Who is my Mentor?

Toree Brooks
September 22, 2010
English 1A, Ms. Lennon

Who Is My Mentor?
I quietly waited for her in the comfort of a dimly lit corner at Starbucks and listened in on the tidbits of the customer’s gossip. With my mind buried in their memories, I started to devour the pages of my journal with a few words.  Focused with my fingers tightly gripped on the pen, I suddenly noticed her glancing at my journal with a nod of approval. “I see you’re in writing mode” as she greets me with a smile. We spill out into mild chatter and she gestures me to continue writing. When I stopped, she handed me a small book of poems written by teens my age.  Falling speechless to her unpronounced generosity, she chuckled. “You write profusely and I admire that. You remind me of myself and you really have the gift of writing.” At that moment, I felt a sense of connection to her and I couldn’t hold back from reading what I wrote. Not only did I want her to hear it, but I wanted her to feel the power in my words. I let my words linger in the space between us and she took her journal out. I knew I had sparked an idea in her mind and with one look, we both planted a poem in our heads waiting to blossom on the page in front of us. In my opinion, I have always considered a “mentor” to be a person who guides another to better opportunities and provides an extensive amount of support. They can come in the form of a teacher, a family member, or a friend.  A person that I consider a mentor in my life is Kirsten Giles because she has been the guiding force in expressing my self through writing and is beneficial in all aspects of my life.
Having Kirsten as my mentor has given me the chance to enhance the strengths of my writing and tackle different types of written prose.  Every week, we wrote on a subject that enticed us and she applauded me every time I put effort in writing. I learned how to construct a storyline for a screenplay and practiced writing poems without rhyming. I love to write poetry, but sometimes I don’t make sense. Each time, she viewed what I wrote and commented on it in a way that I could learn from my mistakes. Not only did she help me, but she continually gained insight into who I am as a person.  With her help, I began to write less on typical themes such as love and delve into topics of writing that involved me to think deeper. I applied what we talked about and eventually my poems were stronger from the way I constructed my wording. Kirsten encourages me to write with confidence and trust the words that I speak. The writing that I produced spoke volumes of my skills as a writer. All she did was challenge me to write bigger and better.
While it was easier for me to write my thoughts on paper, it was even harder to articulate what I wanted to say. I never found the right words to express myself and it felt like I was loosing my writer’s intuition. Not only did Kirsten and I write together, but we talked about issues that hindered me from performing my work. She aided me in verbally expressing my poetry without too much emotion, but with more character. She took each stanza in my poem and made me approach it in a different way. She helped me the most when I had to perform spoken word at Leimert Park. Thinking back to all the times I read aloud to her, I was able to communicate a written piece that left the audience with a lasting impression from my words. When it comes to writing, I am reassured that Kirsten is there to guide me and can depend on her as my network of support. She continues to lend a hand and never ceased to demonstrate my full potential as a writer.
As a mentee of a professional writer, I have gained a lot of benefits from having a mentor. I have learned lifelong skills that will prove useful to me later on in life and have a lasting bond with someone who shares the love of writing as well. From the constructive criticism to talking about life, I can say she is an asset to me that is worth more than any material or book can offer. Kirsten has tons of experience in her writing and I admire her for sharing her knowledge with me.  I can say that a mentor is the best person to have because they look for the best in you and my mentor won’t settle until she witnesses me striving for the finest in me.