The Story
Founder Writes Love on the College's Arms
In walks a young man with a grey sweatshirt, sneakers peeking out from under a pair of jeans. Pulling a chair to the center of the stage, he sat down and addressed the audience in a soft-spoken, conversational tone.
This was Jamie Tworkowski, founder of “To Write Love on Her Arms,” a non-profit movement begun with the humble mission to treat a friend’s addiction. It developed into a nation-wide provider of hope and resource for help regarding depression, self-injury, addiction and suicide.
Tworkowski visited the College Feb. 4 in the Sadler Center Commonwealth to give a presentation entitled "Pain, Hope, Questions, and Community: An Evening With To Write Love On Her Arms,” followed by a Q & A and an opportunity to meet him.
AMP’s Contemporary and Cultural Issues Committee hosted the event. According to chairperson Caitlin Clements (’11), Tworkowski’s presence in person was very much like his presence on stage.
“I thought it was a testament to his personality. He was truly humble and grateful…. He took the time to know everyone by their first name,” Clements said.
Where did the title originate? Like many things, it all started with a dream - and a snappy T-shirt. In order to pay for a friend, Renee, to get treatment for her cocaine addiction, Tworkowski and his friends took her story of struggle and addiction to MySpace. The story shares the movement’s title, named so because when Renee first came to them, she had carved “Fuck Up” into her arms.
“It wasn’t a matter of profanity, it’s a matter of identity. This is how she saw herself, and this is how she saw her future,” Tworkowski said. “[The name is about] believing something in the face of identity questions, believing you can move on and move forward.”
The movement gained popularity when Switchfoot, then on tour performing their hit “Meant to Live,” wore the T-shirt and gave a quick shout-out. It was a five second plug, including the basics and the website, but the MySpace page received messages upon messages of people in all stages of struggling with addiction, depression, and self-mutilation.
“You hear so much about the worst of the internet, but we have seen the best of the internet,” Tworkowski said.
The internet community remains the primary outreach of the movement, providing links, phone numbers, and resources. On Nov. 13, an event titled “To Write Love on Her Arms Day” was attended by millions of users on Facebook - and TWLOHA has no idea who originated it. This event, however, was one of the things that caught AMP’s attention.
“We first noticed the Facebook event, and that an increasing number of students were being involved with it. There was a lot of murmuring and talking about the movement. Around the same time, we had been talking to his agent, who only happened to bring him up,” Clements said.
Around that time, TWLOHA had received the mtvU Woodie award, voted on by college-aged students. Tworkowski won the “Good Woodie,” against Alicia Keys (Keep a Child Alive) and Wyclef Jean (Yele Haiti). Having just talked at Old Dominion University several months before, AMP had a good reference and popularity to back up their decision to bring him to campus.
His conversation at the college began with his personal experience, building a lucrative career in Quicksilver and Hurley apparel. Tworkowski described how empty it felt, travelling the country and settling merchandise - and how a coworker, Zeke, suddenly committed suicide. During the evening, Zeke’s girlfriend Nichole was brought to stage.
“It’s not a white people issue, not an emo issue - this is part of being human. These instances transcend, we all deal with pain and we all have to cope,” Tworkowski said.
During the following question and answer session, several people came forward, some to ask about the future of the organization, some to ask for ways to support it, and others to express the extent of their gratitude for what the movement has meant to them, and helped them through their own personal struggles.
Students seeking resources for depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide can refer to their website - www.twloha.com - as well as campus counseling services (http://www.wm.edu/offices/counselingcenter).