Editor’s note: “Who is Syracuse?” is a series that runs in The Daily Orange every spring. It highlights individuals who embody the spirit of Syracuse. Members of the community were encouraged to nominate people they thought fit this description. This series explores their stories.

S

arah Harwell sat in her office, piles of manila envelopes etched with precarious notes balanced haphazardly on her desk. She laughed as she gestured toward the “wall of shame” in the corner of her office, featuring photographs of her colleagues and Syracuse University’s creative writing professors when they were young.

Her gray cardigan acts as a blank canvas, putting her floral tights and fire engine red cowboy boots on display. It’s a simple joy, Harwell said, these cowboy boots. In her mind, life is best lived through these little moments.

Harwell, the associate director of SU’s creative writing program, first discovered her own passion for writing when she was 22. After dropping out of school several times, she stumbled across the book “What Color is Your Parachute?” by Richard N. Bolles — “you know, the hippie book,” she said — and realized the one thing she was most enchanted by in the world was reading.

“I loved reading more than anything,” Harwell said.

 

Each “Who Is Syracuse?” nomination Harwell received pointed to her kindness and ability to transcend the barriers often situated between professors and their students.

“One of the most genuine personalities of the Syracuse community.”

“I’m not sure what the spirit is, but I believe in Harwell.”

“One of the unsung heroes of Syracuse University,” wrote Jacob Gedetsis, a first-year student in SU’s MFA in creative writing program.

During his freshman year at SU, Gedetsis felt displaced, immersed in a campus culture far outside his comfort zone. A first-generation college student from a “not-so-good” neighborhood in Cleveland, his personal identity was in limbo after outgrowing his hometown and not yet adjusting to a newfound environment.

Gedetsis was on the verge of transferring. Then, during his spring semester, he took an introductory poetry course with Harwell.

“The thing that she’s teaching facilitates wonder and thinking about your place in the world and how it operates,” Gedetsis said. “Her as a teacher being so open, it allowed me the space to go talk to her in her office — and that semester, I was in her office multiple times a week for many hours.”

It was Harwell’s capacity for listening, Gedetsis said, that got him through the rougher patches of his freshman year and to continue his studies at SU. A few years later at Molly’s Cupcakes in Greenwich Village, Gedetsis again visited his “pseudo-therapist” — on sabbatical that semester — to discuss applying to SU’s MFA in creative writing. He is now a first-year student in the program.

“For two-and-a-half, three hours, we sat and we went through my application, all my poems for my application, to send to MFA programs,” he said. “And that’s not uncommon for Sarah.”

A graduate of SU’s M.S. in library and information science program, Harwell began working at the university and taking undergraduate English and creative writing courses for free during her spare time. At the insistence of Mary Karr, a professor of English at SU, Harwell applied to the MFA in creative writing program and was accepted.

A single mother at the time, Harwell worked part-time at the School of Information Studies while taking courses. It was, she said, a challenging balance act. But they were also the best three years of her life. For this reason, she said, she fell in love with the beauty of teaching — the opportunity to invite students into an untapped and newfound world of literature.

“Administrating sucks,” she said, laughing. “It’s so hard and there’s always something to do and you have so many emails. But the teaching makes it worthwhile. I want people to have the same kind of experience I had when I was in the program.”

George Saunders, a professor of English in the creative writing department, credited Harwell’s “joyous spirit” in making the MFA program one of the most renowned in the country. The essence of Harwell’s character, Saunders said, relies on the confidence she instills in her students, never without an added touch of humor.

“She is a tireless worker on behalf of our students, whose superpower is that she makes every one of them feel valued and seen and loved,” said Saunders, in an email. “She has a great sense of humor and also a great sense of proportion — she keeps everything grounded and human.”

She doesn’t consider herself motivated by money, or ambition. Her poetry is driven by her emotions, her short story writing through her contemplation of in-limbo states of being. Having spent countless hours in airports, she’s fascinated by the commonality and shared experiences of strangers united under their mutual desire of reaching a final destination.

In life and in her writings, the driving force behind each word and every stanza is trying to understand one another. It’s the same reason her office door is always open, where she often offers a cup of tea to students when they’re stressed.

In a career as solitary and lonely as writing can be, she can ensure them there will always be someone in their corner — even if that means traveling to obscure bakeries on the west side of Manhattan to pore over graduate school applications.

“At certain points in your life, you think ‘Oh, I’ve got to get a lottery ticket, because I’m so unhappy and you know it will be better if I buy this lottery ticket and I win $1 million.’”

She paused, a smile slowly spreading across her face as she considers for a moment.

“Right now, I don’t really buy lottery tickets.”

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Photo by Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Published on April 23, 2019 at 11:14 pm

Contact Kelsey: katho101@syr.edu | @writtenbykelsey