Tutor profile: Carolyn H.

I have nothing to say. How many pages? Why can't I just tell you? I'm a bad writer.

We write so we may understand what we think. When we first put words on paper, we're afraid they may be evidence of our lack of intelligence or creativity. To the contrary, we as writers are experimenting. Please believe me...we all have had writing experiences that have blown up in our faces. And some that have blossomed! (Don't worry about that sentence beginning with "And.") Our writing evolves, always.

Why couldn't Shakespeare write so we could understand him?

Shakespeare didn't write just so his audience could immediately understand. He wrote to show the beauty of language. He wrote so his audience could feel all emotions. William Shakespeare wrote to show the possibility of rhyme and rhythm. How should one express their secrets? Show feelings? Show emotions? Connect to the dream and fantasy world of love and loss and hatred? Shakespeare will never go out of style.

Why does this piece of literature even matter? What am I supposed to get out of it?

If I, as a teacher, can't prepare you for tough readings or literature that is difficult, literature can't and won't matter. I will help you make sense of difficult readings. I will help you see beauty and originality in a piece of history or a modern story. I will try and show you how that piece of literature shows some truth of life.