The Difference a Space Makes
Student Spotlight: Connie Pan
by Shane Stricker

For many of us who are lucky enough to know her, she is ConniePan. For those of you who don’t, you might refer to her as Connie Pan. The difference is a momentary pause—a half of a breath being drawn in or escaping. The difference is minimal. But, that’s not quite correct is it?

The difference is in the details, in knowing how well ConniePan handles her settings—whether they be the shorelines of Hawaii where developers are pushing and pulling locals from their traditions or the frozen tundra of an unhappy household trapped in the clutches of Michigan winter. The difference is in understanding her attachment to backstory. The difference comes in seeing the sheer quantity of work she puts herself through, in seeing her lists—handwritten, sprawling manifestos of everything from laundry duties to finishing her first draft of her thesis. The difference is in understanding that ConniePan was put on this earth to write, to not just write but to write beautifully.

Whether it began with her grandmother taking her to the library when she was almost too young to read or with the ugly Army notebooks her father used to bring home—he was an enlisted man, stationed all across this country—ConniePan’s determination to educate herself, to notice the details that most of us ignore, began at an early age. Her mother made her promise that she would get an education. Her being—a soul that wanted to be an artist—forced her to notice the rarely seen, to revel in the minutia that makes a story come to life, that makes a group of fictional characters stand up and walk around your living room.

If you know ConniePan, you understand her drive toward perfection. You understand her work ethic. If you know ConniePan, you cheer for her, celebrate in her accomplishments—a Pushcart nomination for an excerpt from her novel, published in Rosebud; publication of her poetry in the Hawaii Review. You cheer for her because you believe in her characters. You cheer for her because you believe in her words. You cheer for her because she has, and will once again, cheer for you.

Next time you pick up a piece written by ConniePan, make sure to notice the details, the compassionate handling of character, the attractiveness of her sentence-level writing. Make sure to notice the space between Connie and Pan. Make sure to remove that space because now, even if you don’t know her on a personal level, you understand the difference between ConniePan and Connie Pan.

Connie Pan is an third year MFA candidate in Fiction. She is currently the Council of Writers’ President and served as their secretary last year. While she does not know what, exactly, the future holds, she is excited about it. She says, “the last time that I had no idea what my future held, I ended up here [at WVU], and I believe I ended up exactly where I was supposed to be. As of now, I’m compiling my dossier, which is a very fancy word for all the work that I have been doing in sweatpants, but I’ll be applying for fellowships and anything that has the promise of time for writing and health insurance.” Health insurance and time to write certainly seem like the perfect combination, and we’re certain that ConniePan’s future holds just that and more.