Not Just Academics: 826LA’s Workshops Focus on Mental Health

FROM “The World Against Me”

BY MATTHEW G-H IN UNMASKED: DISTANCE WRITING THROUGH A PANDEMIC ,

A COLLABORATION BETWEEN 826LA AND THE ACADEMIC LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

Who can I turn to when I am tired? Can I go to my friends? Can I go to my family? Is there someone I can rely on?

How would I feel? Would I feel as if I went crazy? Or maybe I would feel depressed?

What if I fell into a deep slumber forever? What would I see? The darkness? A new beginning? Maybe the end?

This is all a misunderstanding…

There are people who are going to support me until the end. There will be a feeling of happiness. The world isn’t going against me, it’s me and the world going through it together.

MATTHEW GREW UP IN LOS ANGELES. HE IS A KID WITH DREAMS. A KID THAT HAS DREAMS BUT DOES NOT REMEMBER WHAT HE DREAMS OF AT NIGHT. HE IS BORED EVERY SINGLE DAY SO HE DECIDES TO BOTHER HIS FRIENDS AND SPENDS HIS TIME WATCHING ANIME. HIS FAVORITE SHOW IS NARUTO. OVERALL, HE IS A NICE PERSON.

EVENTS

To say that our events this year celebrated literature might seem obvious—after all, we’re a writing organization. But as a writing organization that has also staged fun runs and spelling bees, this felt like a return to our roots.

In February, we hosted an intimate In Conversation event for our supporters, featuring novelist and 826LA volunteer Natashia Deón and Los Angeles Times books editor Boris Kachka.

“I’m always writing. In eyeliner. In the notes section of my phone,” Deón said. “We live in a society that says ‘What do you want to be when you grow up? What are you?’ I’ve never worked like that. I work across disciplines.”

Racism and injustice can feel, she said, “like a boulder that can’t be overcome. We have to keep pushing it. We have to be loud about it.

In the spring, our cornerstone fundraising event, Changing the Story, emphasized the impact that publishing has on students. Titled “Future Bestsellers,” the garden party at Rolling Greens in Downtown LA honored author Walter Mosely for his commitment to the Los Angeles writing community.

Mosley spoke about his own motivations as a writer. “I wanted to write about the people I loved so much that they would be part of history.”

Guests enjoyed beer from Three Weavers and cocktails from Revel Spirits while perusing books with titles like Mr. Dinosaur, Lisa the Fox, and Junior the Bird: The Good Friends and the Mean Friends. Food stations featured wood-fired pizza from Pace, artful shellfish from Anarchy Seafood, savory tacos from Gogo’s, and vegan ice cream from the Craig’s cart. Cliff Beach set a funk-soul vibe for the evening. 826LA Board President Susan Ko said, “The future is unwritten. For all the challenges of the past and the present, our fates are not sealed. The wildly creative, confident students of 826LA will join other young people in drafting the next chapter for our world.”