Happy National Life Writing Month!
Rarely do I promote my own articles on the web, but like a smart investment, this one has grown in value and is relevant today. Cutting through the noise of the news, I present to you the story behind this story.
Crossing paths with Baruch College’s Middle East & North Africa Society during the week of April 24 was by chance.
The Ticker and the Baruch College Writing Center was holding an in-person workshop on “Revising at the Sentence Level” in Room 11-135 of the Newman Vertical Campus on April 27. Next door in NVC 11-130, MENA Society, a new club, was holding a “majlis” or social gathering next door in NVC 11-135.
At the start of the event, I was in the Media Suite working on the business section layout for Vol. 123 Issue 10 with the copy chief. There were about five students in attendance, including the managing editor, in a room that could hold 30 people.
It should be noted that the workshop coincided with the Undergraduate Student Government-sponsored outdoor Spring Fling.
The managing editor Slack’d the production staff to come over, adding that there was pizza and Joey — the “cool guy” from the Writing Center hosting the event. While I was a day behind my personal layout deadline, I joined the copy chief in going upstairs.
I sat in for about seven minutes, not because I was bored but rather intrigued by the fact that the marketing chair of MENA Society came by three times to borrow more chairs as the club as demand to attend exceeded the number of chairs available. On her third visit, Hanan Abisse I extended the invitation to the majlis, and on the spot, I decided to leave and cover the event — much to the chagrin of the workshop’s attendees and host.
Fitting with the theme of this month, the majlis was a storytelling session where members shared intimate memories from their time in the MENA region, with one person even sharing how she arrived to campus that day, to a crowd howling with laughter. The featured photo doesn’t do the event justice as there were students sitting or standing around the room, listening in closely while snacking on baklava.
Keeping in mind print production, I left five minutes early following a quick chat with Abisse and Ryiah Nasser, the club’s co-vice president. I came back to the Media Suite with a sample of baklava and a piece to write over the next four days.
What I initially imagined to be a 500-word hard news article about the event turned into an 850-word feature weaving together the event, the club’s history and its goals, supported by a delightful interview with club president Du’a Zaid.
With more than 12 profiles on small businesses, professional development clubs and theatrical productions under my belt since 2017, I’d say this piece was one of the most fulfilling ones I’ve done.
I hope readers take the piece to heart and feel the same vibrant energy radiate I felt at the event through the article.
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Dearest Reverie 