This past week Amanda has been working on various college applications. She felt unsettled about one essay answer so she asked for my help. At first I just started tweaking a word or two, but my editing quickly gave way to a major overhaul. I maintained the flow of ideas, but didn’t keep many of the same words. Amanda is a good writer, but for some reason, she was not so good on this draft.
She liked my version, but it presented her with a moral dilemma: it was not her work. I could appreciate what she was feeling but I countered with the facts that it was her train of thought and she reviewed the new write-up with me sentence by sentence, looking for ways to customize or improve it. Even though very little was changed, I felt that through this process she became the owner of every word.
By the way, I was no help in the new editorial role. I kept saying, “Ooh, that’s good” as I was reminded of my handwork. Kara did offer an improvement to one sentence.
When we finished she was still reticent. She said, “So, it’s my application, with my parents’ essay.”
Tired of debating this, Kara said, “Yes! Just send it.”
Amanda looked at me and all I could say was, “We gave you life; we can give you help on an essay.”
2 comments:
man you crack me up when I least expect it.
Classic.
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