ABSTRACT
All writing courses in the English Department are capped at 25 students, and
Love and Loss closed quickly. I’m reluctant to add students to a closed writing
workshop because the more students, the less time we have to discuss each
student’s writing. Twenty-five students is a large writing class-most advanced
writing courses are smaller and do not fill up. As soon as Love and Loss closed, I
began receiving emails from students asking-in some cases, imploring-me to
allow them in. It was not easy to refuse their compelling requests. “I am interested
in your course for many reasons,” a woman wrote, “mainly because a few years
ago, during my college application process, I wrote my application essay to this
university on a topic that indeed involved love and loss, the loss of my baby
brother when I was a child. I learned a lot from writing this piece, and I also feel
I can learn a lot from this course.” Another person wanted to take the course
because of the recent loss of her aunt. Another mentioned the deaths of two family
members in the last year. “I have had trouble coping with these losses since they
are the first ones I have experienced in my life, but it has been worse for my
mother. I was hoping to learn and progress in this course and convey what I
have learned to the rest of my family.” I emailed them and more than two
dozen others, telling them, regretfully, that I wasn’t able to honor their requests.
Kamilluh had taken my Expository Writing course last semester and sent me
the following handwritten note:
