Recently, I had coffee with Jen Girdish, who has been heavily involved in coordinating 826DC’s student publication projects (and was most recently a recipient of the “Ladies Prosthetic Grower Award" in May’s “Moustache-a-thon”). Jen’s a journalist who likes to run, watch TV, and cuddle with her fiancé. She talked with me about the “bad, unrequited love poems” she wrote in college, falling in love with Joan Didion, and what it takes to bring student voices to life on paper for 826DC.
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Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I grew up in Pittsburgh and even though I desperately wanted to get out of Western PA, I ended up going to the University of Pittsburgh. And even then, I moved around a lot between quite a few “underdog” cities like Pittsburgh. I moved to Austin and spent a lot of time getting coffee for people and escorting Jack Valenti to the bathroom. I also lived in Kansas City and Laurenburg, NC where you had to drive forty-five minutes just to see a movie. I recently spent some time in Little Rock when my fiancé was working on the Healthcare Campaign. I’d like to think that my sacrifice of eating nothing but fried food contributed directly to the bill passing.
Recently you helped publish Get Used to the Seats, a collection of essays and poetry by seniors in DC area high schools. Can you tell me about your role in the student publication projects and how they come to life?
I was the managing editor and project coordinator, so I helped organize and run all aspects of the production of the book. That involves organizing workshops, editing student work, selecting the pieces, and coordinating the design and production. The concept of book started in Belle Belew’s class [at Wilson High School]. Her students had a “Dear Freshman” assignment, where they wrote a letter to their freshman selves, and one of them suggested it should be a book. We agreed. There were three different classes and each class met once a week. We played with a variety of writing styles such as text message poems and essays about “getting caught.” Eleven students even got to record their essays at NPR, which was recorded onto a CD and included with the book.
I noticed you write mostly nonfiction. Has this always been your genre of choice?
In college I started out as a poet, then realized I only wrote bad, unrequited love poems, so then I switched to fiction, then I got my MFA in creative non-fiction because I foolishly fell in love with Joan Didion. In college I was an editor for the literary journal called the Three Rivers Review and when I lived in Austin I worked on the literary ‘zine called Two Note Solo with a few friends who have now gone on to be way more successful and make more money than me.
What subjects do you like to write about?
I find myself doing a lot of music journalism, even though I never planned it that way. But it gives me a chance to interview a lot of Dischord bands that I used to have a crush on a long, long time ago. I also write quite a bit about Pittsburgh—I have a piece coming out in Post Road about hating Pittsburgh sports. Right now I’m trying to work on a collection of essays about all those “underdog” cities I used to live in.
What is your favorite part about being an 826DC volunteer?
Those involved with 826 love what they do and love each other; everyone enjoys what they do for the organization. Also, the book projects are so rewarding because you can see the progression of students throughout the months and it’s an amazing thing to watch them grow as people and as writers.