Interpreting Experience through Creative Nonfiction Writing
Erin Minh is not a traditional student. Enrolled part-time at IIT since summer 2014, the Kenosha, Wis. native and married mother of two already holds a bachelor’s degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and Intercultural Communication from North Central University in Minneapolis. She also has a variety of types of prior work and volunteer experiences under her belt.
What she seeks now are new passions and possibilities, and when she decided to explore what IIT had to offer, she found herself drawn to courses in the Lewis College of Human Sciences.
“It’s currently for personal gain or enjoyment,” she says, “but I do intend to get a master’s.”
Having taking an introductory course in computer programming at IIT over the summer, Minh is now enrolled in a Humanities course, “Creative Nonfiction Writing,” as well as a Social Sciences course called “Social Psychology and Society.”
“I’m interested in thinking about my past and coming up with a way of expressing how I feel about it,” she says of the creative nonfiction course. “At my church, we’re actually going through a series about ways in which we’re stuck.”
As she was already engaging in “self-reflection” through her church activities, Minh says, the idea of study creative nonfiction writing this semester seemed complementary to those efforts.
“It’s great,” she says of the course. “It seems like a great environment. Everyone is very kind and nice in their feedback. We’re pretty vulnerable, but everyone’s supportive of it.”
The Creative Nonfiction course is taught by Chris Girman, an adjunct at IIT since 2011, current Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and former immigration attorney for the south Texas border. Girman is also teaching “Sexuality and Literature,” at IIT this semester, and in the past has taught travel literature, sports literature, and a course called “Cultural Constructions of Masculinity” here.
“Creative nonfiction is usually thought of as the ugly stepsister of writing, behind the ‘big three’: fiction, poetry, and drama. I’ve never understood this,” Girman says. “I think of creative non-fiction as an engagement with the language of poetry, the dialogue of drama, and the storytelling techniques of fiction. It’s the best of all three worlds.”
Students are also able to draw from what Girman refers to as more “‘expressive’ forms of writing” in the course – items like journals they’ve kept, text message histories, email exchanges and “any other writing that matters in their lives,” Girman says.
“College students of whatever age are engaged with the world in a particular way, and the genre of creative nonfiction allows them an opportunity to reflect and interpret their own experiences,” he says.
Among Minh’s writing assignments in Girman’s course is a long-term, 10-page “personal process piece,” in which her topic will be a personal effort undertaken.
“It’s a process of self-discovery. I want to exercise more, so that’s what I chose,” Minh says.
The assignment requires Minh to both keep a journal during the semester and conduct research to weave in facts relevant to her topic of choice.
“I’m sure I’ll discover things that are deeper emotionally than just getting fit,” she says.
Girman says Minh’s voice as a writer has been evolving during her time in the course.
“It’s fascinating to watch Erin’s voice develop on the page,” he says. “I’d say she started a bit tentatively, but has slowly gained confidence that what she has to say matters. Her sensibility is that of a mother and a female, and her writing contains a lyrical quality, yet also a matter-of-fact honesty. It’s tough to pull that off, but I see Erin doing it more and more with each assignment.”
Since enrolling in the course, Minh has also noticed the impact of studying creative writing on her everyday life.
“Even when I’m writing Facebook statuses, it feels like I’m putting more thought into how I word it – even something simple like that,” she says. “Maybe I’ll start a diary again like I did when I was a kid.”
So far, sampling courses across a variety of disciplines has proven an enjoyable method of testing the waters for Minh. As for what type of master’s degree she might eventually pursue, the possibilities are many.
“I’m even interested in things like physical therapy,” she says. “I’d want it to be something that would be practical for our family.”
Wherever Minh’s curiosities take her, Girman says the study of creative nonfiction can be universally beneficial to students.
“Success in college is predicated on having a certain vision for the future, but that vision is often connected to the past,” he says. “Writing about themselves and their places in the world is no student narcissistic confessional or egotistical enterprise. It is simply an attempt to articulate their place in the world in a way that others can relate. Similarly, students all have things that matter to them, and creative nonfiction offers a space for them to articulate cultural critiques or argue for certain ways of looking at the world.”
