The most common (untrue) thing I hear from teens beginning their college essay process is that they have nothing to write about. Nothing to say. Girl, that's a high aim! Monks train for years to attain that state of reverential silence. But most of us non-monk-types? We don't have nothing to write about. We just don't know how to bring it out, how to give it form and structure suited to the task. 30 seconds of "nothing" Take a minute (literally) and pause that belief, and watch your thoughts instead. Can you hear the non-silence? Can you hear the plenty? Most of us would ultimately agree: our mind never really stops talking to us. It repeats itself a lot too, in case we missed it the first time. Or the second. Just try to have complete quiet and stillness inside for 30 seconds and see how many life stories show up. Then follow where they lead as they slip over the horizon of your focus. And, of course, be their scribe! You work for them. :) And if you still (mistakenly) think you have nothing to write about, be a true committed spectator to that state. Watch your nerves fire and charge like Pac Man traveling around the twisting mysterious corners of your perplexing consciousness. It will eat those ellipses right up! Quick Exercise against "nothing" to write about For me, a great writing exercise to begins with listing brands. Yes, product brands. Start with your childhood. Make a quick list of brands in your household. (do it along with me!) Mine would look like this: -Ajax dish soap, St. Ives Scrub, Vaseline, Choc full o' nuts coffee, Jason's Jojoba Conditioner, Teddygrams And then I would build out more active memories from there, expanding each brand name into 1-2 sentences: My dad making his coffee at 4AM, smelling it when I couldn't sleep. The bowl of teddy grams next to my homework, which I did every day at the same spot at my parents creaking table. My mom's vaseline self-treatment for dry-skin, which soaked her feet while she Continue Reading …
college admissions essay
Writing About Your Weaknesses in Your College Essay
A piece in which I say YES YOU CAN and tell you a story about my sour relationship with math. Will My Weaknesses Work Against Me in My College Essay? I had a parent reach out and ask if their kid was hurting their chances in their college essay by writing so articulately about their weaknesses. The answer is: no. Not if other ingredients are there. To be articulate about your weaknesses, to reckon with them honestly and without self-pity, to show transformation in your character (as this student did), these themselves are strengths. (And also commendable qualities in grown-up people: I know many who still can’t do this without elaborate defenses, and yelping ego). To also write well in the process, and think methodically? Well, these are prized traits in college admissions essays. So I want to take a minute to experiment with writing about one of my weaknesses--starts with an M, ends with an H, and has AT in the middle. 4 letters. Guess it yet? Continue Reading …
Student as Teacher
Or to Flip a Buddhist proverb: When the Teacher is Ready, The Student Appears! There is a cliche teachers bandy about that "our students are our teachers!" But sometimes, it's true, not just a broadly applied worldview or something we say at Happy Hour over seltzers to redeem a tough week. This summer, I got to nerd out teaching Writing Mechanics (soon re-dubbed "The Inner Life of Words") to TEAK Fellowship's 7th graders with an assistant, my former student Aaron M, who is now entering Yale as a freshman. I taught him personal essay writing and grammar when he was their age-- one of those students I knew Could Write if he wanted to. I was like, "Hey, Aaron-- (acting all casual) --could I see some of your writing?" (FEED ME!) and he agreed. "Mostly poems" he said, like they were going to be some tea-bag slogan to apologize for. Not at all. A Poem from my Student as Teacher! He often speaks like he is apologizing in advance. But "Fat", this poem he showed me? My student as teacher, totally unapologetic! He loves words, like, a lot. Sometimes shy and fumbling when he speaks spontaneously, he's anything but when he's writing. Maybe it's because I'm a mom and I'm currently preoccupied with fat phobia in our culture, but this poem (a draft, he clarified) made me stand up and salute. How come a teenage boy can figure this out, but the rest of our culture can't? Fat (A Poem for My Mother)-- **Draft, but what isn't? The skinny boy in my dorm,six-foot tall and all bones and beautiful,scoffs as he speaks of the Latin teacher he deemsfar too fatfor his youthful thirty-six years.His lips curl in disgust. In anger, even.It’s his fault. I think of my mother:thirty-six, too, and stick-thinuntil she had me. Today,she carries with her stretch marksand flab and extra pounds of fat,and I wonder if the Beautiful Boy’s lipswould curl just as tightly,spit just as spitefullyin speaking of the body that kept me safe. I wonder if he knows that each time he Continue Reading …
Ditch cliches for a strong college essay
The worst thing you can do for your personal story is deaden it with cliches. Cliches make your reader's mind go numb. Use them too much (playing it safe?) and Admissions officers have forgotten you before they are even done reading your college essay. Even the most intense, riveting tale can lose all of its power if you tell it just like everyone has told it before you. "I couldn't believe my eyes. As she took her last breath I begged her not to go." This sort of thing. How tragic would that be? You have a powerful story to tell-- but it's so predictable that no one cares. Now, look: in human life, death is predictable. Suffering is predictable. Some mishap, some humor, transitions-- all are predictable. But that doesn't have anything to do with cliche, or how you choose to tell your reader about what happened. It's all about what details you include, where you put the focus, and what fresh images or stark descriptions you weave in. Continue Reading …