Strain does not equal gain Feel like you're straining to look like Somebody Special in your college essay? Are you "Being somebody" in your writing that feels removed from the truth-- and rubs (even you) wrong? I am always looking to help students find ways to claim who they are in their work. Nonetheless, I did not expect a zen talk on non-separateness and compassion would teach me about how we can try too hard in our college essay, strain futilely, and, by so doing, miss the point entirely. They tell you what's up at the zendo At the inclusive, radically spare Brooklyn Zen Center zendo, Rev angel Kyodo william Sensei takes a well-earned sip of tea after a long talk on healing what separates us from each other. She lifts her face with a confessional smile and light laugh; a framed iconic, black-and-white of MLK Jr. on the altar across the room looks openly back. Her body is solid as a stone buddha: "My students say to me, why do you teach if you hate people?" She chuckles, touche, and the community members laugh with her-- what else can we do? She nods: "It's true. I do hate people. But it's not because I hate people. It's because I'm so tired of everyone trying to be somebody, and somebody they are not." angel looks around, as if to catch us in this very (common) act. Don't we all want to be a tad more awesome, together, memorable, attractive, something? Suddenly it's as if our subconscious intentions-- to Be Somebody Other Than Who We Are At This Uncomfortable Moment-- are on nanny-cam. And keeping us miles apart from each other. But Your pen prefers You! You can see this urge run rampant once a student picks up a pen to write The College Essay. Angst, however subconscious, directs the composition, just as it can direct our self-perception, and the background noise is something like: To get into XXX school, I have to be Special, who looks and sounds better than I am. Who I Really Am couldn't possibly suffice. But, actually, as angel Continue Reading …