Split in Two

Barbara Mellix writes about her experience of going to collgege after being out of high school for sixteen years, and I think, describes it beautifully. Talking about her papers in her first writing class, she writes, "There is a poverty of language in these sentences." Later she says, "I had the sensation of being split in two, part of me going into a future the other part didn't believe possible." She concludes the article with this: "Writing and rewriting, practicing, experimenting, I came to comprehend more fully the generative power of language. I discovered--with the help of some especially sensitive teachers--that through writing one can continually bring new selves into being, each with new responsibilities and difficulties, but also with new possibilities. Remarkable power, indeed. I write and continually give birth to myself."