by Jennifer Rudsit
My favorite thing about blogs, and about Rock & Sling in particular, is that they create a space for dialogue. Blogs are accessible and easy to share, connecting people from around the world who wouldn’t otherwise coexist in the same space. I especially respect Rock & Sling’s desire to “continue to be a hallmark of quality writing, embracing broad differences in experience—spiritual, cultural, or political….We hope to serve as a forum for an open and vigorous intellectual and artistic discussion, and a meeting place between those elements of our world that are often so diametric.” As divisive as the world feels right now, working with a blog that allows writers to bear witness to that divide while also creating respectful discussion around it is refreshing and necessary.
Each contributor for Rock & Sling submits engaging, valuable work that spans a huge spread of topics, and it is humbling and exciting for me to work with each of them. Like books, blog posts plunge me into a perspective different than my own, but in a way that is immediate, a compact chunk of text to absorb while taking the bus to work, multitasking during a Netflix binge, or sitting on a park bench during my lunch break. The great posts divert me from my comfort zone, helping me see myself, my community, my life, in new ways, sending me back into my day with a subtle shift in perspective, a gentle (or not so gentle) nudge to keep chewing on this new idea.
As I’ve read and worked with Rock & Sling, a lot of the posts have resonated with different threads in my own life. Lyle Enright’s piece, “Make it New: Prayer” was posted while I was attempting to revamp my own spiritual life, processing what “make it new” meant for me. “Sweet Child, You Are Loved,” by Julie Riddle, spoke of an experience I have never gone through, but shared words of comfort and wisdom that heal regardless of the situation, words that I desperately needed to hear. And the Summer Reading Series, currently happening on the blog, helped get me excited about reading again, during a time when I struggled to get into almost every book I started.
I hope Rock & Sling can become, or continue to be, a place where you feel engaged, challenged, comforted, and heard; a place where you begin seeing threads from your own life put into words by others.
If you are interested in becoming a contributor for the Rock & Sling blog, please contact Jennifer Rudsit at [email protected] with a writing sample and a paragraph about your writing interests and experiences. We are always looking for writers who will bear witness to this world, people engaged with art, music, books, politics, faith, doubt, and everything in-between.
Jennifer Rudsit is a recent Whitworth English Department grad. During her time at Whitworth she was an Editorial Assistant for Rock & Sling, and has been the Assistant Web Editor for the blog this past year. She is currently an Administrative Assistant at Pacific Northwest Ballet. Her hobbies include wandering around Seattle Center on her work breaks, looking up knitting patterns on Etsy, and frantically attempting to complete the Seattle Public Library’s Summer Book Bingo.