First I want to tell you that I made note of all the students who wrote their “plan” documents on time.

Teaching moment: Did you know the secret agenda that teachers have when they want you to write “plans”? They secretly hope that the student, themselves, will hear their own thoughts spoken “out loud.” That they will feel empowered and more focused to actually get the job done. However, I think there is more. Personally, I like to see that someone is able to speak confidently and clearly from a place in which they may at present be unsure. How often is life like that? Pretty often! So, it’s good to be ambitious. And it is also good to be able to admit that you don’t know how something will turn out yet, and still wanna try.

Secondly — Announcement: I am going to extend the submission of the Final Portfolio to midnight on May 14.

Actually, you probably wanted to hear that first. : )

So — If you already submitted UNIT 3 (and I checked that, as well), and even if you didn’t, you now have time to work on it some more.

btw: Even in a “normal” year, UNIT 3 is very rushed and students don’t have time to revise them (nor do I often get to see them before the Final Portfolio) so maybe this is a blessing in disguise.

Students,

It is with great sadness that I tell you that my brother, Joel, passed away last night. I was with him, by his side. The funeral is tomorrow in Pennsylvania and I will have my family near me.

That’s us. He is on the left. It was his birthday, but he let me cut the cake.

I want to use this as a teaching moment, in part to inspire you, but also because what I have to say is fact, and not the stuff of dreams or ambition:

Writing can and does change the world. When we are all gone, we can be assured that what we write will outlive us.

I know this because my brother wrote for a living. I know this because he would write to me, and I would write back — from a very young age. I probably learned to write my first words because of him. I didn’t want to rely on our mom to write for me. I wanted to be big, grown up.

Back then we wrote by hand or by typewriter. We put a stamp on the envelope, and then we waited for a reply.

His paragraphs were well formed. His revisions, clear. He never talked “down” to me as a little kid. I will show you:

He makes good writing look easy — and it isn’t; but I think the effort is worth the result. When I read him back then, for a moment I could forget that there was a long distance between us (we always lived far away). I forgot I was “reading” and he was “writing.” It’s like the page wasn’t there. We collapsed time and space.

Oh yeah, writing can do that, too.

Like the letter says, the same goes for all of us: “Now, it’s [our] turn to write.”

-Prof. S.

Students, in addition to contacting The Writing Center for help with UNITS 3 + 4, you may also contact Prof. Jackie Blain (who knows our curriculum inside and out, and for whom I have the utmost respect) directly.

jblainwritingcenter@gmail.com