Writeing lab reflections

It's so nice to see people's faces again.

People have always interested me but I kind of like to have them at an arms length; being an introvert in hiding and all. Here in the tutoring lab, I very rarely meet people who I should like to meet outside of the writing lab. I usually like to get them done and out very quickly. But sometimes I think I really like people.

A student came in near the beginning of my shift today and presented me with her paper, covered in English teacher hieroglyphics. She needed a little help decoding, but mostly just a sounding board, like so many student who come to me. She was about my age. She said she had studied overseas but I was not sure if that meant she was an ESL student, or if she had just traveled. She did not write or speak like an ESL student. She may have been an ethnic minority, or she may have just had a tan. Her hair was very carefully tousled and jelled; longer and messier down the middle. She had a lip piecing and wore black, edgy clothes. She could have been an art student except she didn't seem to be trying to get attention quite as much as my art classmates do. There was something a little more thoughtful and confident about her appearance and demeanor. It is terrible to be a confident person in a vulnerable position. Like many students, she was a little unsure if she really wanted me to to tutor her. There is a faint hope that I will taker her paper and let her escape. I finally got her to sit down (next to me rather than across the table, which is pretty extraordinary) by pulling out the chair and verbally asking her to take a seat. So much for first impressions.

Her assignment was to describe a place with a function. She chose her kitchen and explained, very humorously, why it failed miserably to live up to being the heart and center of her home. It was not brilliantly written, but I could sense thought and even enjoyment behind the writing. We moved very quickly through it, working out her teacher's comments and discussing concepts and writing strategies. She seemed very intelligent and genuinely interested in making the paper her own, rather than just getting me to feed her sentences. She didn't want me to "fix" it for her and that was refreshing. I really enjoyed reading and discussion her paper, despite it's just-out-of-high-school feel. I gathered that writing sort of intimidated her. I also sensed that she could really enjoy writing with practice and confidence. Her teacher kept writing "show us" on her very detailed descriptive paragraphs. This happens a lot with English teachers. They always want more detail just as we think we have described everything. What they really want is a different kind of detail, but of course they don't say that. He was wanted her to be more specific about what why it was dangerous to open her cupboard. She left her readers' imaginations with many wide open spaces in which to play. She observed that her imagination goes wild and needs no further guidance. I told her that she ought to lead a little further us into her mind so we don't get lost. "I don't really like letting people into my mind," she said with a small smile. Neither do I. She said she felt much better about the paper when we were done.

I don't really know what it was about this girl that made her worthy of a blog post. I liked her a lot. Both of us were uneasy, in a way, because we didn't know each other. I had the advantage, since she came to me for help, and I've had a lot of practice talking to strangers in this job. But there was something friendly about it too. She is one of those people that I'm sure I could be friends with, even if we have nothing in common beyond a small, hazardous kitchen. Funny how that happens.