Estrenar

14 September 2026: Spent a lot of time today conferencing with my ENGL 101 students as they work on their Literacy Narratives. Hard, interesting, and fulfilling work—for me and them (I hope).

My last meeting was with a student whose essay is about how writing got her through a very difficult time: a move to a new town when she was in high school. She writes about having to figure out how she was in this new space. How to move through new spaces. How to figure out a new version of herself.

She is also bilingual and, in her draft, mentioned that, as she wrote during that time—especially as she wrote music, some words felt right in Spanish, some in English, etc. She also mentioned words that have no direct translation to English, but didn’t give any examples in the essay.

“What’s one of them?” I asked her.

She paused. “It’s hard to think of one on the spot…”

Then she said, “Well, there’s estrenar, which mean to use or wear something for the first time…”

I got so excited and really nerded out. “You mean like trying something new? Seeing how it feels? Like…what your essay is kind of about?”

Bless her heart: she got excited, too.

Best job in the world.