I captured one of the most amazing moments of my life, today. It was one of those moments, you know, that you just keep with you forever. The room was raging with the angry words of my peers- my classmates that I feel like I am the most close. No, the sense of closeness isn't from being crammed in the smallest classroom on campus, but because we're in a creative writing workshop. Non-fiction. So, from reading my classmates most personal thoughts on their lives in their essays, I feel close to them. Our professor, Dr. Braziel, had been talking about "Writer's in Motion" coming to visit our class. These writers are traveling the world "exploring the rise and fall of America." These writers are suppose to be our role-models; they were suppose to inspire us to get out there and write; They were suppose to be our peers! Fellow writers, eh? Instead, they supposedly came with a preconceived idea of Birmingham and attacked my classmates with questions, and then they ridiculed my classmates for their answers in their blog. The blogger wrote:
" I noticed that there were no black students in the class --no future black writers to write about the Birmingham future, or past. As I listened to the students, I couldn't help remembering the photo that I'd seen this morning, on the front page of The Birmingham Times, of a black man hanging from a tree. A supposed suicide."
The writer failed to mention (what my classmates and I would consider) crucial information such as the hanging happened in Mississippi last year, not in Birmingham. The writer failed to research because there are African American students in the class. They just happened to not be there to witness this fiasco of a class. These writers came to our city, our classroom, to inspire us. What they did was bash us with their assumptions and criticized us for wanting to write good things about our city, rather than the dark past. Last night, when I first read the blog, I thought to myself, who are these people to write negatively about us when they were here to inspire us; they don't inspire me! But they did. They taught me a valuable lesson about writing based on my assumptions. They taught me to never write without doing my research. They inspired me to be a better writer. As I walked into my classroom today, all of the classmates' words were hot from betrayal and hurt, the moment was one that will remain with me. My classmates, that I have came to have the most gorgeous respect for, were all coming together and standing up for one another... then I thought back to Birmingham's past of segregation, racism, and the fight for Civil Rights... The world still has a long way to come, but today, I walked into a classroom where people came together and stood up for what was right. People from all walks of life, male and female, black and white. Standing together in unison for an issue we all believe in. It gave me hope... and it was beautiful.
4 comments:
When Jim gave us the lecture, it felt more heartfelt and less lecturey. I really thought of us as a team and he as our coach. (Maybe we should call him coach?) It really was beautiful. I've got to say this is my favorite all time class and it has given me a new found respect for nonfiction.
this post made me emotional :]
i feel the same way, angel...i feel so close to our class now. not that i didn't before, because nonfiction is...hard to say the least. i feel like i know so much about everyone that maybe even people very close to them don't even know
Awww...This post makes me feel emotional too. I have never been in a class before where everyone rallied together. I just feel safe around you guys, especially since we have all shared really personal experiences and thoughts, etc. I also think that this craziness with Writers in Motion really showed us who we are, and I thought it really brought us together.
This is very heartening news. I'm just glad that some good did manage to come out of that ungainly encounter. I sincerely wish you and your classmates the best of luck in your writing.
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