I coached college students in writing for three years. Here’s what I observed.
For three years, I provided writing counseling services to undergraduates at a highly ranked university, including humanities students, pre-med hopefuls, future lawyers, athletes, and beyond. From literature papers to med school applications, I reviewed anything with words.
The program that I worked for targeted students from underrepresented and/or underserved communities…
All this watching is keeping me from doing.
Dance cardio, roller skating, coffee brewing — these are some of the hobbies that I dabbled in to keep myself afloat in 2020. …
Writing is an art — and so is giving writing feedback.
“I’m a bad writer.”
As a writing counselor at a top university, I’d start my sessions by asking clients about their relationship with writing. My clients were high-achieving students, so you’d expect them to have more confidence. However, the vast majority of my clients made this same self-deprecating claim.
“What…
Traveling has expanded my worldview — but so has quarantining.
Like many others — quarantined indoors while the summer sun shines outside — I’ve mourned the people lost, jobs terminated, goals postponed, and trips cancelled. …
I didn’t consider myself an Asian American writer until someone called me one.
I walked side by side with my classmate, who I’ll call Nick, through the valley of brick buildings at the center of campus. We’d just discovered that we were the co-winners of a major creative writing prize, judged by a panel of professors.
I could tell that the co part…
How unemployment led me to redefine career success.
My mixedness fascinates and frustrates people — including me.
In first grade, my teacher asked the class to make a heritage box. My mom and I found a shoe box and glued the Japanese, German, and American flags to the outside; we filled it with dolls, a tape recording of a folk tune, photographs. “This is my heritage,” I…
Oral storytelling is in our nature.
We all recognize that romantic image of The Writer — like Colin Firth in Love Actually, sitting at a typewriter in a secluded cottage with a stunning lakeside view. The keyword here is secluded: the writer retreats from society, away from the distractions of day to day life. No technology…
A closer look at the language we use to craft our personal brands.
In college, I took an Asian American studies class, focused on the civil rights movement of the sixties and seventies. Our final assignment asked us to interview someone from a previous generation to capture an oral history. I interviewed my mom, a third-generation Japanese American. …
JoAnna Schindler
Writer & technology professional, based in Los Angeles | I also write at jomiyoko.blog
