now hear)) this! DOES

• Have a community development mandate with a cultural/arts focus;
• Link professional authors with community groups, students and aspiring writers;
• Coordinate with and cross-promotes other arts-based, literacy programs;
• Place writers in classrooms to inspire creativity and hone students' writing skills;
• Encourage self-expression and empowerment through writing;
• Develop programs to address and connect people of diverse ethnic, religious, cultural, sexual and socio-economic backgrounds;
• Address issues of marginalization, isolation, neglect/violence, poverty, lack of power and privilege, discrimination and harassment;
• Promote Canadian writing and literature through a culture of self-expression, participation and inclusion.

now hear)) this! DOES NOT

• Think that books are only good for hollowing out in order to hide evidence;
• Advocate for “MORE and BIGGER!!!” holes in the ozone layer;
• Believe that all the mannequins in the world will finally, under the cover of night, come to life, form an elaborately costumed army and then enslave human beings through a policy of thuggery, creative swordplay and the fine art of persuasion;
• Say, “How high?” when asked to jump; instead, we ask, “Why?” and complain that our feet hurt;
• Confuse infatuation for love, chimpanzees for apes, or postal stamps for food;
• Breathe noisily through our nostrils while sitting beside you on the bus;
• Smash things for fun – except things built especially for smashing, in which case, boy, do we smash ‘em… we smash ‘em good*.

* Grammatically, this should read, We smash them well – but where's the fun in that?