Annie Ginder

Education
Our Lady of Lourdes High School 1983
Emerson College, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing and Publishing, Minor in Public Relations 1987
Journal To The Self Instructor certification 2012
The Therapeutic Writing Institute, Center for Journal Therapy – present

Career

  • Farmshine Dairy Newspaper – page make up artist 1988-1990

  • Tapsco/Cadmus Communications – started as a page make-up artist, worked for a short time as a customer service representative and then became the nightshift supervisor responsible for attending daily meetings with team leaders, providing support to them to help them meet customer expectations, meeting several nightly mailing deadlines.

  • Freelance Writer – covered various township meetings and antique section of local daily newspaper, wrote liner notes for independent CD recording project of local music.

  • Journaling Just For You – created, designed and implemented an 8 week course for those in early recovery from drug and alcohol addiction called Writing the Roller Coaster: Journaling Through the Wild Ride of Early Recovery.

  • Writeface – Lancaster County based non-profit of which I am co-founder and Program Director


    Things I Do Or Have Done That Seem Relevant:

  • Teach a monthly poetry workshop at Oak Leaf Manor Retirement Home

  • Secretary of Boy Scout Troop 58

  • Editor of Lancaster Catholic Worker House Newspaper

  • Spoken Word Festival participant

  • Writers In The Park – co-founded a weekly writing program that met at a local park over the summer

  • Beyond The Bell – taught a creative writing course to students after school in grades 4-6

Hobbies/Activities
Writing poetry
Watching the New York Yankees especially with my husband when they play the Boston Red Sox
Playing guitar/writing songs/singing mostly in private
I love being outside and am not there often enough gardening

Reading
In high school, I sat behind a tall, angular young man who I did not know very well but who was nice enough and would turn around and look at me every so often and we would talk a little. One day he wasn’t sitting there anymore. I am not sure how I found out that he had cancer, or what prompted me, but I began to write to him every day. He finally came home from treatment and he invited me to come over. When I did, his father pulled me aside and said, “you have no idea what your letters did for him.”
That was my first real inclination that writing was powerful.
I don’t know why I began writing myself but knew that when I wrote it was my truth on the paper and nobody else’s and that felt empowering.
Today, through the work I am doing with Writeface, I get to be a witness to some of the most amazing personal transformations I have ever seen. There are generations of veterans out in the world who have been living with painful invisible wounds for years with no where to go with them. I believe Writeface has the power to help heal them and in so doing has the power to heal the psyche of our nation.

I am honored to be doing work that I love with people who put their trust in me, open up their souls and invite me in as if I am one of their own.