The Refresh Button.

It just takes a quick press of a button, and things that seemed stagnant or stuck, become more fluid in presentation. The Writing Center experience hit a bit of a snag for me last week, but with a little confidence and a healthy body, this week turned out to be a lot better. First and foremost, I got to sit in on another consultation. Re was gracious to let me sit down in relative anonymity, and get another glimpse into the consulting process. The first thing I noticed was how Re went out of her way to make the writer feel at ease. It can be just as, if not more stressful for the writer in this process, as the fear of being judged by a jury of your peers is instilled in us at quite a young age. However, with a bit of disarming humor and a quick change of focus onto what the writer wanted out of the session, Re got the ball rolling. Re also utilized a relaxed approach to body language, thus keeping the girl from being overwhelmed by an "overeager writing beaver." Re read the piece out loud, taking the time to applaud the writer for turns of phrase which made the piece pop. The piece was a look into an idealize future career ten years down the road, and Re remarked on how well the piece displayed the girl's passion for the fairytale job as trombone player for the Boston Pops. She used these positives as a building block, effectively weaving in constructive criticisms in a manner that didn't come off as aggressive, or just plain mean. Giving her ideas which she needed to flesh out (i.e. references to where she started as a musician, crises of confidence which lead to new-found focus, etc.), Re got the writer fully engaged with her 2 page paper, sending her off with a smile and an overarching sense of diligence.
Watching this consultation got me to a point where my blood was jumping. I want a piece of this pie! Going over this week's reading, which is all about the intricate "blood and guts" details that make the consultation process "mucky," I felt ready to attack "higher order concerns" with a "active listening" style (10 POINTS for reading references :)). With a bit of providence hitting the Liberal Arts building, my fellow 303er, Mr. Ryan White, came in in need of assistance with his English 424 paper on the first chapter of Moby Dick. He was having a hard time kicking his own butt into gear, and was in need of help with the brainstorming process. I let him read is skeleton outline of what he wanted to say (remarking on the apathetic, depressive, suicidal nature of the protagonist), and we began our process trying to think of a thesis which encompassed all these qualities in an effective character study. With a bit of back and forth, and a lot of open ended questions on my part, we hit a proverbial "a-HA!" moment about 15 minutes in. Instead of Ishmael running away because he feared life, it was because he held a sense of disdain for the known qualities of life, be it death, taxes, or anything else, which fueled him to manifest his anger by running away on a whaling voyage. After working out a few more of the kinks, Ryan remarked "I figured you were the right person to talk to about this stuff," and began flying into his compositional process with a jumper cable blast. This was a neat feeling for me, and if this is part of what is in store, than I am anxious to get on with it....after my trip. :)