By LAUREN HALLIGAN
News Editor
This year’s National Day on Writing was all about connecting. Writing in different cultures was Thursday’s theme as Saint Rose celebrated the many forms of writing that brings people together. Established by the National Council of Teachers of English, National Day on Writing is an officially recognized national day to show and appreciate writing of all sorts.
In addition to the day’s message of connecting internationally, National Day on Writing is meant to serve as a reminder to students that there is a world of writing beyond academia, event director and Writing Center coordinator Kristina Dufel said.
“Writing isn’t just writing essays, its writing to express yourself,” said Dufel.
In a technology-ridden day in age, Dufel wanted to remind students that, while they may not realize it, tweeting is writing too. The holiday’s official hashtag was #write2connect, which was tweeted nationally throughout the day.
At Saint Rose, different activities in the main lounge included words searches, crosswords, word box creations (grab handful of random words from a box and rearrange to make sentence), a challenge to write a six word memoir on a post-it note, and a graffiti wall at the bottom of the dining hall stairs. All the activities were designed to incorporate languages other than English, to honor the day’s theme. All daytime events were sponsored by The College’s Writing Center in conjunction with the Writing Across Curriculum Committee.
Dufel said that of the day’s activities, “The graffiti was has been a really big hit.” This was Dufel’s first year in charge of Saint Rose’s National Day on writing activities.
Event volunteer Dana Iannizotto said that the graffiti wall is a medium “for people to express themselves with whatever kind of message they want to send.”
To go along with the multilingual writing theme, by the end of the day the graffiti wall had writing in English, Spanish, French, as well as drawings and even a mathematic equation. Notable phrases students wrote on the wall included “All you need is love,” “Discover your flaws and then embrace them,” and “If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?”
An array of children’s bilingual books was displayed in the lounge to exemplify the connection between writers of all languages, with the message that “Picture books have global appeal.” Among these was internationally acclaimed poet and writer Rigoberto González’s bilingual book Antonio’s Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio. Saint Rose was proud to welcome González as this year’s National Day on Writing special guest.
González was invited to read and present his bilingual works by The College’s writing group Frequency North. González is a poet and Chicano/Latino activist writer who presented Thursday evening in the EAC as part of the club’s visiting writer series. Frequency North is celebrating its ninth season, complete with a fully scheduled series of events, which can be found at www.frequencynorth.com.
González has authored three books of poetry two bilingual children’s books, young adult novels in The Mariposa Club series, and the novel Crossing Vines (2003), as well as non-fiction work and a Latino book column for the El Paso Times. He is on the advisory circle of Con Tinta, a collective of Chicano/Latino activist writers.
During a late afternoon talk with González, he shared words of wisdom on his writing process and advice to aspiring writers. “If you want to be a writer, you have to learn to love revisions,” he said. He also encouraged students to infuse themselves into their writing by using first person narration.
His later presentation included a reading from his books of poetry, including his most recent works. The author shared powerful readings about his relationship with his father, who passed away in 2006. Copies of González’s latest work were available for purchase and signing at the free and public event.
Although held on a college campus, National Day on Writing is designed to encompass all forms of expressive writing. In the midst of the day’s many events, “We’re celebrating writing, not just academic writing,” Dufel said.
