826LA hosted its second installment of our hit open mic series on Saturday, Feb. 10 from 3:00 – 4:30 pm, which featured our own Executive Director, Jaime Balboa, as he shared poems from his collection Missing Possibilities. Westside volunteers gathered at our Mar Vista Writing lab alongside 826LA staff members, college corp fellows, interns, and community members. Event attendees shared a mix of their own work, pieces from favorite authors, and journal entries, bonding over their love of storytelling and showing that anyone can take the stage no matter where they are in the writing process! 

Such a wealth of talent exists at 826LA: everything from a seventeen-year-old sharing an excerpt from their novel, harmonious philosophical renderings about love, to heart-wrenching unrequited love poems, this was an afternoon to remember! 826LA volunteer, Susan Hamilburg, said it best in her children’s book Berry and Cherry, the Untold Story, “Don’t strive to write about what you know, but about what you want to learn.” We hope these words resonate with you like they did us in your future interactions with our students!

Thank you to everyone who made our Valentine’s Day-themed Open Mic special and thank you to our Executive Director, Jaime for sharing your wonderful work!