Writing Colleagues

By Mary Hanrahan ‘22 and Abby Leyson ‘22 Staff Writer

On September 5th, the Writing Colleagues program held its first professional development workshop of the year with a focus on antiracist pedagogical practices. The five-hour long program involved remarks given by various members of the program, several group activities, large group discussions, and a presentation by visiting speaker Alex Hanson. The large group discussions were led by current writing colleagues, Litzy Bautista ’22 and Nuzhat Wahid ’22. The workshop was organized by Writing Colleague program directors Professor Hannah Dickinson, Professor Amy Green, and Professor Ben Ristow, of the Writing and Rhetoric department, along with the assistance of the Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, Ingrid Keenan and Writing Colleague program intern, Ani Freedman. The program addressed the urgent need for a change in writing colleague practices to adapt to a reforming curriculum centered around antiracism. As articulated by Writing Colleague program director, Hannah Dickinson, this workshop was an essential step in the reformation of Writing Colleague practices, redefining and reinforcing the antiracist ideals that serve as its foundation. “In many ways the Writing Colleagues program, at least when I started working with it in 2011, has always had antiracist and social justice commitments. Students that take the Writing Colleagues seminar 8

are exposed to issues of language, justice, and conversations about the ways that standardized English can work to exclude people. Questions of power in education have always been central to our work,” said Dickinson to the Herald. These changes to the pedagogical strategies have been in gestation for a long time, but the program desires to have these antiracist practices instilled in the Writing Colleague philosophy to serve as a more explicit foundation to the program. “It was really the demands of the Rising Panthers and the growing student activism on campus as well as committee efforts from multiple groups of faculty members such as FEMCOC, COVID on Campus, the CET, and especially the proposal for revising the first-year experience,” Dickinson told the Herald. “All of that together made me realize that antiracist and other social justice aims of the Writing Colleagues program, while they may be clear in my head, may not be explicit in the heads of Writing Colleagues and faculty in the ways that I think life in 2021 requires.” This semester, 24 out of 28 Writing Colleagues are in Freshman Seminar (FSEM) placements, highlighting the importance of the program’s influence on the first-year experience at HWS. At the beginning of the workshop, the demands of grassroots student activist group, the Rising Panthers, were projected on a screen for the program to clarify the needs of the community within a cultural context. Per the opening statements of the workshop, “It is out of this context that we find the exigence for this workshop: as a program we are hopeful that the larger institution will take seriously the Rising Panther’s demands and will make some progress in all areas, particularly those related to the first-year experience of which Writing Colleagues are such an integral part.” Following the setting of intentions and ground rules, the Writing Colleagues set to work in groups to discuss values they felt were important to strengthening antiracism within the program through the lens of pedagogy. Topics of discussion included linguistic justice, resisting standardized English and its associated hegemonic linguistic ideology, and the long overdue modernization of rhetoric used to address multilingual writers. Prompted by facilitators Litzy Bautista ’22 and Nuzhat Wahid ’22, the group addressed scenarios of how to employ antiracism in a conference setting and within the context of the revision process. There was also discussion surrounding a Writing Colleague’s responsibility to reduce harm in the conference setting for both themselves and their students. Amidst discussions with Bautista and Wahid, the notions of linguistic discrimination and its damages were a significant concern. Resistant to the colonial practices of standard English was emphasized as the theme for the day. Alex Hanson, doc-

toral candidate for Composition and Cultural Rhetoric at Syracuse University, presented upon these notions. Hanson provided the Writing Colleagues with updated rhetoric, a definition of linguistic justice, and a PowerPoint outlining the oppressive nature of stigmatizing accented English, standardizing white mainstream English, and marginalization of multilingual writers. Education, as depicted by the directors of the Writing Colleague program, can be a space for both liberation and oppression. On the aims and outcomes of this workshop, Dickinson emphasized Writing Colleague action, stating to Photo Courtesy Office of Communications the Herald, “One concrete outcome of the workshop and our work this year will be an action plan from the Writing Colleague program and an articulation of our antiracist values that will be collaboratively authored with the writing colleagues.” The important outcomes of the workshop will take form through resistance to oppressive forces within the education system, including ongoing efforts to employ antiracist values as a community.

By Rafael Aguilar ‘25 Staff Writer

At the end of August, the Colleges’ first exhibit of the 2021-22 school year started with the showing of Telluric Transformations. Rebecca Murtaugh, the John and Anne Fischer Professor of Fine Arts at Hamilton College, presented 25 different sculptures. These sculptures aimed to capture the relation between nature and humanity’s manipulation of it. Entering this fall semester, this acknowledgment of humanity’s connection with the world is necessary, because nature is ever-present.

Murtaugh’s exhibition explores the sculptor’s thought process navigating the world. They present a world in plain view of humans, but also, our blindness to it. Telluric, meaning of or relating to the Earth, is a description of the sculptures which bring varied colors, hues, and textures to its audience.

Telluric Transformations reveals humanity’s capability to shape the world. Murtaugh describes that these sculptures have been pinched, paddled, and shaped to

“elicit a desire to touch... to engage our sense of curiosity with the unknown,” attempting to facilitate connections between the viewer and the Earth’s materials; the sculptures needing only creativity and commitment to shape them.

The audience engages with the artistry and completes the act: to look through the gaps and see the world as the artist does.

The general success of Murtaugh’s exhibit this month is a hopeful sign that the Davis Gallery, despite COVID-19 restrictions, can deliver on its mission: a resource for students and the greater community to witness, experience, and learn from art and architecture.

Telluric Transformations will be on exhibit until September 25th. The next exhibition: Afrofutures: Before and Beyond will be presented from October 15th to December 1st.

Opinion on Freshman Orientation

By Paulina Tejada ‘25 Staff Writer

There were many aspects of freshmen orientation that made it a memorable time for all of us first years. There was a mixed bag of fun activities, information, and new friendships. Even though many people could say that through orientation they forged new bonds with their peers, there seemed to be a disconnect between the time that we as first years were afforded to go about personal activities, there was no time for anything outside of orientation. This was the biggest downfall and ended up impacting the experience that most first-years had. It turned an experience from an enjoyable, light-hearted experience, to one that pushed people to dread having so many activities in one day.

Beginning with the first time you step on campus, the anxiety-ridden first year is only given about an hour to unpack their room, and then it was off to the first activity to meet with your designated group. While some students believed that they were given enough time to get their spaces situated, others believed that more time was necessary to properly unpack. While the time to unpack varies from person to person, it can 10

be overwhelming to rush through your unpacking to be able to arrive on time for your activity. The experience of interacting with the peers on your floor through your OM group was a positive one for most. The one complaint that seemed to be the same across the board was that there should have been more of a variety of people first-year’s had around them. Some students wished they had the opportunity to make their friends outside of the group they had been placed in, while others found the consistency useful in making new friends.

By the time that we finished the first day, some people looked back at the day to see that it was parentless. While it is necessary to create the aura of independence on the “first day of college”, some students wished they had been afforded more time with their family members. Instead of having a rushed goodbye at the end of the opening ceremony, there would have been at least an hour where parents could properly process their emotions with their child. The day for parents and students looked completely different, so after unpacking their child’s dorm they had to spend the day without them. Yet, students worked around this issue by going on a small dinner with their parents to spend some quality time with them.

After the first day, orientation took the same route by staying pretty consistent on one aspect; always having an activity to do. While some students did say that this impeded on time that they wished they had to partake in personal activities, others enjoyed having the schedule to distract them from the drastic change that they were going through. Always having the option to go out and partake in a fun activity was ideal for students who felt homesick after the first couple of days on campus.

There were many options for nightly activities that were thoroughly enjoyed by the student body. Students’ favorite night seemed to be tied between the hot air balloon and the food trucks. They were exhilarated by the opportunity to soar above the clouds, and it helped that it gave you the best view of our beautiful campus. The food trucks allowed for some choice when it came to what you wanted to eat. According to one of the students I interviewed, the PB and J truck was immaculate. On top of having options at night, there were small activities in between the bigger ones that were uplifting during times when the schedule would pile up. Snow cones after a long presentation are a great example of a small touch.

While orientation fostered many different emotions for each student, we can all agree that the best part was the amazing performance of “Let it Go” by our school’s president.

Photo Courtesy Office of Communications