Bright Lights, Big City: Students Blog about Worcester in Montserrat Class

Stephanie Reents, assistant professor of English at Holy Cross, is teaching her students about city life this semester in a course titled “Bright Lights, Big City.”  The class is offered through Montserrat, the College’s living and learning program for all first-year students. “The course asks students to explore the history of cities in this country before they venture out into Worcester, New York, and Boston to continue the great literary tradition of the travel essay and writing about places,” shares Reents.  “We are also going to survey the terrain of literary responses to urban and suburban life and examine the myth of alienation and disconnection that arises out of crowded subways or gated communities.”

For the past few weeks her students have been learning all about Worcester's industrial and cultural history. Reents says she has been learning a lot, too.  “That is the great thing about teaching, you're often discovering right alongside your students,” she shares.

One of the unique components of the course is an assignment called “Sense Worcester,” which embraces technology and brings attention to all there is to offer in our own backyard. The project requires groups of students in the class to blog about different aspects of Worcester.   Each blog entry will begin with a single sense (sight, sound, touch, taste, smell) to frame the brief essay.  “One idea that is very important to me as a writer is that the process of writing often leads to discovery. You don't really know what you're writing about until you begin writing,” shares Reents. “I'm hoping my students have a similar experience as they're exploring Worcester.  I want them to get lost (but a just a little).  I want them to take detours. I want them to be surprised by what they discover in the city.”

That’s just what her first-year students plan to do. Cecilia Wolfe ’15, a psychology major hailing from New York, says the most interesting thing she has learned about Worcester—is the people.  “I try to talk to every cabby, waitress, bus driver, cop and cashier I run into. To me, people characterize a place almost beyond its physical structure and history,” shares Wolfe. “The diner cook whose family has been in Worcester for four generations, whose dad gave her a job behind the counter when she was fifteen, or the cab driver whose mom was in the first graduating coed class at Holy Cross, who knows the history of all the police and firehouses in the area, these are the people who teach me the most. It is refreshing to talk to community members who have so much pride for Worcester.”

Her group’s blog page is titled “Workings in Worcester.”  Her blog entries will focus on not only the sensory experiences of the places she visits, but the characters she meets along the way. Her first blog entry will focus on a typical Worcester cab ride and a unique Worcester cab driver, named Michael.

“I've been writing since I was a scrawny little kindergartner with a legal pad and became editor of my high school's creative writing magazine, but I never had the opportunity to take a proper course,” shares Wolfe. “Between the expansiveness of the class subject matter, the truly engaging writing assignments, and the incredibly constructive advice given by, I feel I've really lucked out taking this class.”

Vincent Taormina ’15 has also been learning a lot about the city. “Going around Worcester and learning about its history has been one of the most fascinating things I've done while at Holy Cross,” shares Taormina. “I had no idea how much of an industrial force the city really was.” 

A political science major, from St. Louis, Missouri, Taormina plans to blog about a drive he took around Worcester. “I went through all of these back streets and found a lot of interesting looking homes and buildings.  At one point in my trip, I went to the top of one of its hills and I could see the entire city below me. I could see miles of railroad tracks and thousands of triple-decker houses.” 

Taormina says this is his favorite class this semester. 

While this class is a favorite among students, Reents feels the same way. “This is my first year teaching in the Montserrat program, and I like my students' sense of community, their spirit, and their willingness to try anything.”