Claiming Your

By Sharing Your Story

By Ingrid Ricks

When I mapped out my dream path for my new memoir, Hippie Boy: A Girls Story, I
knew I wanted to start sharing my story with at-risk women and teens. I envisioned using my story as a tool to encourage them to face down their challenges by finding their voice and claiming their inner power. I wasnt sure what form it would take. I just knew that this was the overall message of Hippie Boy, and a message I am passionate about getting out into the universe. Then, in early December, I was contacted by Marjie Bowker, an English teacher at an alternative high school in a suburb outside of Seattle. She told me our mutual friend had given her my book to read. Her next words were an early Christmas gift to me. Hippie Boy is the book Ive always wanted for my students, she said. Do you want to form an author partnership? Neither of us understood what an author partnership even meant. But we both knew we wanted to figure it out. So on a whim, we started brainstorming and Marjie was soon crafting a curriculum that focuses on using Hippie Boy as a guide to help her students share their own stories in a narrative format. Our month-long curriculum kicked off January 4th. And magic has been happening ever since. These juniors and seniors, more than forty in all, have experienced the kind of heartache and tragedy that most of us cant even fathom. Theyve experienced gang life and drug overdoses, and have lost loved ones to prison, suicide and cancer. Some have been shuffled from house to house without ever having a safe place to call home. Some have been battered and abused and neglected. A few have resorted to stealing food because they didnt have enough to eat. These students have every right to be angry and hardened. Instead, they are some of

the most compassionate people Ive ever met. And they are STRONG. I felt a connection with them the first day I met them. They are me when I was their age and thanks to the power of story, we share a common understanding. Using Hippie Boy and the writing exercises Marjie crafted for them as their guide, they spent the month working to bring their own stories to life and, in the process, they have found their voice and are taking back their power. On February 1st, we hosted a celebration and all-day reading so the students could share their life scenes. Their stories were mind-blowing. And they were so charged up by the power they had found within themselves that nine of them stayed after school for nearly three hours to share their stories with a producer from our local public radio station. Weve hit on something powerful and have made such a connection that Im working with these students again later this springwhen we plan to publish their life stories in an eBook that will carry their powerful words out into the universe. The experience has been a huge gift and has taught me an incredible life-changing lesson: No matter what challenges you face, you can overcome them if you claim your power, find your voice, and shout it to the universe. ***

If you want to learn more about the writing program with these teens, click on this story by the Herald Weekly. To read reviews or purchase Hippie Boy: A Girls Story, click here. About the Author Ingrid Ricks is a Seattle-based writer and speaker who focuses on overcoming adversity and embracing life. Her stories have appeared in Salon, Ladies Home Journal, The Seattle Times and a variety of other publications. Hippie Boy: A Girls Story is her first book. For more information, visit: www.ingridricks.com