BSU- WC: A Personal Chicken Soup for the Soul

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.   -----Sam Ewing

We're nearing the halfway point in the semester and the training wheels are officially off!  The babes of the center, aka 303-ers have been unleashed to take on the needs of BSU's writers.  This week I had the pleasure of helping two writers--one senior English major, and one sophomore nursing major.  Both with insanely difficult topics for their essays and completely different understandings of their assignment.  

What I found in my first session of the week ( a drop-in to replace my no-show) was that even though she was two years ahead of me in academia (overwhelming to say the least)--I took the experience as an opportunity to sit back and witness how the writer truly felt about her work:  she knew her piece inside and out.  What I've noticed in "ride alongs" is that sometimes, the writers aren't invested in their own work--they fulfilled an assignment's word count, pre-requisite source material, etc. without any retention of what they should be learning from the act of completing the assignment.  

My writer not only knew the material, she knew what she agreed with and disagreed with and could talk about the work without referencing her paper.  It was very refreshing to find that much passion for literary analysis on a Wednesday afternoon.  She taught me more about how to invest in my own work--not only at the center, but also in my writing, personal tasks, and in general.  Her enthusiasm for learning was infectious (she even tweeted about the Writing Center, so cool).  I went into our session slightly concerned that maybe I was ill-equipped to offer any sort of advice (she needed a second set of eyes and ears for clarity--she doubled down on her Adderall and was worried that her paper was going in circles, lol).  Reading her paper back to her helped each of us--she was comfortable with stopping me to fix what she knew she needed to fix, and I was comfortable stopping and collaborating on rephrasing and summarizing her analysis for my own personal understanding (Death in Venice was the main topic, mixed with a deconstructionalist criticism of the work, multiplied by her own deconstruction of the scholarly work=my mind blown).

The last session I had this week revolved around more literary analysis but at an early level of understanding. The chief concern was that the analysis upstairs (in her head) wasn't transferring accurately on paper.  What I loved about this writer was she wasn't afraid to disclose how the text affected her as a reader; she dove into the narrative with gusto.  When I asked her to talk about the works she was comparing, tears shined in her eyes as she was describing each text.  This was my hook--my way of showing her how to pull back out of the narratives and take a look at the methods each writer was using to create the impact she experienced.  

It did take longer than thirty minutes to make sure she had an understanding of how to articulate on paper what the author's rhetorical strategies were, how to compare and contrast them in a balanced way, but what I thought was great was her enthusiasm.  She wasn't there with me to try to get a stronger paper; she was there to become a stronger writer, to gain a better understanding of what her responsibilities are when reading and analyzing text, and to hopefully find a way to apply this learning to her field of study, nursing.  She was so dedicated to her session, I couldn't have asked for a more engaged writer.  I loved working with her because we were able to discuss at length the global revision then touch on some sentence level formatting, phrasing, etc toward the end.  It felt like a well rounded session.

I can only hope that my enthusiasm for helping others shined through during the session for them.  Each of these writers, although different in there skills as writers, were such a joy to work with that now I worry that perhaps I could have done more to match their passion for writing.  I felt that they were meant to be my clients this week.  I really needed to work with these writers--some personal demands have been weighing on me and continue to have a bearing on my own performance on campus.  

My sessions this week renewed my passion for writing, for learning, and I plan to carry these two experiences with me into this week, with the hope that they will offer me even more as the personal stuff presses on.  I can't help but be grateful for my time working at the Writing Center.  From the people I get to work with to the writers that continue to amaze me--they all culminate into my own "chicken soup for my soul".  I just hope that the impact this place has on me reflects back through my own BSinteractions with others as well.