Written in Water

Written by Madison Knobloch

Photography by Aida Ebrahimi

From the moment someone self-declares as a bibliophile, a book worm, a lover of the language, only one reasonable argument arises against leading a life enriched by literature: Wouldn’t you rather be living the adventures that people write those books about? UW-Madison Assistant Professor of Composition and Rhetoric, Dr. Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, seems to think her students can do both.Druschke’s attitude stems from her rare pairing of passions: writing and water. During her Ph.D. studies, one of her focuses was on the language of urban farming and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Her research centered on how words or organizations of words may influence people to participate (or not) in these programs.But as she volunteered at these urban farms, literally getting her hands dirty, she started to wonder. What is actually going on in the soil? In the plants? In the water? And as a writer, she also had to ask: Does it matter that we understand the stories behind water and soil?In her first year teaching at UW-Madison, Druschke became the first Composition and Rhetoric professor to teach the English Major required class “Seminar in the Major.” Typically, this class has been taught by literature professors who pick a specific topic (that changes every semester) to closely study with their students.But instead of diving into Shakespeare or Chaucer, Druschke stripped the curriculum down to its most basic imperative. Seminar in the Major is meant to teach students about argument—how to tell a good argument from a bad argument, how to craft effective arguments, how to find an argument where you didn’t expect to. Staying true to the purpose of the class, Druschke branched out with her topic of choice. This flexibility let Druschke do the two things she loves most: investigating the forces and dynamics of water and teaching students to care.Druschke sent students home to dissect news articles on modern water issues and pour over legal documents about water law and water management. They watched documentaries on dams during class time, thinking all the while how they were affected by the words they were hearing and reading.The final project was what Druschke calls an “action project.” She asked the students to take what they’ve learned about the importance of water and do something about it. Those were the only directions. No essays, no Power Point presentations, no multiple choice. And what they came up with surprised her.Stuart Deets, a student in her class, combined his two majors, English and Art History, and put an ingenious spin on a photography exhibition. Deets experimented with the older art of film photography and took snapshots of the lake environments surrounding the city of Madison. But at every location, Deets also took a water sample. He wanted to develop each photo in the water that it was displaying, resulting in “an ethereal, mysterious, almost haunting effect” said Druschke. The final part of Deets’ action project was to display his work along with a reflective essay at the UW Center for Limnology this past February. See his photos and essay here.Illumination got word of Druschke’s action project because one of her students, Nenad Jakovljevic, submitted a work of fiction to us that put the power of water in the spotlight. He wrote about a dystopian Wisconsin in which water was restricted by the government because it was so scarce. And Jakovljevic said that this was only the beginning. In his artist statement, he thought that maybe this piece could be the first chapter of a novel.Druschke had many hefty goals for this class, but ultimately, she said, “I want this class to be for the students. I don’t want the students to be turning in homework for the professor, for the grade. I want them to have a place to develop their skills and develop as a person. I wanted them to find something in this class that might be bigger than themselves and realize that they have the power to make change.”This is what argument is all about—using language to show others that a cause is worth their time. These students weren’t memorizing theorems or churning out essays in Druschke’s class. She taught them just how much power they have. They didn’t have to feel any affection for Druschke’s passion for water, but they could apply what they learned in class to the real world, and to their own lives.Among Druschke’s course goals on the syllabus she handed out at the beginning of the semester, the most important one may strike other professors as brash and unorthodox. But UW-Madison could use a little more unorthodoxy. Druschke’s main goal was for her students to “give a shit about something.” And because of her, now they have the tools to do so.