Weekly blog — two together (also, consultation #2)

I haven't posted in a while — not because I haven't had the time but because I haven't had a clear set of ideas about which to blog.

I still don't. But after our multimedia literacy presentations, my thought processes are flowing a little better regarding the foci of this course, as well as our final creative piece to our literacy narrative.

When we were first assigned the literacy narrative, I immediately began thinking about what made my "literacy journey" unique. Scott and I brainstormed a few of our ideas, and I realized that playing soccer for six years and being involved in music for ten somehow specialize the kind of person I am, and what specific talents I possess in the realm of literacy. Everyone learns how to read and write, at least those who have been accepted into MSU and are in this class, so I didn't even consider writing about and focusing on such a seemingly simple aspect of my literacy development.

The presentations last week made me see the error in my thinking. Yes, everyone learns how to read and write, albeit with slightly varied levels of expertise; however, everyone's journey is drastically different. You may be thinking, duh, right? I'm thinking duh right now, sort of. Clearly that's what Trixie wanted us to explicate; obviously she wanted us to think critically about how far we've come and what steps we took to get here. But I just wasn't thinking in that mindset, and I'm afraid that whenever I hear the word "literacy" after this class, I'll never think of it in terms of strictly reading and writing ever again.

Thanks, Writing Center. (What are people thinking about writing about for their creative literacy narrative installment?)

I'm happy for this development. The Writing Center has opened my mind in so many ways, not just in terms of writing but what writing can mean. It's amazing to see so in-depth the many degrees people are earning and the abilities they've acquired along the way. While they are using writing to expound on these abilities from time to time, I'm enlightened to how complex and unique the respective ability is.

I was planning on mainly focusing on the literacy narrative, but now I'm heading for a spiel about WC fabulousness. Get ready.

Developmental Editing

I want to be an editor. I've wanted to be an editor since I realized I didn't want to be a reporter, and I would like to think my ambition hasn't steered too far from my course of study, considering four of my current jobs revolve around the skill. What I never had before the WC was an aptitude for developmental editing. I never believed I would fully access this skill, either.

I think I proved myself wrong last Thursday.

I was tutoring a client who had composed a two-page cover letter. She first asked me to go "quickly" through the grammar mistakes so we could return to the beginning and start going over her content. For the first time in a session, I felt comfortable and confident enough to set her straight. "I'd be happy to go over a few grammatical elements with you, but correcting mistakes isn't what we do here. I'd like to instead go over your cover letter piece by piece and look at how each paragraph makes your entire cover letter work." She looked at me, nodded complacently, and we forged onward.

Now, this client didn't have many grammatical mistakes as it was. But that wouldn't have changed how I approached her cover letter — we read one to two paragraphs at a time, and I explained to her what's probably going on in her audience's mind (in this case, her potential employer's), and I asked her if this was the kind of information she wanted him or her to know most. She couldn't always give me a yes or no answer, so we tackled the tone of each paragraph and removed anything that would most simply be answered by a resume.

After the session was finished, she had a huge smile on her face and said to me, "You're a real tutor. You didn't just do grammar with me, even though I asked you. I needed a different perspective, and you gave that to me."

My heart melted a little. It's not even Christmas time (officially), and my heart was melting.

Writing Center, 4,530; me, 1

Consultation #2

So, for my second consultation session in which I was the client, I once again scheduled nothing officially. It was a spur of the moment, something I set up on the spot, because hey, we don't always have a million things to do in the WC.

I had my latest resume version. I still need to bring in my personal statement/SOP for grad school, but anyway. My audience was application readers at NYU, and I needed to make my resume shine.

I get frustrated when someone can't find stuff wrong with my pieces of writing. I realize I've been working on my resume since senior year of high school, and I've been refining and touching up duties practically on a monthly basis. But still, I was hoping for feedback that would help cut out what I didn't really need and possibly merge together a few relevant skills or jobs that communicated with the reader more concisely.

I did receive a few pointers on a few cluttered skill sentences. But the session didn't end up being what I wanted it to be.

The consultant really did try his/her hardest. I know he/she did. But resumes are trickier than traditional papers; similar to different professors, you're always going to have different employers and, in this case, an educational institution. It's a constant consideration, and the more you know, the more value there is in your content. Do I know NYU admission standards? No, not really, other than their graduate admission rate (50-60%). Does the consultant know? If I don't — and I'm the one applying — then he/she certainly doesn't.

So. We work with what we have, where we can, when we can do it.