When life gives you lemons, you write about lemonade.
With many adults unexpectedly finding a little more time on their hands than they expected, many are pursuing a long-put-off dream: to write a novel.
Grub Street is a highly regarded nonprofit that provides education and support for writers in offices above the piano showrooms and used bookstores on Boylston Street overlooking Boston Garden.
“I overheard someone in class say they were finally able to take it after being laid off,” said interim executive director Chris Castellani, who has definitely noticed a recent increase in participation. “I said, ‘Yikes,’ but I was also glad they could do it. People are taking more classes this year at Grub Street because many of them, after being laid off, now have the time to dedicate to writing. The fact is that in these dank economic times, we offer this affordable thing you can do that is creative and nurturing. It’s not an indulgency. This place makes people feel better by helping them write.”
“Which is great that they’re making good use of their time,” added Grub Street development director and fellow writer, Whitney Scharer.
Grub Street was born from writers dissatisfied with masters of fine arts degree programs. “Those programs are often filled with elitists focused on high literary fiction,” said Scharer.
Grub Street was founded in 1997 within the living room of Eve Bridburg, who had worked in nonprofits in San Francisco, farmed in Oregon, and managed an international bookstore in the Czech Republic before moving to Boston to attend Boston University’s creative writing program on a teaching fellowship.
Modeling it after the Loft in Minnesota, she founded Grub Street in order to create a supportive yet rigorous place to study writing beyond the halls of academia, and to bring writers together to form a community. She grew Grub Street into a nonprofit arts organization in 2001, and it’s one of about a dozen such writing groups that exist nationwide.
An active board member, Bridburg is now a literary agent. Its advisory council includes notable local authors Steve Almond, Arthur Golden, Sue Miller, Susan Orlean, and Tom Perrotta.
The actual Grub Street is a street in London once known for its hack writers.
As for this 2,700-square-foot fourth floor space, one thinks of the old joke, “What’s black and white and red all over?” The Grub Street headquarters is decorated with bright red walls and couches and doors in a space with several classrooms, a kitchen with plenty of coffee, a bookcase full of novels written by teachers and members, and a library of books to help the writers hone their craft. Even the bathroom door is literary: its chalkboard interior door engages creativity by harnessing the need to graffiti a bathroom, but these scribbles are perhaps discarded sentences such as, “In the dark I see a light,” and “Sharp as attack,” and perhaps a spurned freelancer writing, “F.U., Men’s Health.”
“We take writing very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves very seriously,” said Castellani. “We’re doing serious work but we’re not scratching our beards or being really dark. People doing romance novels sit next to a mystery writer, and they have something to give each other. We don’t discriminate against any genre.”
Grub is supported through workshops, grants, and donors, and several levels of membership fees. When Scharer started with Grub five years ago, membership was at 200. Today, it’s at 1,000, with 8,000 names in its database.
With a staff of four, and interns from Emerson College, Grub Street prides itself with being THE writer’s resource. “We do this to give back to the community,” said Castellani, author of “A Kiss from Maddalena” and “The Saint of Lost Things”. “We don’t think they pay a lot to get high-quality instruction. We aim to give MFA level workshops at community center prices. We’re less than a Harvard extension course, more than an adult education class. We don’t offer pottery or Egyptian cooking here. There’s no journalism here. It’s all creative writing.”
The teachers also get a lot of benefit from working with Grub.
“Grub is the reason I stay in Boston,” said veteran Grub teacher Jenna Blum, who is author of New York Times best-seller “Those Who Save Us.”
“It is the best, most supportive writers' community anywhere. It's a lifeline for me and for my novel students, many of whom are now on their way to being published. Vive, Grub!”
The writers are famous and soon to be famous, or just weekend writers. They are coming here on their lunch hours and weeknights and weekends. They are parents and elderly and kids. There’s a teen program, too.
They come for one-on-one consulting, writing support groups, structured classes, and just time to write within a group. It is said that writing is a lonely profession, but it doesn’t have to be.
“There’s a sense of community here,” said Scharer, who has written short stories and is working on the first draft of a multigenerational novel that begins in the 1940s. “I found a home, I’m with my people.”
Many writers enjoy writing in a group setting, even when there’s no opportunity for feedback. “It motivates you when everyone else is clicking away,” said Scharer. “Everyone’s working, and you feel really inspired. There is like this dignity. They get to be taken seriously as writers for the first time in their lives. Everyone understands the struggle of [creating] chapter 1.”
They recalled one class attendee who received a lot of feedback, not all of it positive, on his memoir. “He was like, ‘Great, bring it on,’” said Scharer. “He said Grub Street changed his life. He was just writing a memoir he was going to give to his grandkids. He’s now writing it as a serious work.”
That writer, Gerald Zeitlin, is an anesthesiologist from Chestnut Hill, who had been writing about medical history for years. “In my opinion, it is one of Boston's intellectual jewels. I have written non-fiction medical history for many years but always knew I had stories to tell,” he said.
He discovered Grub Street three years ago.
“Not only do they teach creative writing extraordinarily well, but they do it in an environment of openness and discipline wrapped in an envelope of support and friendship, if you'll excuse that weird metaphor,” he said. “Now I have a novel nearing completion.”
Workshops help writers with their writing skills, such as how to shape a story. But fellow writers also help keep each other on deadline. “Nobody cares, no one is breathing down their necks, saying ‘Finish that novel, mom, or sister,’” said Castellani. “It’s just a feeling that it matters.”
Grub is not for the dilettante, however. “We want them to be writers,” said Scharer. “We tell them, ‘You have the potential.’” As for the less serious writers? “Those people just don’t come back,” said Castellani. “The intro classes are a jumpstart into writing, and so there are short exercises to practice writing, to get feedback. Not everyone is doing a book. Some are just doing it for fun.”
There are pre-requisites to advance to higher levels of classes, and that’s where they see the dropouts. “We’d rather lose a writer than keep people in a class where they don’t fit. We have no problem telling people, ‘This is not right for you,’” said Castellani.

City Councilor-at-Large Sam Yoon has entered the race for mayor of Boston over the weekend, joining fellow at-Large Councilor Michael Flaherty and South End businessman Kevin McCrea in their bid to unseat 16-year incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino.
"This weekend, my wife Tina and I spent some time talking about what a mayoral race would mean for our family," Yoon wrote in a statement. "We reached a decision. We prayed about it, and I am going to be entering the race for mayor."
Yoon, who represents all nine districts in the city of Boston, became the first Asian-American elected to the Boston City Council in 2005.
He was re-elected in 2007 and finished third citywide with endorsements from City Councilor Sal LaMattina and Senator Anthony Petruccelli. Now he's hoping to parlay his citywide success and the nation's call for change into a bid for mayor.
During the U.S. presidential election, Yoon caught the attention of Democratic Party leaders and was selected by Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Howard Dean to serve on the party's Convention Rules Committee.
Yoon, a popular at-large councilor, served on the committee for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo.
“Sam Yoon and our other outstanding appointees reflect the great strength, diversity and energy of the Democratic Party, and I’m confident their efforts will ensure our convention in Denver is reflective of our shared values and our nominee’s vision for America,” Dean said of Yoon.
Only 25 party leaders and elected officials nationwide are chosen to serve on the rules committee.
Yoon has degrees from Princeton University and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and an extensive background in community development and affordable housing.
He began his professional career as a project manager for Community Builders, the nation's largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing. From there, Yoon worked for numerous community-based nonprofits in the Boston area, including Boston Aging Concerns, an organization focused on housing for families where grandparents are the primary caregivers, and Abt Associates, a leading public policy research firm.
Most recently, Yoon served as development director for Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC), working to create affordable housing in Boston's Chinatown.
Through these organizations, he managed development projects ranging from eight bedrooms to 251 units, from $1 million to $88 million in size and scope. He has worked on projects in Cambridge, Somerville, Newton, the Cape, Dorchester, Roxbury, and Chinatown.
As a city councilor, Yoon has written legislation that would secure an additional $35 million for public safety, coined as “Nickel for Public Safety,” and has continually fought to invest in the future of our youth through violence prevention programming.
He is the chairman of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee and Youth Affairs Committee.
Yoon, his wife Tina, and their two children live in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yoon came to this country with his parents when he was ten months old. At 10 years old, he became a naturalized U. S. citizen.

For the past six months, the Back Bay Architectural Commission’s guidelines have been reviewed and updated, and many businesses are waiting with bated breath for the approved version to debut within the next few weeks.
The guidelines committee is composed of members of the Back Bay Architectural Commission, the Newbury Street League, Neighborhood Association of Back Bay, and the Back Bay Association. No one wanted to comment on what changes are being proposed, although the draft is finished and should be voted on in the next week or so.
One thing’s for sure - there are many Back Bay businesses that cannot wait for changes to come.
“This is a big thing for business,” said Joyce Hampers, president of the Newbury Street League. “You can’t do anything on the street without the input of the commission. They can pretty much stop anything.”
The problem, said Hampers, is that there has never been anything actually in writing for years, so businesses must go before the commission several times, thus racking up delays and expenses, such as hourly legal and design fees. In this economy, businesses can’t afford this, she said.
“The Back Bay Architectural Commission is operating on almost subjective guidelines – it’s like it’s in the eye of the beholders. They created these guidelines way back when, but they never really published them and nobody knew what they were,” she added.
So when a builder or architect wants to make a change, they come in unprepared, and have to come back with changes at least once. “They have nothing to go by,” said Hampers. “We told the mayor this is impeding business. Everyone’s time is wasted. Nobody wants to jeopardize the street, but we have to do business and you have to have guidelines before they spend a lot of money going down that path. We have to come up with something people can rely on. It won’t be long before they have it adopted. It will be a good help to business.”
One business owner who couldn’t wait anymore is Helena Collins, owner of Life in Synergy Fitness Studio at 867 Boylston Street. She wanted to hang a flag on one of the two flagpoles she has rights to as a tenant on the second floor of her Boylston Street exercise studio. However, her request was rejected immediately at the hearing, she said. “My flag is not allowed,” she said, but pointed out that other flags hang in front of Back Bay businesses, such as the Berklee café at 939 Boylston Street, American Apparel, and the Kingsley schools.
“It was dismissed with prejudice, which means I can’t appeal the decision. My only option is to sue, and I can’t represent myself as a corporation, so I have to hire a lawyer,” said Collins.
She filed for a lawsuit January 20, but has yet to serve the architectural commission. “Everyone says, ‘You’re going to lose,’” she said.
She said the flag restriction limits her second-floor studio’s exposure. She was told she could put a sign in her window, but she said a ledge in front of the window blocks the view to anyone but a pedestrian across the street standing in the Prudential Center’s courtyard. “It’s like they want me to fail,” she said.
On top of it, she called Back Bay Architectural Commission Chair William Young “dismissive and rude”.
Young said he hadn’t heard of the lawsuit being filed and was therefore unable to comment by deadline.

Maybe you heard that Tollhouse cookies started here. But did you know that the first chocolate factory started in Dorchester? That we invented the hot fudge sundae?
Learn about all things cocoa with a three-hour narrated tour of Boston chocolate purveyors. If you're lucky, you can book a tour for this Valentine's Day, or at least give your sweetheart tickets to a future tour.
On a tour which I took recently, tour guide Jeff Semeraro takes a trolleyful of us chocolaholics on stops to three dining rooms for chocolate treats, but first, he starts with a little lesson in chocolate.
Visitors get a taste of chocolates from Beacon Hill Chocolates, and Somerville chocolate company Taza Chocolate, the only maker of 100 percent stone ground chocolate in the United States.
Semeraro taught us that the higher the cocoa content, the healthier chocolate can be. For centuries, some civilizations considered chocolate to have medical value, and there's some truth to that, he said. It's an antioxidant, among other things, but stick to the darkest chocolates.
We learned about where chocolate comes from, and we looked at photos of the chocolate-making process and cacao trees. He passed around cacao pods with beans inside. It takes 400 pods to create one pound of chocolate, he said.
Between stops, the tour guide also taught us the origins of Hershey's, Mars Bars and M&Ms, Lindt, and other famed chocolatiers, about the ancient Aztecs who literally killed for hot chocolate, and what white chocolate is made of. We learned about the virtuousness of Cadbury and Hershey, the patriotism of Mars bars, and where the origin of the heart-shaped valentine box.
Speaking of valentines, chocolate IS an aphrodisiac. "It is more than a myth," said our tour guide. "It does increase the libido."
Chocolate in milk arrived in the colonies at a local pharmacy, and later, a Boston entrepreneur invented a method of grinding the beans, at the Baker factory in Dorchester. "Since the American Revolution, not much has changed in the world of chocolate," said the guide.
Our trolley arrived first at the Sheraton entrance to the Prudential Center, where a Chef Magnifique greeter ran up to our door, welcomed us and walked us to the elevators.
From 52 floors high, the chef seated us, and we dined on chocolate pastries and sipped tea while enjoying the vast city view in a private dining room. The dessert changes weekly. We had three pastries, including an espresso mousse with pistachios and gold leaf on gingerbread crust.
The next stop was at the Omni Parker House Hotel, the oldest continually operated hotel in the U.S. We were warned to not ask for tempting seconds of their famous Boston creme pie -- we needed to pace ourselves for the rest of the trip. He also recommended that we drink plenty of water to help our digestion.
The Omni's director of marketing gave a brief history of the hotel, relating stories about famous guests such as John F. Kennedy, former workers that included baker Ho Chi Min and waiter Malcolm X, along with trivia about the hotel's famous rolls, scrod and pie.
Last stop: The Langham's unique Chocolate Bar buffet, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary and now offers more than 170 desserts - whipped and fudgy, frozen and warm, baked and flambee'd. Offerings change, but this week included chocolate crème brulee, a chocolate fountain, French Opera Cake, Chocolate Risotto with pomegranate seeds, several flavors of hot chocolate, a penny candy stand, and a Make Your Own Chocolate Bar stand with such ingredients as ginger, sesame seeds and pistachios. There's even gluten-free and sugar-free offerings, vegan items, and for an extra fee, chocolate martinis.
"It's more than a buffet," said our host. "There are tables and tables of chocolate."
With all those choices, there were several methods of attack. The waitress, Mesut Coskun, recommended walking around the room to scope out the offerings, and told us that we should definitely try the chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce and the hazelnut crème cake.
Some tour guests decided to have just a few desserts.
A 5-year-old visitor was happy with the cotton candy dusted with cocoa, and a chocolate crepe stuffed with gummy bears. This writer filled her plate a few times with about 20 items, and had the tiniest bite of each to taste as much as possible in the hour we were there. The favorite: tres leches mousse.
The tour guide wrapped up with a list of his own favorites - Green and Black's, Chick's Chocolates, and Dagoba, and a final nod to another great dessert spot not on the tour, Finale's at the Park Plaza.
Semeraro leads other tours, but loves this one, which has been running for 12 years. "I try to tell people that chocolate is not just something we consume, but it's a healthy treat that helps with heart circulation," he said.
What better gift for your heart's desire than chocolate - or a chocolate tour?
Tours run every Saturday through April 25, twice a day at 11 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. as departing from the Trolley Stop Store at the corner of Boylston and South Charles streets. Each three-hour tour is $80 per person. Advance reservations are required. Call 617-269-7010.