Re: slow days

[Dennis Paoli <dpaoli@shiva.hunter.cuny.edu>]

We've been having Writing Center Readings for eight years.  If we have 
enough tutors who are creative writers any given semester (we have had 
the five of the last six editors of the college literary magazine work 
here), and one of them will volunteer to organize the reading, I get them 
the room, copy the fliers, and order the PA system.  They do the rest.  
The readings are regularly attended by 40 or more, including students 
who use the Center and find it fascinating to hear their tutors' writing 
read aloud.  We've had songwriters sing and flimakers show films. 
Though I always attend with a little trepidation, prepared to be as 
encouraging as I can, I always leave energized, impressed, and proud.  As 
varied and personal as tutoring is, their stories and poetry reveal 
voices more diverse and insights more distinctive than I have had a 
chance to recognize before--and it helps them appreciate each other even 
more.  

Dennis Paoli
Hunter College

On Thu, 11 Jun 1998, Lauren Fitzgerald wrote:

> Kate--
> 
> To chime in on Steve's suggestion that you try hosting a reading in your
> writing center, we tried it in the spring, as part of the college's arts
> festival, and it was really great.  We held it at lunch, people came, I
> got to plug the center and to support the tutors and clients who were
> participating.  I had been skeptical of this kind of thing, thinking that
> the wc was exclusively for wc business, but it turned out that "this kind
> of thing" could also be our business, since writers brought their
> stories to the center to practice reading before the actual event 
> (which boosted our numbers too).
> 
> Now to ask for some advice:  our problem isn't getting clients--we've
> always got more demand than services available--but getting and,
> especially, keeping tutors.  Our staff is primarily made up of undergrad.
> peer tutors, who are the hardest to keep and who can usually offer only 2
> hours per week.  I suspect this is a problem that will take time to fix,
> involving the reputation of the center and of tutoring in general.  But
> maybe some of you have some suggestions?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Lauren Fitzgerald
> 
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