The Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research is, arguably, one of the best teams at the UCWbL (we’re not biased or anything). We’re a team full of fun-loving, sass-giving people whose main goal is to have good conversations and eat equally good food.
The CMWR has its team meetings on Fridays, and the topics discussed generally fall into two categories: serious topics and not so serious topics. This post will provide some insight into what goes on in the UCWbL teams, as well as some info about the many CMWR events hosted each quarter.
Serious Topics
- Current events
- Global Voices
- Global Voices is our yearly online publication. We start talking about this late winter and spring quarters. Spring is when more people get involved with promoting it. At the start of the spring quarter, our main objective is to promote the call for submissions. This means bringing it up during individual sessions and team activities. After the deadline, our goals are to give the contributors feedback in a timely manner and to start uploading them to the Digication site. Issue 6 will be out soon!
- Walk and Talks
- Walk and Talks are typically held at least once every quarter. These events allow participants the opportunity to explore the city of Chicago while socializing with each other. During our team meetings, we take time to reflect on previous Walk and Talks and also brainstorm about new places we can explore in Chicago. CMWR team member and beer enthusiast Kiernan G. usually suggests a CMWR Walk and Talk/Pub Crawl hybrid for a Walk and Talk. This sort of event, however, has yet to occur.
- Workshops
- Team meetings are also a time for members to plan or discuss new topics for workshops. Our interactive workshops are often held each quarter and intended to focus on a particular topic that English language learners may be interested in. Previous workshops have focused on topics such as the use of various forms of social media, body language and job interviews, and cover letters and résumés. During our meetings, we have an opportunity to unpack our workshops and discuss how we can improve each workshop event.
- THE POTLUUUUCK
- The quarterly potluck is often a popular subject that the team discussing during team meetings. Whether we are planning for the potluck or reminiscing about past potluck memories, this particular event finds its way into team meeting discussions all the time. Aside from being an end-of-the-quarter tradition for the CMWR, the spring potluck is also our launch party for Global Voices. We invite all the contributors to join in us launching the publication.
- Blog post deadlines
- Hana Y. helps keep team members on track in terms of making sure blog post deadlines are met. She is our blog post schedule guardian angel, and without her, you may not have been able to see the various blog posts that the CMWR posted this year.
Not So Serious Topics
- Mark’s colorblindness (fun fact: CMWR Team Leader Mark Lazio is colorblind)
- Alex A.’s cigar breaks (CMWR member Alex A. is a cigar enthusiast)
- Team members attempting to figure out what movie Mark is quoting from (at this point, we usually assume that it’s The Big Lebowski)
- Additionally, just trying to figure out what Mark’s talking about in general when not talking about Serious Topics is a group effort
- The Law and Kiernan G. (a CMWR member and law student)
- The contents of Emily P.’s salad of the day (CMWR member and vegetable enthusiast)
- The various bakeries that can be found by Hana Y.’s condo (all of which are very delicious)
- Coordinating outfits for our next group photo (how’d we do?)
There you have it, a sneak peak at the goings on in one of the UCWbL’s teams. Good friends, good food, and good conversation make the CMWR a great team to be a part of. We hope to see you at some of our events soon! And for all the UCWbLers out there: what about you? What makes your UCWbL team great?
By: Susie M. & Kiernan G.