By LAUREN SEARS
News Editor
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On Monday Oct. 20, the College of Saint Rose along with the rest of the United States will be celebrating National Day on Writing. National Day on Writing is a recent holiday- this year marks the sixth. According to the National Council of Teachers of English’s website, the holiday “draws attention to the remarkable variety of writing we engage in, and to help writers from all walks of life recognize how important writing is to their lives.”
The day also emphasizes the lifelong process of learning to write and composing for different audiences, purposes and occasions and encourages Americans to write and enjoy and learn from the writings of others, says the NCTE website.
Saint Rose was one of the first colleges in the nation to celebrate National Day on Writing. “It puts us in a conversation with the national organization that oversees what we do, and we were in the New York Times last year for tweeting as a part of the conversation,” said Shirlee Dufort, the new director of the Writing Center. Dufort is celebrating her first National Day on Writing at Saint Rose.
Every year there is a theme for the day. The national theme is Write My Community, while the theme at Saint Rose is writing to connect. The themes of both the national celebration and local celebrations have one goal: to connect. “It focuses how we can use writing as a part of service for our community,” says Dufort.
Another reason why National Day of Writing wants to connect with community is because writing can be very lonely, according to Robert Shane. “It’s uplifting to break from the isolation of typing at one’s desk at home and join together with one’s peers in the college writing community. It helps us to remember that we write so our voices can be heard by others when we can see each other and celebrate writing together,” said Shane. He is both an art and English professor at Saint Rose.
The Writing Across the Curriculum Committee (also known as WAC), is the committee on campus that plans the National Day on Writing celebrations. They begin planning for the next year’s celebrations right after the current year’s National Day of Writing is finished.
“The planning is a collaboration of faculty, librarians, undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and administrators across the college,” says Shane. “One of the wonderful things about NDoW is that it is not limited to only English professors or English majors. Even professors in Mathematics and Studio Art assist. Those might not be the first disciplines that come to mind when we think of writing, but those professors know the importance of writing for their students and in their own lives. Writing is everywhere.”
Some of the festivities for the day include journalism students writing articles live on a screen. “The reason why I think this is really important for all students, even those who struggle writing can see the writing process of a writer looks like… when they see that process it helps them to understand that their process is very similar to somebody who considers themselves a writer,” said Dufort.
There will also be activities including word games, writing cards to veterans, haiku cubes, six word memoirs and many more events. There is going to be an open mic as well, where students can read their own work. Frequency North and the English Club are also reading throughout the day.
To connect on Oct. 20, tweet with the hashtags #stroseconnects and #writemycommunity. The celebrations for National Day on Writing will be held in the Main Lounge of the Events and Athletics Center from 9am-4:30pm.
