Rightfully Writing with Spice

Treasure Glover

 

“There is no single face in nature, because every eye that looks upon it, sees from its own angle. So every man’s spice-Box seasons his own food” (qtd. in Christian 7). Zora Neale Hurston’s words frame my approach to sessions about social justice issues since a lot of students’ “spices” are impacted by these inequalities. At the Florida A&M University Writing Resource Center (FAMU WRC), my “spice” is helping students articulate experienced and researched social justice issues through written communication. My spice-box includes: prioritizing emotional awareness, guiding students to pertinent research, and emphasizing the importance of understanding the social context of their assignments. I believe these practices help students do the work that is necessary to rightfully write about marginalized conditions.

Building daily habits that help students become more mindful of their emotional state is one way I help students write about social justice issues. One student came to my table to work on a critical analysis with a thesis proposing how sexism was evident in a particular novel. As the session started, she showed me a draft of her essay, explaining them with a shortness of breath and trembling palms. Since the campus sits on the highest of 7 hills in Tallahassee, Florida, I almost excused her behavior, thinking she may just be physically exhausted from her journey through campus. Once she finished I asked her, “How are you doing today?” She shared how nervous she was about completing the assignment and how her lack of adequate sleep was negatively impacting her emotions that day. I reassured her that she was prepared to prove her thesis and reviewed methods for completing the assignment with her. In practicing more emotional awareness and compassion during sessions, I am finding that students feel more comfortable working through their writing processes. How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching states that we can mold the emotional aspects of tutorial sessions about social justice issues in ways that are appropriate to ultimately energize students’ learning (Ambrose 6).  Although the student came in feeling emotionally drained, she left with a feeling of empowerment. She also returned a few weeks later to share that she used her spices to earn a ‘B’ on her assignment.

During one session, a student came in to work on his essay about legal cynicism. As he shared details of the assignment with me, he revealed a jaded understanding of the term legal cynicism. I asked him if he knew one of Public Enemy’s notable songs about police. Then, I started singing the chorus, “Get up, get get get down, 911 is a joke in your town,” looking over to my colleagues for assistance with naming the song. They blurted out “911 is A Joke!” In our typical FAMU WRC fashion, we spent about 5 seconds singing and dancing in our seats. The student smiled, but still looked confused. From there, I asked him questions about current events surrounding the police. Then, his understanding of the context of his assignment began to grow. He shared his personal viewpoint on legal cynicism based on what he had learned from observing and experiencing it. Once he shared his viewpoint, the session transitioned smoothly to conversations about thesis statement construction and paragraph development. By using the knowledge from his own spice box, he found a deeper understanding of how this assignment applied to society.

In another session, in which the student wrote about the creation of race, I strategically revealed parts of my own knowledge to help student be a master of his own writing process.The student approached the assignment by engaging in discussions about the history of race and how it transformed into racism. Although I enjoyed this discussion, I encouraged the student to set a goal for the session, and then, I helped him create a flexible agenda to reach this objective (Ryan and Zimerelli 19). The student decided that research was the goal for this session and asked me questions about his topic. Encouraging self mastery of his writing process,  I pulled out a book that I am currently reading, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, and I asked him if he had ever heard of the book before. When he said no, I gave him a brief description and suggested that he conduct research by reading and annotating the book. When the student returned for a follow up appointment, he had his own copy of the book and was ready to brainstorm ideas for his essay. Just as these self-motivated writing practices transfer across the curriculum, they can also transfer across the many areas of students’ lives. Students’ effective utilization of their spices will aid them in navigating their own academic and career ships throughout the tumultuous seas of social injustice.

Like current students, I have been in the seats at FAMU receiving assignments about the variety of issues that unjustly impact people who look like me. I remember days when anger filled my body because of the increased sensitivity to my inequitable surroundings. I often found it hard to express my feelings in an way that fits inside the academic norms. Three things that gave me hope that I could sufficiently combat injustices were my ability to have safe spaces to voice my grievances, conduct independent research in order to empower myself, and allow my researched and experienced knowledge to collide whenever I wrote. Now, I am “tutoring beyond the rule,” as my mentor, Kendra Mitchell, Ph.D, states. I exemplify how the seasonings of one’s spice box can be used to push past the boundaries of assignments and confront social justice issues in order to exemplify the university’s motto “Excellence with Caring.” I have the pleasure of facilitating a space where students can examine their spice boxes and use them to express, “eloquent rage,” as the public speaker, writer, and teacher, Brittney Cooper, Ph.D, would say (“Brittney Cooper”).

 

 

Works Cited

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New Press, 2010.

Ambrose, Susan, et. al. How Learning Works: 7 Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching.John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010

“Brittney Cooper: How Has Time Been Stolen From People Of Color?” NPR, 29 Mar. 2019,https://www.npr.org/2019/03/29/707189797/brittney-cooper-how-has-time-been-stolen-from-people-of-color

Christian, Barbara. Black Feminist Criticism. Perspectives on Black Women Writers. Pergamon Press, 1985

Cooper, Brittney. Eloquent Rage: Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower. Picador, 2019

 

Author Bio

Treasure Glover is a Florida A&M University Alumna from Tallahassee, Florida.

She graduated from the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication in 2017 with a degree in Public Relations. Currently, she enjoys helping students grasp the writing process in the Writing Resource Center at FAMU. While she is not working in the writing center, Treasure enjoys selling smudge-proof lipstick, moisturizing lip glosses, and other beauty products. She also loves to laugh, spend time with her family, and find new ways to improve her mental and physical health.