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On the Trail of Something Big

Daniel Johnson's quirky creative writing lab helps kids' imaginations run wild

Kevin Hartnett (N.Y.C. '03)

Like any top-secret research lab worth its salt, there's more to the Greater Boston Bigfoot Research Institute than meets the eye. Enter its Roxbury storefront, and you'll find for sale all the equipment you need to track the big Sasquatch, including unicorn tears and casting plaster. But persuade the friendly volunteer cashier to roll aside the fake rear wall, and the building's true purpose comes into view. It's a buzzing writing laboratory, where neighborhood children come to develop their skills as poets, playwrights, and journalists.
The Bigfoot Research Institute is, in fact, the whimsical alias of 826 Boston, one of seven chapters of 826 National, the organization started by Pulitzer Prize nominee Dave Eggers to offer free writing instruction to low-income students through tutoring, field trips, after-school workshops, and assistance with student
publications.

"Part of the goal," explains 826 Boston's executive director, Daniel Johnson (Phoenix '96), "is that when students come into the space, it doesn't
look like a school. It sets fire to their imaginations." There was no space to speak of when Johnson, a published author and former artist-in-residence at the Snow City Arts Foundation in Chicago, was hired in September 2007 to help launch 826 Boston. "Basically, at that point I was squatting in an office with four interns and an Ethernet cable," Johnson says. 826 partners with local teachers— who usually find out about the program through word of mouth—on classroom writing projects, and runs after-school tutoring and writing workshops out of the Bigfoot Research Institute. To get the ball rolling, Johnson pounded the pavement, introducing himself to teachers and parents in the community and explaining what 826 had to offer.

Within a year, the program had worked with more than 800 kids and recruited a volunteer team nearly as large. Johnson surveyed all of the parents and, in an 826 Boston newsletter,shared that 95 percent reported their children had improved grades after
tutoring sessions.

One of Johnson's goals is to make 826 a place that students keep coming back to. Take Edwin Gonzalez, for example. He met Johnson last year, when 826 came to his junior English
class to assist with a book-creation project. Gonzalez was selected to help compile the book's final draft. "I learned that editing is hard," he says. "It's a challenge to find the right balance of their voice and your voice." Gonzalez was quickly drawn to 826, explaining, "[I'd] been writing creatively for two or three years and never found an outlet for my writing." Now a senior, he was hired last fall to tutor younger students in 826's after-school program.

Activity at 826 Boston ranges from basic math and reading tutoring to a class on cartooning and a popular Sock Puppet Theater workshop. Eva Hernandez, 14, recently took the "Food Critic for a Day" class. She learned how to employ all five senses when evaluating a restaurant before setting off on her first field assignment, at the Langham Hotel's Chocolate Bar. There she interviewed the chef, photographed the food, and took notes discreetly as she ate. "It's a good place for a wedding or a party," Eva wrote in her final review. And the food? "Delicious."

Creativity isn't reserved for the workshops. After doubling its tutoring hours this year to keep up with neighborhood demand, the staff recently launched a moustachegrowing competition/fundraiser, and an art auction is in the works. At 826, "every day is different," says Gonzalez. That seems to be about as it should, whether you're after Bigfoot, or something even more ambitious.