Need an outlet for all those words of wit rattling around in your brainpan?
Well, the Southwest Writers Alliance of Arizona Western College (SWAAWC) is a campus organization that helps distressed writers by bringing them out of their shell. This semester, the club will be meeting at 12:30 every Monday in LR 50.
The group helps to bring the whole writer out in anyone, and its various events are aimed at highlighting the many literary genres.
During the first meeting, for example, club President Kellsey Jane pulled out a journal and announced that, one by one, each member would take it for one night and then bring it back with one paragraph written on it. The next writer will continue by adding any creative, odd or horrific twists that comes to mind.
The club's advisor this semester is English Professor Ellen Reik, who is filling in for the regular director of the creative writing program, Ric Jahna. Jahna has a sabbatical to teach in India for Fall 2014 and will be back as the advisor in spring.
"I think it's great for students to express themselves in their writing and to be so passionate and creative in it," Reik said of SWAAWC.
Jane, who has been in the club for two years, was vice president her first year.
"I like writing, and I love being in clubs," Jane said of her leadership roles in SWAAWC. "It was a perfect match.
"It has helped me to embrace my writing more, and it encourages this procrastinator to actually write," she added. "It's also gotten me to read a wider array of genres because everyone in the club has their own writing style."
This year's vice president, James Daugherty, has been in the club since 2010 and also has a true passion for its activities. Though Daugherty is a poet, his interest in books is mostly suspense novels.
Daugherty joined because he wanted a group with more creative and diverse people. He says he wants to be a writer "because I'm too messed up in the head to be anything else." He says he loves doing what he does and will continue to do it until he destroys the minds of readers.
To contact SWAAWC, call or email Kellsey Jane at 928-581-0112 or kjb41@Toro.azwestern.edu, or email Professor Riek at ellen.riek@azwestern.edu
