Harvard Student and Speech Writer

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it.” — Paulo Coelho

I did a thing this week. I signed up for one of the free online classes that Harvard is offering. The class is called “Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasive Writing and Public Speaking.” It’s the only writing class in the current catalog of free courses. It’s also a nudge from the Universe that this could provide me with tools to use my writing to make a difference.

Just by taking a class with Harvard that is also open to international students, I am committing an act of defiance. If what I learn can help make a difference in one or all of my intersecting communities, it is also a way I can act that costs nothing but my time and effort.

Currently, I write to inform or entertain. There are occasional blogs or posts where I’m trying to persuade you to do something. But asking a few friends to do a favor is not the same as trying to get MAGA to see me and others like me as human beings due the same basic rights they have.

One of the ways that we learn how to be good at Rhetoric is to watch and listen to those who are and were good at it.  Earlier this week, I listened to and followed along with the transcript of Martin Luther King. Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

It brought me to tears to know that we are still so far away from his dream and are currently going the wrong way. What else I realized is that it is the first time I have ever listened to that speech all the way through. I admit to feeling a bit of shame at that revelation. Given how whitewashed our education system is, though, I’m not surprised that I didn’t get it at school.

But somewhere along my journey to try and get woke, I should have studied it, right?

Nothing to be gained by shame here, though, so I will focus on what made this speech so compelling so that maybe I can incorporate some of that magic into my writing. It has to be said that no matter how good the writing was, this speech only truly had magic because of the way it was delivered.

As this week progressed and I did more homework, a tiny sprout of an idea began to form. Then, as I watched some of the talking heads on MSNBC, I heard stories about former federal employees who have started running for political office, and that sprout of an idea grew bigger. When I spoke with my therapist later this week, that sprout became a seedling.

What if I could use my writing to get someone elected?

The point of ramping up the Democratic Party in our county is to get candidates to run for office so that the city and county commissioners will no longer run unopposed, as they have for the last several elections. Maybe we can even overcome some of the gerrymandering and get someone into the state legislature.

I have no desire or, frankly, the skill set, to run for public office. But I do have skills that might help get someone elected. Not sure if it’s my job yet since I haven’t taken the training for the Party Secretary yet, but I think that I will be the one who will be writing the press releases and many of our posts on our FB page.

What if I could be a speech writer too?

I said these words out loud. Granted, I said them to my therapist, who has to keep my secrets, but they were out loud where the universe could absorb them.

This idea really excites me. It’s a way to use what I’m learning from Harvard now and my already present love of writing, and put it to use to move this county a little to the left and make an actual difference in my community.

This spark of hope in my heart feels so fragile. Putting my wish into words and letting it out into the Universe feels so scary, but how else can I manifest it?

Guess I’d better get to work. Take care of yourselves, my friends.