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| Ben, Sanchit, Dustin, and Kelsea on the Boston subway. |
At the end of February and
leading into March, The Writer’s Guild at UC sent five intrepid members into
the jaws of the country’s largest writing conference. Ben Truax, Kelsea
Daulton, Dustin Zamora, Sanchit Gulati, and I formed an expedition to the 2013
AWP conference in Boston.
A quick shout out to board members Ben, Brian Keefe, and Megan Esterkamp,
along with Professor Leah Stewart, who worked together for weeks to cut through
paperwork, bureaucracy, and disbelief. Though there were already graduate
students attending, as well as some of our professors, there was a strange
sense that no one could remember that we were going to the conference. It was
treated like a cute pipe dream: “Oh, is that so? That’s really sweet. Well,
good luck!”
This experience, at least for me, bore an uncanny likeness to
what it is to be an undergraduate writer at UC. You participate in class
workshops, you get advice from peers and professors, you write a lot, and you
work – but there is always an underlying sense that you’re either gearing up
for graduate school or fast food service. Either way, you’re not a “serious”
writer. At least not yet.
We set out to prove that
undergraduate writers have just as much of a place in the larger writing
community, and we accomplished just that. We walked through the halls of the
conference, between published and unpublished writers alike (but for a subtle
air of desperation, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference). The book
fair was a crowded warehouse of tables manned by signing authors, literary
magazines, and graduate schools – all eager for attention. Everyone competed
against the writers at the podium, reading their work out in what is now, to
some of us, the familiar and self-important “literary tone.” Numerous panels
covered such a wide array of topics that it was difficult to choose which to
attend. In the end, we mostly settled for stalking our professors.
Then there was the city itself. Boston already sounds like a
bookish place to live, with brownstones and cobble streets and the historic, 19th
century fun house of architecture and atmosphere that is the main library. Our
group explored Quincy Market, the Cheers Bar, and the facades of Boston’s
Little Italy. Every night there was a dance party. Good times were had.
The funding for the trip came from a generous allotment from
UC given to student organizations for various activities and endeavors. In the
end, Guild members only had to contribute time and food money. Because of the
work done – in particular by our treasurer, Brian – we were able to make
ourselves known as members of the writing community. Every day The Writer’s
Guild is proving that it isn’t just a student organization, but a family of
writers that will be heard.
The event was the first in
Writer’s Guild history, and hopefully not the last.
Bonus: Ben refuses to be a
door mat!
