‘Read a bunch and write a lot:’ Dr. Jacob Brewer inspires students

BY ASHTYN HANSARD

Digital Media Director

During my time at Tarleton State University, I’ve had a plethora of teachers for all kinds of classes. When you’ve been in three different majors, you get to experience all kinds of teaching styles.

When I decided that I wanted to be an English major and saw I got to take a creative writing class, I didn’t really know what to expect. Would my teacher be dull and arrogant, or would he think he was the next Professor Keating and have us all start our own “Dead Poets Society”?

While we weren’t standing on desks yelling “O Captain! My Captain!,” I did learn so much about the text we read and how to analyze the subtext. I don’t mean to sound cliché, but there really is almost always a deeper meaning to the poem you’re reading.

This skill, which I now highly value, would not have been learned if it weren’t for Dr. Jacob Brewer.

Dr. Brewer is an English professor at Tarleton and has been teaching for about 10 years. However, teaching wasn’t always his dream job. Originally, Brewer planned to be strictly an author.

Through his masters in fine arts plan at his college in Oklahoma, Brewer spent his first year tutoring students on their papers for class and his second year actually teaching students.

“It was a three-year masters, and in the second year, you just start teaching,” Brewer said. “That's how you find your way through. I started teaching composition and I loved it. It ended up being a really nice, happy accident.”

Being a student in one of his classes, I can guarantee that Brewer really does teach with compassion.

During our class, we often dive into discussions that involve all the students participating with their opinions rather than dividing into small groups. Brewer has found this to be critical in his teaching style with less time spent in small groups.

“I always liked a situation where you could talk whenever you wanted, and you could engage with the lecture live,” Brewer said. “I think that kind of ends up being like a democratic sharing of the minds that works better.”

While being a teacher wasn’t always his goal, Brewer has found much reward while teaching at Tarleton. 

While connecting with students and inspiring them is very important to Brewer, he also has found value in the students’ connection with the pieces they’re studying. Whether it be poetry or fiction, seeing a student express their love for a piece is one of his favorite parts of teaching.

“It’s very fulfilling when you see students connect with the material,” Brewer said. “You see it all the time in little ways and big ways, or you see a piece of text work for somebody or even you see somebody kind of hate a piece of text. Often it'll be a student that's not really engaged in it, or you can tell they don't like something, and you're like ‘rock and roll’ because the art meant something to them.”

Throughout his time at Tarleton, Brewer has taught several different courses. Currently, he teaches creative writing, intermediate fiction, advanced fiction and British literature. 

While he’s had a chance at teaching different coursework, his favorite class to teach is creative writing. 

While all classes involve analyzing texts and discussing them, Brewer thinks there’s something so interesting about the creative writing class, mainly since this is one of the few writing classes that are open to students of all majors.

“It's zestful, you know? Everybody's talking, and you get people to share perspectives differently in a creative writing class,” Brewer said. “I think it’s because the work is happening live in front of them as opposed to something that used to happen.”

Being a student in his creative writing class, I feel qualified enough to confirm that he teaches a very fun class.

While Brewer has been teaching for almost a decade, it’s not the only thing he does. He also writes fiction stories. 

Brewer was one of the few lucky people in the world who grew up and knew exactly what he wanted to do, unlike me who’s changed her mind three times in just two years. For Brewer, it was always going to be writing.

“I was just always writing,” Brewer said. “I always liked narratives, and I was always writing stories, so it kind of seemed like the natural thing to do.”

While being both an author and a teacher, you would think Brewer would have a preference towards one career. However, he does not.

Teaching and writing are two separate careers, each with their own obstacles and rewards. While one may be more fun than the other at times, Brewer doesn’t feel like he can really pick between both of them.

“I consider myself an artist and fiction as my medium. When you're creating art, it's excellent. And I think teaching is kind of different than that,” Brewer said. “There's moments in class where a connection comes through and it kind of shines. It's really fun to be able to chase that around.”

As an English professor, Brewer is teaming up with fellow instructor Megan Cline and Tarleton’s future poetry instructor to create the “Bosque River Review.”

The “Bosque River Review” will be a Tarleton magazine that features short stories, poems and artwork submitted by people from the Stephenville area and beyond. The magazine would be edited by Tarleton students and published for the Tarleton campus with hopes of growing to farther areas.

The goal of this magazine is to spread art to students and locals who may not be as exposed to written art.

“The goal would be to become a regionally successful magazine for people to see what art is and what it can be.”

Anyone can participate in this magazine, including students who have submitted work for classes. If you or any fellow students have submitted a story, poem or art piece that you want featured in the “Bosque River Review,” email [email protected]. 

Throughout my time at Tarleton, I’ve noticed that a lot of students enjoy writing poetry or fiction. However, not many students actually pursue this talent since they have no idea how to start. 

Upon hearing this, Brewer gave a simple piece of advice: “just start writing anyways.”

“It's hard to look at a blank page, so I think one of the really nice things to know is that you don't have to begin in a temporally normal fashion,” Brewer said. “I think if people are scared to write, the best thing to do is to say to yourself, ‘I'm going to write 100 words today.’ It doesn't matter how good it is or what it is, and the next day, make it 105 or 110.”

For coming up with ideas, his advice was even simpler: read something.

“If you read a bunch, you're going to start thinking in terms of literature,” Brewer said. “Read a bunch and write a lot. It’s the worst advice, but I think it's the truest advice.”