Belaina

Abstract

In October 2014, I was assigned a partner through a service-learning course at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee called Writing in the Community. This class was centered on the idea that writing is a powerful tool for healing, and that in sharing one’s story, everyone is less alone. The class was supplemented with writings by authors who were confronting aspects of their identity such as age, ability, economic status, and race. We discussed in class how knowing and studying these memoirs guide us in conversation for understanding of and awareness for the authors’ circumstances, and for our place in the midst of these stories. The service-learning aspect meant that we would in someway interact with a community outside of our course, which is a required form of study for students at Belmont, a private, Christian university.