Mahala Lettvin, Peer Consultant

BA: American Studies

My four year old daughter, Hadassah, recently asked me why pair and pear are the same word, but she is not allowed to eat her pants.

Despite the fact that she has achieved much in her young life, this interaction prevails as one of my proudest parenting moments. She is already beginning to make linguistic connections by playing with words and asking questions, then teaching her younger brother, Malachi, what she has learned. I love trying to answer my childrens questions--although it involves a certain amount of translation for them to fully comprehend the answers I provide.

Trying to translate ideas and explain the many elements of the English language frustrates me. However, in my professional, academic, and personal life, I have learned some very helpful skills to help me write and communicate a broad range of ideas to diverse audiences (including small children). Because of my work experience as a paralegal for a criminal defense attorney, my strengths include research papers and argumentative essays. I am skilled in brainstorming, organization, structure, transitions, and flow. I value the writer’s own voice, because regardless of medium, writing and communicating always involve the author’s own identity, memory, experience, and self.

I am excited to be working at the Writing and Communication Center; the questions, perspectives, insights, struggles, and successes that we all encounter fascinate and challenge me. Although I do not have all the answers to the many obstacles that we as students face, what defines me as a consultant is that I am willing to go through the process of inquiring and arriving at solutions. During my time at the Writing and Communication Center, I look forward to overcoming obstacles in communication, both as a writer myself and as a consultant to my peers.