steering column. I heard the booming explosion of smashed metal and breaking glass, as well as the loud and distinct crack of breaking bones that resonated through my body. My face and rib cage hit the steering wheel with immense force. It felt like I'd dived off a high dive platform into concrete. For a second, I just sat there, wondering how I'd just managed to hit the tree. Then the pain came, like an overwhelming wave of sick, bitter helplessness, and I moaned and cried out, and slumped over in the front seat. Though the pain was incredible, I still focused on other things. I lay there, looking up at the moon in the pre-dawn sky, through the cracks in the windshield. I got the sensation that the whole sky was rolling out of sight. It would start to roll away, like the moon was suddenly sinking down and out of sight, and then it would come back to the center of my vision. I felt I was watching the vertical go haywire on a television. Despite this, the moon was unusually stark and clear. -x Je ff S u lliv a n LINNTON FEED & SEED. .' . NOT THE MALL. Refinance Now! 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