Writing Group Helps Veterans and Families Process Experiences
UNC Charlotte writing faculty are working with supporters of military veterans to provide a welcoming place for the veterans and their families to write, as a way of processing their experiences. The next meeting of the Charlotte Veterans Writing Group will be Saturday, May 2 at Charlotte Bridge Home, 2200 E 7th St.
“Our goal is to create an open and safe place for veterans to talk about their past experiences in fiction or essay form and to work through the creative writing process to gain understanding of their experiences,” said Cassandra Blandford, an adjunct lecturer who has researched trauma writing. Her research considers how writing becomes a form of understanding for people who have been through experiences such as change and trauma.
The writing group welcomes active duty veterans and family members from all generations and all conflict and peacetime backgrounds. The group will participate in two hours of reading and sharing of their work. Attendees will have opportunities to workshop their manuscripts of memoir, nonfiction, poetry and other works. Attendees are asked to bring a pen.
“Writing is as simple or as complicated as the writer decides,” said Andrew Miller, the group’s leader, who also is a military veteran, writer and artist. “That’s why I like it. Anyone can write. The hardest lesson to accept is not to hold oneself to any standard. Just write. The paper won’t bite. It won’t judge. It won’t tell anyone. That means a lot for folks who have often had occasion to trust others with their lives and experience the transformations only found in the military. After service, most of us don’t encounter receptive audiences for those kinds of feelings and reflections.”
The UNC Charlotte co-leaders are Blandford and Marcelle Crickenberger, a lecturer in the University Writing Program who has taught writing at UNC Charlotte since 2007.
“Language is a medium for thought, contemplation, reflection, recording of history, and sharing of experience,” Crickenberger said. “In our workshops, we hope to create a way for veterans and families of veterans to practice the craft of writing and to share it with others.”
Miller invites those who aren’t sure about the group to come with open minds and listen to what the group has to offer.
“Writing is always there,” Miller said. “I encourage skeptical folks to come and just listen. That’s totally fine. We keep the doors closed and take all work seriously. Someday those of us willing may have a chance to read our work to the public. That’s a great experience, because there are civilian audiences out there who want to understand us better than TV and movies allow. What better way than literal storytelling?”
Words: Brittany Algiere, Student Communications Assistant
Image: Lynn Roberson, College Communications Director