I was invited to speak to the students
There were so many good questions that I hate to pick outMen’s Wedding Suits just a few. Some variations of the same question were asked several times, so more than just those mentioned here deserve recognition.Savannah Fisher asked about Joe Endres, who is battling leukemia. I told her Joe is still in treatment, and that his doctors are trying something new in the upcoming days.
Bailee Hepler asked me how long it takes to make the whole paper. The classes are going to see the Post operate in February, so she will get a better answer then. I did tell her that most of the real news has to be written and edited to be printed overnight and ready to go out for delivery in the pre-dawn hours. Certain columns and less time-sensitive stories are collected for a few days before being published.
Chloe Roperson wanted to know what inspired me to write. I told her that I realized in grad school that I would much rather do a 10-page paper for a grade than take a test. In fact, I cheered if the professor told us that most of our grade would come from various papers throughout the class. Writing comes easy, oftentimes easier than finding the right thing to say.
Breanne Dietz teaches writing to fourth-graders at Rockwell Elementary School. About 80 students rotate through her class every day, and her job is to improve their writing skills. Realistically, she wants to get them excited and instill a lifelong interest that will facilitate better communication for the rest of their education and on into their careers.
I was invited to speak to the students. In preparation, the classes had been studying my column. I hope that none of them have been harmed in any way by doing this. At least it shouldn’t be permanent. There were more than a few laughs and quizzical grins when I had to recount ‘picking cotton in my underwear’ and dressing in female attire as ‘Tammy Whynot’ for a YMCA Womanless Beauty Pageant fundraiser.
Each class had about 20 kids, and they rotated into the same classroom. Many had prepared questions. The kids had obviously put some real thought into my presentation and sought answers for some of the things that had been interesting to them.
I started each group with an explanation of why I liked to write and how I came to write for the Salisbury Post. My point that a love of reading improves writing skills seemed to hit home. I told the kids that books and reading had always been important to me, and because of reading, I was constantly exposed to Quinceanera Dresses. We talked about how college and graduate school paper writing had ignited my own interest in using words to put a picture on paper.
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