Sofia Aguilar ‘21

Many have recognized the writing program at Sarah Lawrence as one of the best in the nation. Yet with the switch to online classes and students isolated all over the world, the need for community has been high but just recently carried out.

Since mid-September, writing professor Jeffrey McDaniel has united the writing community, as well as the Sarah Lawrence community at large, through his series of virtual writing events.

McDaniel, a writing professor in his 20th year teaching at Sarah Lawrence, is no stranger to hosting events featuring his fellow writers.

“I've been organizing events since I was a grad student in the early ’90s,” McDaniel said, mentioning venues like “a punk rock club in Washington, D.C. Then at a literary arts center in Venice Beach, California. When I came to Sarah Lawrence, [organizing events] just seemed like a very natural thing to do.”

Even before the pandemic, students commonly felt isolated from others on campus. It’s no accident that “Sarah Lawrencing” is used to describe walking by someone you know without acknowledging them. It was a similar story within the writing community on campus.

“There are different cliques based on genre,” said Anna Schechter ’21. “And everyone defines themselves by the professors they take. ‘I’m in Mary’s class’, etcetera.”

When the College went online, McDaniel knew there was no better time to foster a sense of community for students. With the support of other writing faculty, he and fellow writing professor David Hollander started organizing virtual events every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday throughout the fall semester—which include Q&A’s, generative sessions and readings featuring undergrads, grads and alums.

From the chat box where people kindly spam participants with encouraging comments to the mini breakout rooms where students could meet new writers and catch up with classmates, Zoom has allowed for far more flexibility than in-person readings.

“It allows for people to share their work in a way that’s more comfortable,” Schechter said.

Especially for seasoned alums of Sarah Lawrence’s MFA program, like T Kira Mahealani Madden ’12. “Virtual classes and events and conversations have been the only highlight of this pandemic time for me,” she said. “The ability to connect with others, even across the world.” She participated in a non-fiction reading and generative session with fellow alums Melissa Faliveno and Sarah McColl, invited by McDaniel.

But for many of the undergrad students asked to read, it’s the first time they will share their work, especially for a large audience.

“I warned Jeffrey that I was dreading it,” recalled Danielle Chelosky ’22. “He began telling me about how reading your work aloud is its own art form—deciding where to pause, where to slow down, where to speed up, what words to stress. I’d never considered that before.”

Even students with heavy theater backgrounds contended with stage fright.

“I felt like my entire body was shaking,” said Eli Miller ’21. “I thought, Am I doing it well enough or correctly? But I did have fun and enjoyed doing it.”

Aliya Moudud ’24 felt similarly when McDaniel invited her to participate in an in-person, socially distanced reading at The Remy Theatre in mid-October.

“I was super nervous because I’m not the most social person, and I don’t like reading my poetry out loud,” Moudud said. “But it was such a positive and kind environment. People introduced themselves and congratulated me. I became more confident in sharing my work with my own peers.”

Attending as a spectator also allowed Moudud to come away with an even greater sense of community and solidarity with other writers.

“It was so nice hearing the upperclassmen because it humanized people that I was intimidated by. They’re writing about similar subjects that I’m writing about, struggling with concepts that I’m struggling with,” shared Moudud.

By nature, writing is arguably one of the most competitive creative fields––and can be an isolating profession, if writing groups, workshops and events like McDaniel’s are not readily available. Certainly before the pandemic, students weren’t given access to that community.

“I’d always hear about what events were coming up for MFA students—writing/reading sessions with classmates, happy hours with professors, master classes with each round of speakers. Undergraduates weren’t getting any of those extra opportunities,” said Benjamin Willems ’21.

Especially at Sarah Lawrence, students argue that creating an open community for writers, both virtually and in-person, is essential.

“If you feel like you can’t write at the level of an established writer, how will you become an established writer?” Miller said.

But McDaniel’s three-month-long writing series is only the start in creating—and sustaining—a thriving community for student writers at the College. And as accessible as Zoom is, it presents its own challenges and limitations.

“I haven’t found it super easy to network with classmates I meet there,” Willems said. “Even now, it feels like a simulation of community and not the real thing.”

Kate Kenworthy ‘23 agreed, “It made it harder for me to connect to the pieces, especially because I could turn my camera off. You don’t have to be as physically present.”

However, students haven’t given up yet, and have even offered tangible ways to improve both the accessibility and the sociability of the College’s writing program.

“I spend a lot of time writing, pitching, and submitting to magazines on my own, and I think SLC could do better at encouraging students to get their work out there in the real world,” Chelosky said. She even suggested a LinkedIn-like platform where SLC writers could post their work, give advice and encouragement, offer book recommendations and celebrate their accomplishments with one another.

Miller proposed expanding the breakout room function by starting events fifteen minutes earlier for casual discussion and networking, or advertising it as part of the event itself.

Photo of Jeffrey McDaniel courtesy of Dana Maxson

“The community will only come from students who engage with each other,” they said.

For now, McDaniel’s work has undoubtedly been beneficial for writers on campus. Many students are already looking forward to the events that they hope McDaniel will organize in the spring semester.

“There’s a kind of solidarity that wasn’t there before,” Willems said. “We don’t know when we’ll feel safe being in the same room again, in real space and time. But we're all going through the same isolation—still writing, still reading, still listening. And that fills me with hope.”

Undergrad Events Foster Community for SLC Writers