Writing for Empathy Day Camp

Hub City Writers Project presented a day camp for high school students to examine identity, civic responsibility, and empathy through writing. The “Writing for Empathy Day Camp” took place June 26 – June 30, 2017 in Spartanburg. Twelve students representing 7 high schools participated in the camp, creating an anthology of their work. SC Humanities supported this project through a Fast Track Literary Grant.

The instructors for the “Writing for Empathy Day Camp” were Glenis Redmond from Greenville, Ashley Jones from Birmingham, AL, and Michel Stone from Spartanburg. Michel Stone said about the camp: “Magic happens when people – young or old – spend hours together honing and sharing their writing; the creative energy becomes palpable and empathy grows.”

Stone specifically referenced being moved by a poem written by a student responding to a prompt about seeing the world from someone else’s perspective. The student, Claire, wrote about her younger sister who is blind: “I didn’t know how to sing with my eyes, listen with my fingers, feel with my ears and my soul. Now I know to look for the music, I trace my fingers over silence.”

Selections of the students’ poetry will be displayed in an exhibit at the Chapman Cultural Center (200 E St John St, Spartanburg, SC 29306) for a month starting around August 1.

For more information about the “Writing for Empathy Day Camp” or Hub City Writers Project, please visit the website at https://hubcity.org/ or contact Michel Stone at michelstone@hotmail.com.

The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 21-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.

Image courtesy of Michel Stone