CROW’s Take Over Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts

By Gabe Garcia

On Wednesday, Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts hosted Youngstown State University Compose Review of Writing for their annual CROW event in conjunction with LIT Youngstown.

YSU CROW showcased students Jared Lyder, Antonina Boggia, Lexi Rager and Tyler McLellan’s writing works from past writing classes, along with others who chose to read their essays on subjects that influence them in their day-to-day lives.

“It was a free event for everyone to enjoy,” said Angela Messenger, director of the Student Writing Center. “This was our sixth CROW event partnering with Karen Schubert from Lit Youngstown. We really liked the idea of putting this together in a different environment”

Rager, a sophomore majoring in integrated mathematics had her essay “Under the Skin of Eating Disorders,” chosen to be presented at the YSU CROW.

“The media often likes to shame those with eating disorders,” Rager said. “Just like any other mental disease, eating disorders aren’t a choice.”

Throughout Rager’s life she has watched a family member struggle with an eating disorder and wanted to shed some light on this issue.

“I wanted to show the biological, social and psychological factors that play into developing an eating disorder,” said Rager. “I wanted to showcase the idea of not of shaming people for something they can’t control, but instead we should be focusing on ways to treat and prevent these diseases.”

It was suggested to Rager that she submit her essay for CROW by her Honors Writing II professor James Hain. She had to have her essay peer reviewed several times before she was able to submit it.

“You had to have the permission of a writing professor to submit your paper,” said Rager. “Then you turn in a form with three copies of your paper to the Writing Center for review.”

In order to make it a truly anonymous experience, Messenger had to personally review the submissions from students without knowing whose work belonged to who, along with a committee made up of several other YSU faculty members.

“Most often students are nominated by their instructors,” said Messenger. “We have rolling submissions throughout the year, and these specific students were actually recognized for classes in fall of 2016.”

McLellan, a senior double majoring in history and anthropology, was another reader at CROW. His essay “The Wrath of the Gods,” is about the United States allowing Christianity, or any religion into its policymaking.

“I’ve never participated in anything like this before,” McLellan said. “I’ve always had a passion for history, so that we may learn from our mistakes, and a strong belief in the separation of church and state.”

Other essays that were read included “Paying College Atheletes” by Jill Blacksten, “Comic Books: For Better or Worse” by Zameer Murad and “Youngstown, Ohio: A Place to Go” by Casey Infante.

“I had the opportunity to work with Rager and thought McLellan’s essay was very intriguing and informative,” said Messenger. “But I think the essay that I looked forward to hearing the most was Boggia’s “We’ll Carry On: Welcome to the Black Parade” only because I grew up with My Chemical Romance.”

At this time students are able to submit their works year-round to [email protected]. The next deadline for work is June 1, 2017.