Writing Therapy

by Gina Catanzarite, Teen Writer! Director

Research shows that putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, has been linked to improved physical and emotional well-being for those who do it regularly.

Writing is a phenomenal tool to help us with our thinking, expression, and creativity.  But it also offers plenty of other benefits, too! So I’ve put together a list (along with links to back it up) of why you should make writing a regular part of your routine:

DID YOU KNOW?

• Writing has health benefits: Research reveals that writing about life goals helps to reduce anxiety and contributes to better overall physical and mental health. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167201277003 

• Writing helps us communicating complex ideas in other fields:  Scientific research has provided increasing evidence that correlates creativity with academic, social, and emotional intelligence. Writing can help the brain to develop the logical functions required for successful math and science learning. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/writing-executive-function-brain-research-judy-willis 

• Writing helps people handle hard times: Research reveals that expressive writing appeared to influence individuals' attitudes about negative events., such as coping with job loss. http://amj.aom.org/content/37/3/722.short 

• Writing helps people feel more positive: Research revealed people who reflected on the good things in their life once a week by writing them down were more positive and motivated about their current situations and their futures.  http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/gpr/9/2/111/

• Creative writing builds creative problem-solving skills! https://writingcenter.mcdaniel.edu/the-benefits-of-creative-writing/ 

• Writing encourages creativity, exploration, critical thinking, and self-understanding, all of which are essential skills for students. http://www.scilearn.com/blog/5-reasons-students-should-write-every-day 

• STORIES INSPIRE US!  Think of your favorite books. . . the fictional characters who seem so real that you think of them as your “friends”. . . of the lessons learned in a novel that changed the way you view the “real” world.  Someone has to write those stories that touch the human spirit, right?!?!

Teen Writer! is an exciting and active 4-day camp to help young writers build their skills and flex their creative muscles. To learn more about any of our other exciting, fun and unique Summer Camps for Teens, email us at luminari@luminari.org or call us at (412) 877 -1888.

Register today for a dynamic experience that will inspire the budding teen writer in your life.

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Gina Catanzarite, owner/operator of Arania Productions, and an award-winning television producer, author, media consultant and teacher who has worked both nationally and locally in her fields since 1987.

Teen Writer! FAQs

By Gina Catanzarite, Teen Writer! Director

Q. Does my teen need to have experience as a fiction writer to take this camp?  

A.  Nope! Teen Writer! is uniquely designed to engage experienced writers and beginners who are simply interested in trying out a new creative writing format. Our writing activities offer several options for teens and can be adapted to suit their individual interests and needs as developing writers.

Q. Will this camp feel like “school”?

A.  Nope, again!  This is an intensive writing workshop and teens will spend very little time sitting at a desk listening to a lecture. Great writing starts with great details so our teens will spend a lot of time on walking tours of the area and on field trips to exciting locations as part of writing exercises intended to sharpen observation skills and descriptive writing skills.

Q.  Will this camp improve my child’s skills with academic writing, composition and research papers, or school essays?

A.  Teen Writer! does devote some time to writing with clarity, and proper grammar and punctuation are part of that. However, this camp focuses on fiction writing and the creative process for coming up with great story ideas, logical plotlines, characterization, dialogue, and descriptive narrative writing techniques. This is not an English composition camp and we do not recommend it for teens who are solely looking to improve their academic writing skills.

Q.  Will my child have to share his or her writing with other campers?

A.  Reading creative works aloud and getting feedback from others is part of the writing workshop process, however, we realize not every student feels comfortable sharing his or her work. Students are encouraged to let others read and comment on writing as part of our Peer Review activities, but no camper is required to share work or read it aloud.

Q.  Will my child leave camp with a complete, finished fiction work?

A.  It depends on the camper. Teen Writer! camp is designed to allow each camper to work at his or her own pace.  Some students do arrive at camp with a specific work-in-progress and in those instances we recommend that the writer uses that fiction as the basis for the writing exercises we do, revising and improving that specific work throughout camp. Other students feel more comfortable experimenting with different plots and characters throughout the week, improving certain creative skills but not necessarily completing a specific work of fiction during camp. All campers, however, will leave with a selection of plotlines for short and long fiction that they've developed throughout the week and they can continue to work on those projects at their own pace after camp concludes.

Q.  My child wrote a novel. Will he or she receive individualized feedback from the instructor on that project?

A.  Many campers arrive with fiction works-in-progress, as mentioned above. The instructor will provide feedback on portions of that project if excerpts are used as the basis for the writing exercises we do. However, due to time constraints, the instructor is not able to read complete novels and provide feedback on long works of fiction.

Q. What “take-away skills” will my child gain from this camp?

A.  Teen Writer! campers will leave with improved knowledge of creative writing techniques that can be applied to short and long works of fiction. This camp also includes components for career exploration and teens will learn about the publishing industry; how to submit fiction works for publication; and, they will learn about respected creative writing competitions for teens. Most of all, we want our campers to take away a sense of exhilaration and accomplishment as they gain confidence in their own abilities to explore and create dynamic fiction!

Does your middle or high school student love to write, does she/he write in his/her spare time, or goes above and beyond on writing assignments? If so, we encourage you to enroll your young writer in our TeenWriter! Fantastic Fiction summer camp. To learn more about any of our other exciting, fun and unique Summer Camps for Teens, visit luminari.org, email us at luminari@luminari.org or call us at (412) 877 -1888.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy our newsletter. Receive each new post delivered right to your inbox, plus our can’t-miss news and program updates from Luminari. Sign up here.

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Gina Catanzarite, owner/operator of Arania Productions, and an award-winning television producer, author, media consultant and teacher who has worked both nationally and locally in her fields since 1987.

Civility, Respect & Opening Minds to Understand Other Points of View

by Gina Catanzarite, Director, Teen Writer!

Let freedom ring. . . and let civility and respect ring with it

The Greek philosopher Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

But after a presidential primary and election season that experts are still struggling to define, studies reveal the United States of America is suffering from extreme political polarization. 

Worse, a majority of respondents to a Pew Research Center survey said they feel fear, frustration and anger over the viewpoints of others — and that survey included people from both major U.S. political parties. (Click to see the survey here)

They feel fearful and yet. . . did they really make the effort to speak directly to the people who hold the opposing viewpoints over which they feel such heated emotion?  Or, did they form their biases based on what they saw in the media?

Much has been discussed recently about fake news in the media and it’s true that we do need to refine our media literacy skills – but we also need to examine our own media diets, i.e. the information we seek, click, “like,” and share on our own. 

Are you broadening your mind, seeking diverse opinions and new ideas. . . or, are you simply seeking out media that validates what you already feel and believe? 

It’s a growing problem and credible research shows how that kind of narrow media diet damages our world view and our relationships.

In the book Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of Information Overload, authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel addressed journalism of affirmation: A new political media that builds loyalty less on accuracy, completeness, or verification than on affirming the beliefs of its audiences, and so tends to cherry-pick information that serves that purpose.

And, in multiple studies, including this one and summarized here researchers found that social media contributes to narrow-mindedness because users tend to fill their social streams with information and opinions that feed only their narrow interests and beliefs, rather than seeking new ideas, interests, events, or diverse viewpoints.  

Authors of the study say this creates an “echo chamber,” which “comes at the expense of the quality of the information and leads to proliferation of biased narratives fomented by unsubstantiated rumors, mistrust, and paranoia.”

Journalism of affirmation. . . The social media “echo chamber” . . .

We live in the Information Age, with unfettered access to information, to others’ viewpoints, to new ideas, and to diverse opinions.  At what point did we stop broadening our minds and start digging in our heels, passionately indulging our own positions without making the effort to fact-check what we read or entertain the ideas of others?

When Luminari was founded more than eight years ago, we carefully crafted our mission statement to be clear that our goal was to foster activities that broaden minds. In this volatile political climate, broadening minds just may begin with broadening our media diets in order to avoid the “echo chamber” that hinders civil discourse, robust debate, and respect for all. 

- Gina

  

Read more about it:

Blur: How to Know What’s True in the Age of InformationOverload by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

A Matter of Trust

Ten Questions for Fake News Detection from The News Literacy Project

Fake or Real News: How to Self-Check the News and Get theFacts from NPR

Students Have ‘Dismaying’ Inability To Tell Fake News FromReal, Study Finds from NPR

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Gina Catanzarite is Owner of Arania Productions. She is the Co-Author of two non-fiction books and Teaches broadcast journalism at Point Park University. And is an Emmy award-winning television Producer, Writer, Family Advocate and Media Consultant.

Teen Writer: the world is our research lab!

By Gina Catanzarite, Teen Writer! Director

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

I suppose kids who go to summer sleep-away camp – the kind with tents and hikes and campfires and cabin mates – come home exhausted, but in a good way. Fresh air, lively activity, a few new skills, a lot of new friends.

I like to think the kids who participate in Luminari’s Teen Writer! camp come home the same way. True, we don’t have the tents or the campfires but don’t think “writing camp” means kids spent days on end hunched over a desk in a dimly lit room, laboriously cranking out sentence after sentence.

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

Enthralling fiction requires enthralling details and the only way to do that is to get away from that desk!

For writers, the world is our research lab.

Career counselor and author Barbara Sher said, “When you start using senses you've neglected, your reward is to see the world with completely fresh eyes.”

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

That is the kind of camp our Teen Writers attended during the last week of June, traipsing around Oakland with tablets in hand, literally stopping to smell the flowers. . . and study the sculptures, and eavesdrop on the conversations, and observe the surroundings, and examine the exquisite little features and facets of the people and places around them. With a few tweaks, those details can artfully find their way into a piece of fiction and infuse it with authenticity.

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

Don’t believe it?

We passed a preschool girl in a princess costume walking past the Carnegie Library with her mom. She was licking a lollipop and when she noticed us looking at her she beamed back, waved the lollipop in the air, and cried out, “It tastes blue!”

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

I assure you, even the best writer in the world could not dream up such an exquisite line of dialogue.

We searched for inspiration for story ideas, too, on our daily walking tours of the city, asking the most useful question in a writer’s toolkit: What if. . .?

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

What if. . . that elderly man doing Tai Chi in Schenley Park was really a spy?

What if. . . that sculpture on the lawn of Carnegie Mellon University was really a portal to another dimension?

What if. . . the woman in that 18^th century painting came to life and joined us for the day?

Teen Writers in Oakland. Photo credit Cooper Kusbit

And here’s another one: What if . . . we all lived our lives this way every day?

Maybe you aren’t a teen writer but you are a person with an imagination and you, like we did, would probably smile for an hour after a little girl dressed like a princess told you her lollipop tasted blue.

Teen Writers in Oakland. 

You owe it to yourself to get away from your desk and see the world through completely fresh eyes.

Fresh air, lively activity, a few new skills, a lot of new friends.

For a writer—for anyone – that’s a pretty good way to spend a summer day.

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Gina Catanzarite, owner/operator of Arania Productions, and an award-winning television producer, author, media consultant and teacher who has worked both nationally and locally in her fields since 1987.

Top 5 Reasons to be a Teen Writer!

Luminari's Teen Writer! camp 2016 begins June 27. So we're counting down the TOP 5 Reasons Your Teen should SIGN UP....

Dates: June 27 – June 30, 2016
Time: 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Duration: 4 days
Target Audience: Rising 8th-12th graders
Tuition: $395.00

Learn more or register today for one of our fun and unique summer camps for teens at www.luminari.org or call us at 412-877-1888.

Every Good Story Needs a Strong Protagonist

   By Beth Dolinar

               Forgive this writing lapse, but let’s begin with a cliché: Gina Catanzarite has a personality as fiery as her red hair. Yes, she has red hair and blue eyes and if I’d written that hackneyed opening phrase in one of her university writing classes she would mark a big red slash through it. And then she would tell me it was a good try anyway.

Luminari Teen Writer! Camp
Director Gina Catanzarite

  And then she would encourage me to keep writing, because words are vibrant and beautiful and, at times, the only true things on this planet.

    If that seems overly dramatic, it’s because Gina finds the drama in her work. As the director of Luminari’s TeenWriter! Fantastic Fiction camp, she coaxes young writers to find the right words. Next summer, Gina will lead the camp for the seventh time, coaxing fresh perspectives from middle and high school students in her writing workshop. Her teaching departs from the typical classroom approach of research, syntax and grammar. She is selling the idea of a sentence as a living, breathing thing.

     “Emily Dickinson said, ‘I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine,’” Gina said, quoting the 19^th century poet.

      ‘When you write from the heart you can see the words shine,” Gina said, adding that it is through finding the gleam in a word that a writer finds his or her own, unique voice.

    Her love of language has filled her career. Her work as a writer and producer for both commercial and public television have earned her eight Emmy awards and countless other accolades. As a contributing producer for WQED-TV, she has tackled topics as widely varied as human trafficking, the gender pay gap and efforts to save Pennsylvania’s bats. She is the author of non-fiction books and has written for newspapers and magazines.

     A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Gina has taught journalism and broadcast courses at Robert Morris University and, currently, Point Park University. Her students are simultaneously frightened and awed by her dynamic and inspirational classroom style.

     “We had a hash tag of #wwgcd while we were there,” said Claire Gysegem, a student in Gina’s class at Point Park in 2012. “It meant, What would Gina Catanzarite do? She had a way of making an impression that would stick.”

    Gysegem, now a graduate student in public media at Ohio University, credits Gina with igniting her love of television production and writing. “She is upfront and honest and blunt, but probably the most encouraging person you’ll ever meet.”

     Gina is known for her intense, demanding teaching style—suffering no foolishness, laziness or phonies.

    “She expects you to be authentic and be yourself,” said Gysegem. “She taught us that your voice is your own, and when you write, you have to claim it as your own voice.”

     That conviction is evident in the way Gina leads Luminari’s Teen Writer! camp. Last summer, she took students on a field trip to Phipps Conservatory. It was the hottest week of July, and the students stood perspiring in the humid hothouse jungle.

   “Describe what it feels like!” Gina shouted. “If you’re uncomfortable because it’s hot, find the words to say it.”

     That direct and inspirational style was evident to Danny Allman, another Point Park student who served as Gina’s teaching assistant for the Luminari writing camp in 2009.

    “Those students learn from the best,” said Allman, now a news assignments editor at a TV station in Baltimore. “Gina puts so much energy and exuberance into making sure her students enjoy writing, and that they succeed.”

    Gina says enjoys teaching teenagers, because of how they view the world.

    “The kids that age believe they can do anything, “ she said. “There is a lot of life ahead of them, and they tend to be thrill seeking—they enjoy the exhilarating feeling of putting their thoughts down on paper.”

    Gina likens her role of teacher to that of a mother falcon.

    “She carries her babies up high and then throws them off,” she said. “They learn to fly in the free fall. The magic is in the free fall.” It’s a take on life with which she is well acquainted: Gina and her husband Howard Shapiro are the parents of twin teenage sons.

     Her home life feeds her personal writing. She has journaled every day since she was a child, a habit that has left her home littered with “stacks of notebooks everywhere.” They are the words of a woman whose mind travels many miles a minute. To converse with Gina is to be welcomed into a tornado of smart ideas.

     I chose to write this piece in the first person, because Gina is my friend. Our occasional coffee chats are always the liveliest and most inspirational few hours of whatever week I’m in. When Gina talks, you can see all the wheels turning, the eruption of ideas firing along the synapses, all the shining words rolling out. She is aware of how all that energy affects people. She is a lot.

    “My tombstone will read She Meant Well,” she said, laughing.

     This article about Gina began with a cliché. Do I dare insert another?

     What, I ask, is her philosophy of life and teaching?

    “Like me or dislike me; I’ll at least make enough of an impression that students will react to it, “ she says.

    “Do something to let people know you were here.”