The Room to Write

Have you heard about the podcast featuring local veterans? Kilroy was Hear is a locally produced podcast inspired by two prolific storytellers: Airforce Veteran Jim Cotter and Army Veteran and former Wakefield Police Officer Sam Stella who recorded the first episode one year ago in Wakefield Community Access Television Studios (WCAT) . The Room to Write recently presented a donation of $500 to WCAT Studios. The check was presented to Executive Director, Ian McDermott, in support of WCAT’s collaborative storytelling project with Wakefield Veterans Services Office. In the Fall of 2024, Cotter and Stella sat down in WCAT’s podcast studio to reflect on everything from military service to careers and life after service. Sharing their stories aloud, through podcast with a fellow veteran, fostered comradery in a format that was accessible to those visually impaired audience members. Something very special   happened in the studio that day with two veterans simply sitting down for a ...

“Seniors to Seniors” is a cross-generational event that brings high school seniors and seniors in our community together.   Join us on Wednesday, March 5th for an opportunity to share your personal story through a one-on-one interview with a senior Wakefield High School student.   After the interviews, students will write stories about their interviewees, and these stories will be published in the Wakefield Daily Item. No writing experience is necessary, so if you'd love to be able to pass down some stories but would like somebody else to do the writing--this is a great opportunity to let the younger generation do the writing! During the interview session, lunch will be provided for all participants by The Savings Bank on Wednesday, March 5th, from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The event will be held at the Wakefield Senior Center, 30 Converse Street, in the dining room. Registration is required  by 12:00pm on Tuesday, March 4th. Senior citizens interested in participating...

Our Seniors and Veterans Programming year wraps up on Tuesday, May 21st with an Open Mic Session at the Wakefield Senior Center at 1:30pm and that is the last of what has been a fulfilling year for those who attended either the Wakefield Senior Center or the Stoneham Senior Center on any given Tuesday since programming began in September 2023.  We run our programming like an academic year with a break in the summer for our all-volunteer team of coordinators and facilitators, but we are already looking forward to the variety of programs we will be offering starting in the fall. There are too many things to include in this one blog post, but let's recap the last month or so.  April 9th: Guest speaker: Nancy Reily, owner of Lady with a Pen , talked about the art of calligraphy and design. In addition to teaching classes and giving lectures, Nancy ran an invitation and calligraphy shop in Wakefield for twenty years.  After her talk, participants had a chance to try their hand...

Wow--April sure did keep us busy in all the best ways! We were invited to collaborate with the Arts Collaborative of Wakefield for their April Art Exhibit and Sale at the Albion Cultural Exchange and we committed fully to the collaboration! The theme of the exhibit and sale was "Tell Me a Story" and so we participated in three ways with an added bonus Writers and Illustrators Meet & Greet to boot!  1. An exhibit pairing 13 written pieces with 13 pieces of art. 2. Local Author Table featuring authors living all around us. 3. 3 Family Friendly Storytime Art Hours featuring 6 local authors. Writers who participated in the Artist/Writer collaborative exhibit were: Marilyn Lamkin, Cate Daniels, Susan Jepson, Sally Chetwynd, Eddie Brophy, Jennifer Revill, Kerri Leonard, Linda Malcolm, Sara Desmond, Eileen Worthley, PJ Carmichael, Janie Smith, & Alice Getty. You can see an example of their work on our North of Boston Writers Network blog with more to follow:  Shoes by Alice...