Renny Christopher, the vice chancellor of Academic Affairs at WSU Vancouver, kicked off the Creative Writers Series as the first guest speaker of the semester long string of events. When preparing her speech for the event, Christopher shared one specific purpose that she hoped students would take away from her storytelling.
“I think what it boils down to is that you are not alone. If anybody can identify with anything in my writing or the experience I am trying to convey in a way that makes them feel what I felt when reading other people’s writing, then I feel I am passing on what those writers did for me,” Christopher said.
Christopher described college as a culture shock. She said the majority of her classmates were in much higher economic and educational standings. “I am a first-generation college student. Neither of my parents went to college,” Christopher said.
“I grew up around people who were not college educated and now I spend my life at a university. I feel very mixed in that class identity.”
Renny Christopher, WSU Vancouver vice chancellor of Academic Affairs
She ultimately made the decision to drop her classes in the start of her college career. Even after these setbacks, she persisted and earned a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing.
“It took me more than eight years to graduate. The odds against me getting my bachelors degree were extremely high,” she said.
Christopher has written multiple works including her novel “The Vietnam War/The American War: Images and Representations in Euro American and Vietnamese Exile Narratives,” where she introduces works of Vietnamese exile writers during the time of the Vietnam war.
“When I was teaching at San Jose State, I was teaching a writing requirement … The class had a common exam where everybody had to write a timed essay on the same topic. The topic was ‘describe a journey.’” Christopher recalled this course as a factor in what made her want to write a literary piece of this nature.
Christopher taught among a high population of Vietnamese students who had immigrated with their families after the Vietnam war. The essays contained her students’ experiences and how the war had impacted them personally.
“Like a bolt of lighting I realized the war of Vietnam isn’t about the United States, it’s about Vietnam and nothing at that time was focusing on those stories,” Christopher said. “That was when I knew what I wanted to focus my scholarly work on.”
Christopher said writing from a bicultural perspective is important to her. She said everything about her life and personality has dual identities that contrast with one another, including classifying herself as genderqueer and being a professionally middle-class person who came from a rural working-class background.
“I grew up around people who were not college educated and now I spend my life at a university. I feel very mixed in that class identity,” Christopher said.
At the event Christopher read excerpts of her latest novel “Crossing Boundaries, Crossing Genres: Using History, Family History, and Historical Research to Tell Uncommonly Told Stories.” The novel tells the story of a documentary filmmaker (based off Christopher) who discovers her mother was involved in an interracial relationship during the catastrophic events of World War II.
While Christopher develops many messages within her writing, using her writing as a voice for those who stand out, will always serve as her main purpose. Read more about Christopher’s story here.
Emily is a senior studying integrated strategic communication at WSU Vancouver.