Show Notes: Today’s featured writing was by Ali, a writer experiencing incarceration in Oregon, who submitted to our ONE PAGE publication opportunity for incarcerated writers. You can support our students, ONE PAGE, and writers like Ali by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies in our website store, and making a donation to help sustain our ongoing work via our website’s secure donation portal. Some items mentioned in—or aligned with—today’s episode: UNICEF:...
Jul 24, 2025•12 min•Season 5Ep. 11
LINEBREAK is a single piece of student writing, offered as a pause during your daily life. We hope it will be generative of further creativity, perspective, and thought. --- Show Notes: Today’s featured poem was by student and alumnus, Victor. You can support students like Victor by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies and other merch in our online store, and making a donation to help our work continue – you can donate via our website’s secure donation por...
Jun 19, 2025•12 min•Season 5Ep. 10
Show Notes: Today’s featured poems were by student/alumnus, Victor. You can support students like Victor by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies and other merch in our online store, and making a donation to help our work continue – you can donate via our website’s secure donation portal here: https://undergroundwriting.org/donate Some items mentioned in today’s episode: Detention Center in the Seattle area: https://www.ice.gov/detain/detention-facilities/n...
Jun 12, 2025•29 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Show Notes: Today’s featured writings were by incarcerated adult students at our workshop site with the Skagit County Community Justice Center. You can support students like them by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies in our website store, and donating to help our ongoing work via our website’s secure donation portal here: https://undergroundwriting.org/donate Announcements: 1. For a 4th year in a row, we have received a very significant organizational gr...
May 15, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Show Notes Today’s featured writing was by Max, a student—and now alumnus—at our writing workshop site in Skagit County Juvenile Detention. You can support students like Max by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies and other merch in our online store, and making a donation to help our work continue – you can donate via our website’s secure donation portal here: https://undergroundwriting.org/donate Announcements: 1. If you recently began listening to our po...
Feb 25, 2025•21 min•Season 5Ep. 7
Today’s featured writings were by Anthony and Carlos, students at our writing workshop site in Skagit County Juvenile Detention. You can support students like Anthony and Carlos by spreading the word about our podcast, purchasing student writing anthologies and other merch in our online store, and making a donation to help our work continue – you can donate via our website’s secure donation portal here: https://undergroundwriting.org/donate Laurie Parker is a screenwriter, film and music produce...
Dec 23, 2024•32 min•Season 5Ep. 6
LINEBREAK is a single piece of student writing, offered as a pause during your daily life. We hope it will be generative of further creativity, perspective, and thought. _____ SHOW NOTES: Tuesday, November 26, 2024 If you recently began listening to our podcast—or if you’ve been with us for a number of years—we want to remind you to check out the first 3 episodes of this reboot season to get an overview of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Check out season 5, episodes 1, 2, and 3. Today’s ...
Nov 26, 2024•8 min•Season 5Ep. 5
LINEBREAK is a single piece of student writing, offered as a pause during your daily life. We hope it will be generative of further creativity, perspective, and thought. _____ Tuesday, November 5, 2024 Today is Election Day 2024. Listeners, if you have not already done so, we urge you to get out and vote as soon as possible! If you don’t know where to vote, check out Vote.org. You can access their voting location help here: https://www.vote.org/polling-place-locator/ If you recently began listen...
Nov 05, 2024•7 min•Season 5Ep. 4
KITE [' kīt, noun ] 1 . A note requesting or providing information, passed from one inmate to another in a separate cell, to someone on the outside, or to a guard; 2 . Underground Writing’s audio zine featuring a selection of student writing. SHOW NOTES: Today’s featured writings were written by our adult students at the Skagit County Community Justice Center (our county jail). These pieces were written during the Covid era. You can support these students, as well as all our students, by spreadi...
Oct 22, 2024•14 min•Season 5Ep. 3
LINEBREAK is a single piece of student writing, offered as a pause during your daily life. We hope it will be generative of further creativity, perspective, and thought. *A prefatory note. We recorded this episode on Monday, September 30, 2024. While in the process of recording it at a local college library, an “active shooter” event took place in the nearby vicinity—outside the library where we were located. The library and college went to lockdown, as did all the other schools in the area. The...
Oct 03, 2024•10 min•Season 5Ep. 2
On this first episode of Season 5, we talk about the reboot of The Underground Writing Podcast. Highlights include a catchup / overview coming out of the Covid era, a few updates regarding programs and collaborations, and a reading of "Ode to My Journal," a poem by Anthony, one of our students at our writing workshop site in Skagit County Juvenile Detention. Show Notes: Today’s featured writing is “Ode to My Journal” by Anthony, a student at our writing workshop site in Skagit County Juvenile De...
Sep 26, 2024•14 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Fall 2024 Podcast Reboot - We're back! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 24, 2024•52 sec•Season 1Ep. 61
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Jen Bradbury, UW Teaching Writer, shares student writing from What No One Ever Tells You . My Cell -Victor I Won’t Front -J.S. I Am Not What You Think I Am -Luciean Nascar Dialogue -Josh Survival -M. We Sit Here Together -Students and Teaching Writers, in a circle, one line each Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migr...
Aug 21, 2021•6 min
Yesica joins Matt and Alvin in the park on a sunny day. She shares new work and updates us on her journey. Matt gives updates on workshops, events, and amplifying voices. LINKS OF INTEREST: Podcast Review : Underground Writing Dear America chapbook The Change - Book Pipeline Marilyn Montufar Jacob Lawrence Gallery Claudia Castro Luna Letters to a Young Inmate The War and Peace of Tim O'Brien Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery,...
Mar 08, 2021•33 min
We’re still here. Matt and Alvin read excerpts from DEAR AMERICA, the newest collection of student writing, packaged as our latest chapbook. They check in on the state of… everything, having made it into the new year. Matt gives updates on writing workshops and amplifying voices. LINKS OF INTEREST: DEAR AMERICA CHAPBOOK THE CHANGE - BOOK PIPELINE MARILYN MONTUFAR CLAUDIA CASTRO LUNA LETTERS TO A YOUNG INMATE Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarc...
Feb 01, 2021•23 min
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Matt shares student writing from the e-workshops at the Skagit County Community Justice Center site. Finding Hope (excerpt) - Garrett Helping - C. Seven Aphorisms - Michael I Need You to Unlock Heaven's Door - Kyle Being locked up - Leland Fulfillment of Last Laugh - Joshua My Answer - Brian Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program...
Sep 24, 2020•9 min
It’s been something—this year of 2020: the pandemic, the quarantine, the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests, the wildfires currently occurring up and down the west coast, the looming November election . . . It’s been a year of great challenges, and a year of hope for true and lasting change. How will this year—and how will we—be remembered? In this episode, Matt and Alvin read pieces circling the theme of remembrance, written before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, t...
Sep 21, 2020•29 min
To say that the Coronavirus has changed things is an understatement. The world is in a state of forced improvisation. Things have been quite different for us, too, during the quarantine. In this episode, Matt provides a summary overview of the situation for Underground Writing, program updates and adaptations, and shares new student writing created in response to the current COVID-19 era. LINKS OF INTEREST: The Decameron – Giovanni Boccaccio David Budbill Lucille Clifton Underground Writing News...
May 05, 2020•15 min
BEFORE any stay-at-home orders were in effect, Elizabeth Riley joined Matt and Alvin in the studio to talk about her research project, the high school classroom vs leading a creative writing workshop with UW, and how she navigated a love of reading/writing into a career. Elizabeth is a graduate student at Gardner-Webb University, researching the effect/outcome of Underground Writing’s workshops on the individual level. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 30, 2020•25 min
“Club Icarus” is a poem by Matthew W. Miller that was brought in to UW writing workshops at the Skagit County Community Justice Center. Elizabeth Riley, local high school teacher and grad student, joins Matt and Alvin in the studio to explore the myth of Icarus.LINKS OF INTEREST: Hadestown Mythology by Edith Hamilton Myth of Icarus Club Icarus by Matthew W. Miller Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communiti...
Mar 16, 2020•19 min
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING Susanne Antonetta, UW Teaching Writer and editor of the Bellingham Review , shares student writing from the workshops at Skagit County Community Justice Center. I Have to Swallow the Time by C Ode to My Socks by Robin I Have Been Known by Alison I Have Been Known by Hannah I Have Been Known by anonymous Dear ICE by Adriana Dear System by Robert I Have Bee...
Mar 02, 2020•14 min
We’re back for the first podcast of 2020. Matt and Alvin revisit the numbers from 2019 and give you a heads up of what’s planned for 2020, so mark your calendars. Thanks to the Rick Epting Foundation for the Arts and ArtsWA for supporting our efforts. Talk About Me , by Yesica Solano is available now Upcoming Events: Dear America chapbook To be published in early 2020 Finding Home: A Foster Youth Story , produced by UW Teaching Writer Laurie Parker Thursday, March 12, 2020 at the Lincoln Theatre...
Feb 17, 2020•12 min
When people ask, "What's Underground Writing?" the quick answer is that we're a creative writing program for at-risk communities. One of the follow up questions we sometimes receive: "How does it all work financially?" We think this is a great year-end question! Matt and Alvin discuss these aspects of the organization, and invite listeners to partner with Underground Writing so as to continue and help sustain its transformative impact. Partner with Underground Writing Underground Writing: a lite...
Dec 17, 2019•7 min
“His Cup” is a piece of student writing from the Skagit Recovery Community Site. Matt gives context on this site and he and Alvin discuss grief and mourning, as we carry the items of our deceased loved ones. LINKS OF INTEREST: Brigid Collins Family Support Center Habibi , retail pop-up shop in Mount Vernon, Washington—in collaboration with Skagit River Poetry Foundation and Voices of the Children Talk About Me, upcoming chapbook from local poet and UW’s intern Yesica Solano. Hear some pieces and...
Dec 09, 2019•14 min
KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARDB. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING A. Muia, UW Teaching Writer, shares student writing from the workshops at Skagit County Juvenile Detention. Where I’m From by E I Am From by J I Belong Here by A Visitation Hours by B One Medicine I’ve Taken by M I Feel Like a Loaded Gun by J A Painting by Vincent Van Gogh by C Underground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migran...
Nov 25, 2019•9 min
Habibi is Arabic for beloved, darling. It's also the holiday pop-up market in downtown Mount Vernon sponsored by Voices of the Children, Skagit River Poetry Foundation, and Underground Writing. This short episode has the directors of those local organizations and Habibi's Featured Artist Asil Jabr around the table at the pop-up retail space. Features: Asil Jabr and Aaron Wagner: Voices of the Children // Molly McNulty: Skagit River Poetry Foundation // Matt Malyon: Underground Writing Hosted on ...
Nov 21, 2019•19 min
Julie Ryan and UW Director Matt attended graduate school together in Vancouver, B.C. Earlier this year, Julie reached out to Matt from her English classroom in Dunedin, New Zealand in response to The Underground Writing Podcast episode about our 2018 week-long intensive at juvenile detention . She has since started a creative writing group at St. Hilda's Collegiate School and is with us in the studio to discuss literary education and cultural shifts. LINKS OF INTEREST: kia ora , Maori greeting S...
Nov 14, 2019•30 min
This episode of KITE 5 is part 2 with our first intern, Yesica Solano.KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING4. Smile Like You Mean It5. My Favorite Lesson6. Get Up7. Jose LuisLINKS OF INTEREST: I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter - Erika L. SánchezUnderground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northe...
Oct 29, 2019•11 min
This episode of KITE 5 is part 1 with our first intern, Yesica Solano.KITE: A. A NOTE PASSED FROM AN INMATE TO AN INMATE IN ANOTHER CELL OR TO A GUARD B. UNDERGROUND WRITING’S AUDIO ZINE FEATURING STUDENT WRITING1. Stranger2. Letter to My Mom3. No Woman’s Land Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 29, 2019•7 min
This piece comes from our site at Skagit County’s Juvenile Detention. UW Teaching Writer Suzanne brought in a poem from a Chinese factory worker. Matt and Alvin discuss protest, despair, hope, and transformation. Links of Interest: What No One Ever Tells YouIron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Worker PoetryIn the Words of China's WorkersUnderground Writing: a literature-based creative writing program serving migrant, incarcerated, recovery, and other at-risk communities in northern Washington thro...
Oct 14, 2019•15 min
