Writing and healing in the news

Some time ago, I set up a GoogleAlert to let me know when the words "writing and healing" appear in a news artlcle or online posting. I've received some surprising and lovely results, mostly from small, local or regional papers/journals/blogs. This is the sort of news we (I, at least) don't read every day, the deeply important, so-called "small" stories that aren't receiving wide, mainstream attention.

Recently, I learned about the following:

The Wordcraft Circle oF Native Writers and Storytellers are back to host the 'Returning the Gift Native Writer's Festival' in March, at MSU in East Lansing, MI.

A story about veterans using writing to heal from trauma (in the National Catholic Reporter!)

And a report from Charlottesville about a reading from the collection 'Meet Me At the Mountain Top, personal narratives of recovery from mental illnesses at Region Ten’s Blue Ridge House.

Had any of you already seen these stories? All these folks are using the written word to transform their lives, and the lives of others.

Oh! And from a completely different announcement, I learned about this wiki, hopebuilding, stories of ordinary folks doing extraordinary things to improve the world... let's make sure to visit this site, and post our own stories of extraordinary action in the service of our individual communities! This is the kind of news we need to know...