Jennifer Vill Nickname: Jenn, Jennie
Year: 2009
Major: speech pathology; minor: writing
Areas of special interest or experience you've had as a writing consultant: any speech pathology course, personal narratives are always of interest
Where you're from: Marlboro (Monmouth County), New Jersey Recent reads: A Grief Observed and The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis, The Lost Years by Kristina Wandzilak Music you like: anything Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billy Joel Favorite TV show: Friends for its quirky, comical representation of life, albeit entirely far-fetched, a source of perpetual comedy What is the worst thing that has ever happened to you as a writer, a reader or a student? I was forced to take ownership of work that was not mine . . .
For my high school newspaper I was assigned to cover the coffeehouse. I was instructed to get interviews from the bands, artists and individual musicians. I was up until four in the morning finishing this story.
When I went to pick up the edited version at lunch, I glanced down towards the table. The moderator re-wrote my entire story, in pen. He didn’t salvage one scrap of my work. Everything was changed: words, paragraphs and the general angle of my story. I never felt so violated in my life. Apparently, all I was good for was giving him words that would be created into his story. What right did he have to do this?
I approached him after school seeing what my next step should be. With a coy laugh he said, "Yeah, Jenn, no big deal. Just type this up and it’s fine.” I was enraged. I explained to him that I didn’t mind typing the story; however, I refused to write By JENNIFER VILL at the top of the paper. The words were simply not mine. He told me to stop being silly and that it was my story. When we write we have already placed ownership on the words. The thought about what we write about has already become internalized; ownership is subconscious. What has been your favorite course at Loyola? All of my writing classes have been wonderful experiences; all succeeded in imparting knowledge about the many areas, types and purposes of writing—all with motivated students and professors who truly love writing.
My favorite class so far has been Dr. Dobler’s Creative Eye. It was in this class that I learned not only how to write, but how to actively read and converse about my peers’ work. We learned how to revise and, in result, how to effectively mesh the styles and voices of other writers into our own writing. |
