Ideogram

At first glance the two characters in the sketch are obviously quite different. We rendered them so for many reasons. Not only are they from two different cultural contexts (the anglo cowboy and the native american), but they are also shown to be from two contexts within which there has been lasting tension--thus the gun and the tomohawk. However, the cowboy that waits in the writing center is obviously informed and benevolent. Waiting below a banner that celebrates diversity and standing beside a book shelf full of sources for the writing tutor, he wears acceptance on his ambling visage. Whatever tension that exists between them (even if only traditionally or typically perceived) will be actively dealt with and overcome through an equal collaboration between the student and the tutor.

The thought bubble in the first of the during-session sketches attempts to capture this collaboration. While the arrow diagram in the bubble shows the reciprocity between the two, the Q and the A show the difference between the participant's input. The burden of creating answers and thoughts for the paper is placed with the student. For obvious reasons the pen and paper rest in possession of the student. He alone must own the text.

Much has changed in the second of the during-session sketches. Both of the participants' symbols of cultural identity are out on the table. Both the student and the paper have changed for the positive. Whereas the student wore almost a painful grimace at the beginning of the session, he now wears a confident smile and rests under the brilliant light of bright ideas which he has created. His paper glows with a royal sheen.

After the session, the focus is on the writer. He now glows because, ultimately, his growth has been the product of the session. He celebrates a newfound wisdom: he had the ideas and skill all along to write a solid paper, and all he needed was a partner he could trust to bring it out of him.