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Students from both Dr. Elizabeth Mason’s and Dr. Brian Whalen’s sections of the class read excerpts from their work. Other students, professors, and family members joined the audience—including President H. James Williams, who came to support Writer’s Block!

Writer’s Block is a course that meets every Friday at noon. Over the previous few years the course has grown, now including 38 students between two classes. Mason and Whalen each teach a section, providing writing prompts and activities, time to write, and opportunity for group discussion. One benefit of taking Writer’s Block is that it provides a set time for students to sit down and write despite the busyness of college coursework. Students are encouraged to write across genres and forms, producing prose and poetry, essays and reflection, fiction and nonfiction—whatever strikes them. As part of the MSJ Renaissance program, students who participate in Writer’s Block receive a $500 award each semester.

At the end of every semester, Writer’s Block organizes the showcase to celebrate the writing students have been doing. This year, the event also marked the distribution of chapbooks—small paperback booklets containing collected excerpts from each student in Writer’s Block.

Every piece is different. Some students share poetry, others prose. Some works are fiction, while others are rooted in memory and experience. Students may bring a self-contained poem or short story to read, while others share only an excerpt from a longer piece. Certain pieces are light and humorous, and others are written out of grief or struggle.

I discussed with both professors what moved them about the showcase, and each mentioned similar strengths about the event.

Both commented how the Writer’s Block showcase is an exciting opportunity for student writers to reach a wider audience and be celebrated; theater has plays and musicals, band and choir have concerts. Writer’s Block, following suit, has a showcase every semester. Most writing happens behind the scenes, out of view. Even when stories are published or shared, it can often be an impersonal experience. The showcase puts the students front and center and lets people actually see the writer.

Whalen and Mason each described how a rewarding part of the showcase is witnessing students who are nervous to present share their work and see the audience listen, clap and laugh (when appropriate); they mention watching that student become more confident from the experience. Even though it can be stressful, most students sit down after reading with a smile. The showcase is rewarding for both students and professors, as students read and realize that their words belong. Whalen and Mason are both proud of their students and the creativity that abounds on campus.

Whalen remarked about there being “so much depth and breadth of experience and feeling” in the students’ writing. Each writer crafted a different piece in a distinct style. The excerpts shared at the showcase allow the MSJ community to see a different side to these students, to learn more about their experiences, feelings and thoughts. From poetry about heartache and grief, to pieces about siblings and parents, members of Writer’s Block reveal much about themselves and their lives through sharing their writing at the showcase.

For Mason, the showcase is also a great opportunity to hear what Whalen’s section of Writer’s Block has been writing (and vice versa) and to cheer on those students. The showcase is a unique chance to bring both sides of Writer’s Block together. And for the audience, hearing students from both sections read their pieces is a motivating experience, providing inspiration for stories that are yet to be written.

At the showcase, the community of writers at MSJ is apparent as students listen and support each other. Students of different majors work side-by-side in Writer’s Block, and students returning to the class join students in their first semester. In class and at the showcase, creative writers at MSJ come together to show off their writing skills and build community.