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re-purposing

My original piece for this project is actually a narrative author’s note of a pictorial history book I wrote in high school. The author’s note is called “Simple Gift, Rich Return,” and details my experience writing the book, thanking those who helped me along the way. The book, titled Light the Night, tells the history of my local 60-year-old city-owned ski area through personal stories and testimonies, facts and data, dozens of historical photographs and has several overarching communal themes. The book was written for charity, and all proceeds from the book went to a non-profit I established to save the hill and keep it open for generations to come.

 

The audience of the author’s note were the book’s readers, skiers and community members young and old, as well as readers of our local newspaper, as it was also published there. Because the future of Hickory is in the hands of Traverse City’s young people, I am writing my repurposing piece for that audience. As it has been over two years since the book was published, these youth probably did not read the book. I see my audience as being adolescent (ages ten to sixteen) kids who have skied at Hickory and feel that the hill is a significant part of their lives. I am writing to convince them to join the fight for Hickory and to stand up for the hill they love so much.

 

I wrote the piece as a BuzzFeed article that details several simple, easy to read and compelling reasons why these youth should help save Hickory. I hope it inspires them and incorporates some of the hill’s history, allowing them to identify with the holistic Hickory experience and consider their own reasons to help save the hill. I hope to spur the community activism in these young people that I benefitted so much from in high school. The main challenges I have faced while writing this repurposing piece have been writing for such a young audience. I have never written something in this format before and I know BuzzFeed is very attractive to young people because it is simple, direct, entertaining and engaging. I want to ensure my readers are interested in and can relate to what I am writing. 

Below are the documents that make up my Re-Purposing project process, culminating with my final draft which is included below.

22 Reasons YOU Should Help Save Hickory

 

1. If you’ve been lucky enough to get dropped off after school at the famous Hickory Hills, or Hick, you know how it feels to ski until close under the lights. Where else can you do that for $10?

 

2. Dozens of MHSAA state champions have grown up training at Hickory, including the first female state champion in Michigan. You could be the next.

 

3. Hick was the first ski area to be lit in Michigan. Our favorite hill has been lighting up the night in downtown Traverse City for over sixty years.

 

4. Talking about childhood experiences at Hickory brings many Baby Boomers to tears.

 

5. Hickory offers safe and affordable recreation to all youth, both in the summer and winter, and current community initiatives are striving to continue this availability for years to come.

 

6. At Hick, there’s a new color ticket every day, meaning you can carefully add them to your coat and have a rainbow ticket line that’s almost as tall as you are.

 

7. Sunday races provide a fun opportunity to become a better skier and better yet, hang out with your friends while eating grilled burgers and dogs outside the lodge after the race.

 

8. At Sunday races in the 60s, there weren’t any participation ribbons…everyone who finished got a giant lollipop.

 

9. Over 30,000 people (and counting) learned to ski at Hickory Hills.

 

10. Hickory’s visionary, Larry Bensley, was dubbed the “Father of Traverse City Recreation,” and he met his wife of over fifty years in middle school skiing under what he calls Hickory’s “romantic lights.”

 

11. Like Larry, maybe you met your significant other under the lights at Hickory…if not, you still might!

 

12. City residents skied for FREE at Hickory Hills from 1951 to 1958. The first season pass, in the form of a colorful shoulder patch, cost fifty cents for children and only $1 for adults.

 

13. Hickory is Michigan’s only city-owned ski area in Michigan.

 

14. If you took ski lessons at Hickory in 1955, Stein Ericksen, the famous Olympic Gold medalist from Norway, was your coach.

 

15. As you probably know, Hickory offers several programs through the Grand Traverse Ski Club including Learn to Ski, Instructional Clinics, a Middle School Race team, USSA race clinics, and Sunday races. 

 

16. After all, as Lauren Vaughn, City of Traverse City Parks and Recreation Superintendent states, “How can you put a price on youth recreation?”

 

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