The Writers’ Den was created at the Malden High School for students to have a safe space to write, read and create work that relates to themselves and their lives. The program is supported by a grant from the Malden Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Fittingly, Michael Patrick MacDonald, the author of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, a memoir about growing up in South Boston, visited the Writers’ Den on September 26th.
MacDonald grew up in the Old Colony housing projects in Southie, during a time when Whitey Bulger had a major presence in the community. He described his life as being very quiet; he couldn’t speak out against the crimes that happened in the projects. During the time he lived there, which was most of his childhood, he lost four brothers to gang violence, suicide, and overdose. He also lost his sister to schizophrenia as a result of gang violence. Despite this, he took all of these as a symbol of hope and motivation, starting with a memorial for “all of those who died too young”. Now he is a community organizer in places where poverty is high.
Junior Salma Bezzat attended the Writer’s Workshop on September 26th to hear what MacDonald had to say. Bezzat has not read the book All Souls yet, but said she really wants to. Bezzat says she thought the author wasn’t from Boston, however, it turns out he was and she felt like “[she] [could] relate to [him]”. Her favorite parts were when he read excerpts from his book, giving little preview of it. She also enjoyed the free write portion and how it created a connection with everyone in the room.
English teacher Jennifer Clapp attended the workshop and she read MacDonald’s book years ago. She has since then been using references from it to her classes. Clapp mentioned the book is a memoir, so it was a really painful story for her to read. She stated that “[All Souls] was very well written…touching…and emotional but [she] also felt terrible for [MacDonald] and [his] entire family.” Clapp found MacDonald to be “very direct and spoke very clearly to the students-as peers…[he was not] talking down to any of the kids and [he] was really open and willing to share his own experience, as painful as [it] [might have] been.” Clapp also mentioned that MacDonald has a second book called Easter Rising which connects to All Souls, also written as a memoir.
Sean Walsh, the Advisor of the Writers’ Den and English and teacher here at Malden High also attended the Writer’s Workshop. Walsh first heard MacDonald was going to be coming to MHS in the summer when he worked with Jodie Zalk from Malden Reads, a community reading program. Macdonald was appealing to Walsh and Zalk because of “[his] connection to the area and [his] work on social justice and restorative circles.” They had also talked about bringing in another local author after the success of last year’s author visit, in which M.T. Anderson had a Q & A section about his book Feed.
Walsh said his first impression of MacDonald after reading was that he “was someone deeply dedicated to helping young people process trauma and find their voice in stories. Walsh also stated that “[He] found [MacDonald’s] activities and [his] connection to students powerful.” Walsh didn’t grow up in the Boston area, so for him there was something very “historical and eye-opening about the story. [MacDonald’s] ability to discuss violence, drugs and racial attitudes of the period, really resonated [with] him.”
