Avast, ye scurvy scalawags! If ye be shipwrecked without yer eye patch or McSweeney's literary anthology, lay down ye dubloons and claim yer booty at this here nonprofit Pirate Store. Below decks, kids be writing tall tales for dark nights a'sea, and ye can study making video games and magazines and suchlike, if that be yer dastardly inclination. Arrrr!
This eccentric pirate supply store selling eye patches, spyglasses and McSweeney's literary magazines fronts a nonprofit offering free writing workshops and tutoring for youth. 'No buccaneers! No geriatrics!' warns the sign above the vat of sand where kids rummage for buried pirates' booty. Found treasure is theirs to keep, in exchange for barter at the front counter – a drawing, maybe, or a knock-knock joke. Yank open wooden drawers organized according to pirate logic: a drawer marked 'illumination' holds candles, 'thump' is full of mallets. But leave the tub o' lard well enough alone, or you might get mopped – a pirate hazing ritual that involves a trap door, a mop and the element of surprise.
Before you leave, step behind the velvet curtain into the Fish Theater, where a blue-eyed and smirking (yes, smirking) puffer fish is immersed in Method acting. The ichthyoid antics may not be quite up to Sean Penn standards, but as the sign says, 'Please don't judge the fish.' Check the calendar for evening writing workshops ranging from perfume-inspired fiction to neighborhood oral history projects.
