The Triangle

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News

Media Credit: Tara Giancaspro Students attempt to write sudden short stories as part of the DU Writing Center's collaboration with One Book One Philadelphia.

Media Credit: Tara Giancaspro

The Drexel University Writing Center collaborated with One Book One Philadelphia to host the second of its three-part "Sudden Stories" creative writing workshop Feb. 3.

The workshop focused on themes from "The Complete Persepolis" by Mary Jane Satrapi, a novel about a girl's every day life during the revolution in Iran. During the first workshop, participants wrote the first draft of their sudden story. This week's workshop allowed the participants to work one-on-one with a peer reader to revise their sudden stories.

The first workshop, held Jan. 27, had 15 participants. According to Harriet Millan, the director of the writing program, the group was diverse and included Drexel students, adults from Philadelphia and high-school students from the Science Leadership Academy. Drexel peer readers were also in attendance.

"I think the workshop was a great way to see personal history and fiction intertwined and also an opportunity to experience writing personal history and fiction together," Sarah Wyatt, senior anthropology major and peer reader, said.

The event was promoted on the One Book One Philadelphia website and brochure, as well as around Drexel.

According to Millan, the goal of the writing center is to help professors integrate their course content with writing so that their classes become more interactive.

"I think that this is a great example of how the writing program, as do other programs at Drexel, seek to go beyond the ivory tower and build a really strong connection with the city we are in," Millan said. "One Book One Philadelphia makes that possible and it is really a great organization. Our students have really profited from being involved, as has the city."

Valerie Moore, Drexel graduate and Miss Black Pennsylvania 2010, attended the workshop and thought it was beneficial to students.

"It really allowed you to explore your creative side," she said.

According to One Book One Philadelphia, sudden stories are usually a paragraph or two, no more than 350 words.

After next week's workshop, participants can have their final stories entered into national sudden story writing contests and campus publications.

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