Dear Campus Community,
This past semester – Fall 2024 – I asked my students to think outside the box. I encouraged them to choose their own research topics. THIS TIME IT WAS GOING TO BE PERSONAL. We developed extensive Community Profiles with great purpose and focus. Students were asked the following:
- To search The Valley for someone with an interesting story to tell– their profile could come right from their past, present, family, job, school, reading.
- To think about how their subject would represent a larger idea.
- To combine cutting edge academic research with personal interview.
Most of my students didn't have to look very far to find an engaging story. Many of them stayed within their own families to document deeply personal observations of a life being lived. In submitting to Jay's Community Profiles, they opened up their lives to their classmates and let the world into their writing. Below, I provide a list of randomly-chosen examples of themes and topics:
- Immigration struggles and separated families.
- Parenting special-needs children.
- The stigma of becoming a Single Teen Parent.
I feel the essays are valuable. My students share a sense of empathy and compassion for their subject matter. In these times of isolation and despair, the writing brings us closer together.
Paz,
Jay Lewenstein, Adjunct English Instructor
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