This class centered on two main goals: to help students become more comfortable with writing and to learn how to read as a writer. We read several personal essays by authors including (but not limited to): Patricial Hampl, David Foster Wallace, Sarah Vowell, and Barry Lopez.  Students wrote three essays of their own, each requiring four drafts.  Writing assignments included a personal narrative, a researched interview, and an imitation essay which required students to apply writing techniques revealed in the readings.