Considering my love of storytelling as both an art and a leadership tool, this was the one non-concentration elective I desperately wanted to enroll in. Each semester I looked for it, and each semester it either was not offered or it was only offered during the same block as one of my other “must take” classes. Until this Spring when it finally fit. I was unfamiliar with Dr. Joe Albert, a fact that put me in the absolute minority in the class – the pre-immersion Zoom session made it abundantly clear that much of the class had history together, and with Joe, as self-professed professor groupies. It was intimidating to be an outsider, but hours into our immersion the emphasis Gonzaga students and staff put on co-creating spaces that encourage and reward authenticity and vulnerability had done its work, and we were well on our way to becoming a loving community.

     This course was not a course focused on subject matter literature and expertise. Like much of the ORGL program has proven to be, this course was about developing ourselves so that we can better serve others. There have been times in my life when I have thought of myself as a potential professional writer – in college I was an active contributor of poetry and the occasional story to our literary journal – but despite sitting down multiple times over the years to attempt to actually write a short story or book, everything always sounded forced. This course helped me realize that I am in my own way because deep down I was trying to be entertaining, not authentic. Writing the We Story about my father’s passing flowed – the first draft of the 2000 word story came out of me in less than an hour. It was the story I needed to tell, and the telling was cathartic and beautiful.