You NEVER forget how to ride a bike…

Yesterday night was the book release of “You Never Forget How To Ride a Bike”, by the students at John Marshall High School. Everything about the night was exciting to me, although my excitement could have been due to the MONSTER ENERGY DRINK I chugged before arriving (it was just one of those evenings when I felt the need to be supercharged for no great reason, I guess…). Everything leading up to the event was new to me, the event itself was spectacular, and even the after-part was phenomenal.

SO. The new things. 1) it was my first time going to the Echo Park Time Travel mart – our “sister” (?) location in… well, Echo Park. 2) it was my first time driving in real, hardcore LA rush hour traffic – into the heart of downtown itself. Spectacular! And also, so STRESSFUL! But it was a stress I liked, and kind of laughed at while it was happening so it was ok in the end. 3) it was my first time going to skylight bookstore, which is where our event took place. SO great, I cannot even explain the greatness. It is in Los Feliz by Silverlake (look at me, the Iowan, namedropping all these little LA ‘burbs…) and it happens to be my new favorite spot in town.

So now that I have for some reason outlined the beginning part of this here blog, let me just go ahead and explain the night. I started off at my apartment in Inglewood, surrounded by my roommates 5 cats… YES! 5 CATS!, and I ate a bowl of oatmeal for good luck. Not that I needed any luck, but it was more for the getting-ready part of the night. Yes, some girls choose to actually pretty themselves up for “events”… I just choose to eat a nice bowl of oatmeal. This is my life. SO. I then exited the premises and started on the road to the Time Travel Mart. So excited to see it. Sleepy. It took me an astounding 50 minutes to get there! When my GPS told me it would have taken 10! What is this, LA?? Explain yourself! I don’t understand traffic, why cant people just drive at a nice pace of 50 miles an hour continually… well, ill save that rant for my own inside thoughts. So I drive into this new, great part of downtown area, which I have never seen before, and then, as I exit on Sunset Boulevard, to my left JUST like in the pictures, I SEE it! The Time Travel Mart! It was like seeing a celebrity. I don’t know  why. Its just that… I have seen so many PICTURES of the thing from websites, from Dave Egger’s TED talk (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html) to images I had imagined of it in my head… so let me digress and just say, I was excited to see it. After the parking hassle, I walked in and it was CRAZY! The front of the store sells silly products like cavemen supplies and robot supplies, etc, and then, to get to the back, you walk through this black tunnel with glowing Christmas lights and then bam – you enter into this great room filled with old tables and chairs, with high ceilings and a calendar on one wall, pictures of butterflies above an Apple computer lab… and in the corner was Julius and the interns who already arrived, ready for action. We discussed the set up plan that would happen at Skylight, and then took off. It was at this moment where I secretly went to the store and chugged a Monster, in case that topic was of any interest to you still. So we get there, I explore the store; it was filled to the brink of books like “How to Get Out of America” (tips on being an Expatriate) “Sh*t My Dad Says”, “The Bedwetter” by Sarah Silverman… and a “green” Dinosaur sticker book for kids. They had me at hello, this bookstore.

And then, I saw it. In the center of the bookstore, where we had chairs set up and a podium up for our student speakers of the night, I saw the book! “You Never Forget How to Ride a Bike” – the book we helped the kids publish. It had an elephant on the cover, riding a bicycle. It was green. And inside, were 15 or so stories from public high school kids. I picked it up, started flipping through it, and was totally shocked. Should I have been shocked… this I do not know. All I know is that the stories these kids had were so great. They told tales about identity crises, gang experiences, teacher debacles, high school struggles, and the voice of every single piece was honest, funny, and humble, all at the same time.  As we set up, some of the student speakers (students asked to read their piece in front of the audience) started arriving, and soon enough, the whole place was filled with high school  kids, parents, LA onlookers, bookstore staff. That was something else new to see: so many supporters for a high school project. Go LA, although that is the way it should be for all  high school creative events, I would think.

The night took off as Julius announced the publication to the world (or the audience), thanked all the volunteers, the student editorial board, and the teachers. Speaking of teachers, I will use this as an in to say – that high school must have some fabulous teachers for embarking on this project. If I were in high school and the project assigned to me was “ok, write a story. It is going to be published in an actual book that we will actually sell on amazon.com” I would have been totally floored- what a great way to inspire kids to get creative! Ok. Moving on… after introductions and thanks, the kids started reading their pieces, one by one, and as I stood in the audience, I was taken aback– the quality of these student’s work was so impressive to me, and it made me so glad to be part of the organization that helped those voices get heard. Something about student writing is, like I said before, so honestly funny – they don’t try to make it stylistically humorous—its just inherent within the piece. These kids have a bright future ahead of them if they can write that good in high school.

After the speakers concluded, all authors present gathered at the front to sign books. I felt super hyped up and excited for them, and I wanted all of their autographs. They looked so happy! So accomplished! And everyone bought a book and got it signed! For one moment, I lived vicariously through them and felt totally ecstatic at the enjoyment and pride they must be feeling. I wanted to give them all hi-fives. It was most certainly a Kodak moment (what a cliché thing to say… yet still SO true)!

After people took off, after the packing was finished, I drove home, contented and still quite energetic. I gave intern Karin a ride to her  bike in Venice, and it turns out another new thing was learned: every 826LA intern I’ve spoken to at length is just so darn cool! She didn’t even mind the fact that I got majorly lost and had to take a 15 minute detour. Excellent.

So this was my exciting 826LA night. Full of newness, wonderful kids, wonderful books, and exciting, hyped up moments. SO glad I was able to make it. Good job, John Marshall kids!

Until next time,

Kat.

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