Interview by Natasha Gonzales
Article by Jackie Velez

Calling all writers and poets! It’s time to stretch out your creativity and join the Write Spot writing workshop for Open Mic Night every third Thursday.
The workshop is headed by Andi Garcia-Linn, a writer and poet in her own right, and kicked off its inaugural Open Mic Night, Thursday, June 17, 2021, at Señor Veggie located at 620 S. Presa St. at 6:30 p.m.
Garcia-Linn, a teacher in the ESL and GED programs for NorthSide Independent School District in San Antonio, comes from a family of writers and poets.
“My mom’s a writer, my mom’s a poet, and so is my sister,” said Garcia-Linn. “It’s a family thing.”
Garcia-Linn often writes about her family, her community and the things that are going on in the world. Though there is a lot of pain in her writing, she often tries to end it on a positive note.
“I find a lot of healing in writing,” said Garcia-Linn.
Garcia-Linn created the Write Spot with a group of women who were writing and meeting up with each other via Zoom during the start of the pandemic. The group decided to meet face-to-face and extended an invitation to the community to join them for their workshop.
“This open mic night is kind of our way of opening it up,” Garcia-Linn said about the closed group.
The night began with a writing prompt for the first 30 minutes, and then devoted the rest of the time to their open mic, which started at 7 p.m. A sign-up sheet was there for artists to sign in and perform for five minutes to the attending crowd. If an artist had sensitive material that may be triggering, all that was asked was for the artist to give a trigger warning to those in attendance.
Art is such an amazing outlet and it’s great to see a group of women sharing their love for writing.
“As a poet, I find that it’s important for me to share my work and my words because I feel that it will eventually change the world,” said Garcia-Linn.
So, if you are interested in attending the workshop, join the Write Spot for their Open Mic Night at Señor Veggie located at 620 S. Presa St. at 6:30 p.m. every third Thursday.
Watch the full video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQMl-3lAjtj/