Friday, September 3, 2010

Not So Many Cheers for Volunteers

"When selling raffle tickets in exchange for a ticket to Disney can be called 'helping others,' it's no wonder ninety-eight percent of society does it," writes Jen Erickson. Jen's essay, "Loving My Neighbor: What's in it For Me?", was just published in the Burnside Writers Collective online magazine.

Jen, a senior Secondary Ed/Spanish major with English minor, wrote the essay for her Creative Nonfiction class last semester. The essay was her response to the "social critique" assignment, and it examines the desire, in herself and others, to get credit for volunteering but to keep our lives untouched by the people we help and the tough situations we encounter in volunteering contexts.

Jen submitted the essay for publication as part of the class's final assignment. Just a month later, she got a reply.

"The editor was really nice," says Jen. "She sent me an email back detailing the things she liked about the essay and her suggestions for things I should change if I wanted to resubmit it. I was so impressed with how much feedback I got!"

Burnside Writers Collective is "an online magazine for Christians looking for a connection with the world outside of franchise Christianity."

1 comment:

  1. Yay! It's really neat to hear about results from that class.

    And whoa, Jen in a byline -- how cool is that?! Congratulations! Well deserved; that was a compelling piece.

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