All About Mentoring Spring 2011 - SUNY Empire State College

11
Mentoring: A Poet’s View
Susan Jefts, Center for Distance Learning
Maybe it all comes down to poetry
versus prose. The whispered
or the spoken, the implied or
the stated. The more subtle light of evening
versus the bright light of day. It’s hard to
live solidly in both worlds. I think most of
us have a preference for one or the other. Is
it the difference between intuitive ways of
perceiving and the more sensing, meaning
via the five senses, way of perceiving
Sometimes it seems to be. Multitudes of
colors, dimensions and possibilities versus
the observable ones before us or known
in our minds. “I dwell in possibilities,”
Emily Dickinson said of poetry, “a fairer
house than prose.” This is not to say that
prose isn’t colorful and full of dimension
and possibility – it often is. But poetry is
unique in possessing that quality Octavio
Paz calls “roots and wings.” It likes to fly to
unchartered places, as well as dwell in the
deep rootedness of the earth. It needs both,
and can have both, even in the same line.
But is it an and/or thing we’re talking
about Don’t we have the capacity for both
poetry and prose in our lives and the way
we see And isn’t there a need for both in
this world There are days when I just want
to go in a straight line. I have a list and I
want to get it all done. If I stopped for every
stray atom or metaphor that wandered
into my mind, the day would be shot. No
meetings attended, nothing mailed, no calls
returned. I’d be a happy and creative, but
disorganized, mess. Some days I need the
set parameters and completion of prose.
Point A to point B with just a few detours.
I can go like this for a while, maybe even a
week or two, but then something happens. I
start to miss the subtleties and uncertainties
of life, and the turning of them into
something – something of captured beauty,
and not necessarily with purpose. It starts in
unlikely settings: a meeting at work, a call
from a student, or an exchange of money
at the coffee shop. I become aware that
something is missing in these exchanges and
if I stop for a moment, can sometimes find it
dwelling between words, or in the patterns
of light and shadow across a counter. It is
the rest of the story, the unsaid words. It is
where poetry tends to live.
It occurs to me that mentoring is a little like
this. So much of it is about how we choose
to see. It can help to know if our natural
way of seeing is by way of possibilities and
associations or in more of a sensing manner
of considering what is already there before
us, and of what seems to make “sense.”
Our culture has us trained to perceive in
more of a practical and logical manner,
whatever our natural preference, and this
can leave out a whole world of possibilities.
What I believe we (and our students) could
benefit from when mentoring, is a conscious
turning to the intuitive, associative parts of
our minds, where we might dwell a little
more in possibility.
It is relatively easy, in many cases, to guide
students along toward developing degree
plans with a minimal amount of deep
reflection on either of our parts. I find
that when I stop, however, even just for
a few minutes, and look at a degree plan
backward or forward or a bit upside down,
it can take on a new light. Often the clues
have been there all along. Something a
student once said in email, or a recurring
word or phrase. Often they are the asides.
They don’t find their way to the center
because they seem unrelated at first, perhaps
illogical. This tends to be where the gems lie;
in the odd juxtaposition of words or ideas
that can lead to the most interesting and
original places.
I have been working with a student
who started with a concentration title of
philosophy, but during her first few months
as a student at the Center for Distance
Learning, she occasionally mentioned her
interests in human services and writing.
From time to time, I would ask her how
she saw her concentration in philosophy
Susan Jefts
developing, but she was never sure. One day
I decided to play with this, toss back to her
some of her own words and thoughts that
included her interests in journalism, human
services and philosophy. She had especially
liked a philosophy class where they talked
about how there are no absolute truths.
We spent the next week emailing back and
forth about this idea and aspects of her three
interest areas. We explored what about them
she was drawn to and how writing relates
to philosophy, and how writing relates to
mental health and community services. Then
we progressed to considering different ways
of combining some of these areas.
She said that from this process of exchanges
she felt a whole new world of possibilities
open up for her. She had not considered
that there might be meaningful connections
between her different interests. I suggested
she read about the area of interdisciplinary
studies that could help her translate these
connections into a viable academic program.
Over the next days, she shared a multitude
of possible ideas, and of subpossibilities
within them, things I would not have
thought of.
suny empire state college • all about mentoring • issue 39 • spring 2011