Bethany Daniels in her office, adorned with decorations and mementos from past students. (Bri Nitsberg | Managing Photo Editor)

Bethany Daniels teaches two writing courses at WashU, Writing the Visual World and Exposition. Regardless of which class her students take, they often come to realize two states of being: the state before taking her class, and the state after. The transformation that follows her mentorship is measurable, to the point where Daniels and her students jokingly call themselves the “Cult of Bethany.”

One way to recognize a Bethany congregant is through an emoji pin on their bag, one of the many “gifties” given out throughout the class on special occasions. Another way? Self-discovery, inspiration, and a sense of connection in a class full of students working to embrace their own writing.

Daniels sat down to chat over coffee on a Friday afternoon. Clad in a brown fur cape, she happily dove into the quirks that make her class unforgettable.

Her first move is to reach out to students before the semester. She emails out a mass greeting to her students as a taste of what her class will be like, including many photos that inspire her. She then kicks off each semester with what she calls “Inspiration Days,” where her students share who they are and what inspires them. She also gives each of them their own journal to keep, which many of her students continue to use outside of class.

Bethany went on to describe both of her classes’ primary and final assignment: a memoir. Citing memoirs she teaches by Stephen King and Judith Ortiz, she explained the power of telling a story through memory.

“I always want to spend a lot of time in any writing class that I teach thinking about how our memory works,” Daniels said.

Daniels notes that writers might be unsure about the reliability of their memory. To address this, she assigns her students excerpts covering the intersection between memory and imagination.

“There’s all this negative space where you see a little bit, but not everything. It’s like if you go to the eye doctor,” Daniels said. “It’s constantly sharpening it and changing it, and you never get the full picture, because we never fully see people.”

Once her students have a better understanding of their memory, Daniels encourages them to think about how exactly they wish to tell their story. Sometimes, especially over time, she notes, those stories change.

“Sometimes students … want to mine similar territory about family history, but it shifts a little bit, because now they’re at a different place in their life. And so the story is different. … It’s interesting how your memory is also changing each time,” Daniels said. “That’s the beauty of storytelling.”

Just as memory changes, the style in which Daniels teaches her class also stretches to accommodate her students’ moods. With a laugh, she admitted her lessons can be long-winded or in-the-moment. For students, it’s perhaps part of the charm. For Daniels, if it allows her to connect with her class, it’s all part of the plan.

“Everything is intentional, even if you don’t realize it. I mean, it’s spontaneous, but it’s also intentional,” Daniels said.

Daniels continued about the importance of writing. Coming from a tumultuous childhood, she explained that she gravitated toward reading and writing early on and found herself coming back to it later in life. Daniels also noted that coming from a place of darkness was part of her motivation to teach the way she does.

“In my early childhood, I found safety with my grandparents, but I also found safety in the arts,” Daniels said.

Her classroom serves as a safe environment, but also as a catalyst to write something meaningful. Alum Shrinidhi Jeyaram discovered a love for writing while taking classes with Daniels for a full year and eventually wrote and gave a speech at Commencement. Daniels now reads Jeyaram’s speech to kick off each semester and notes that although it is only a couple of pages, it has moved her students in different ways.

Senior AnaElda Ramos took Exposition with Daniels in the spring of her junior year to finish her Writing minor. She recounted immediately feeling a connection after Daniels complimented her Keith Haring phone case. Last fall, Ramos extended her membership in the cult by taking Writing the Visual World.

“I can see how she understands and cares about her students in a way I haven’t seen any other professor do. Honestly, when I read the feedback she leaves on my memoir drafts, sometimes it feels like she knows me better than I know myself,” Ramos said.

Along with the attention she gives to each student, Daniels tries to expose them to new perspectives. For instance, she often incorporates written and visual works of photographers and artists into her teaching. Ramos, who studies communication design, appreciated this approach.

“I love being in classes with Bethany because she shares my excitement about the intersection between art and writing,” Ramos said.

Daniels noted a recent shift toward building happiness into classes at WashU, which she commends, but incorporating fun into the learning process has always been part of her mantra.

Depending on the semester, Daniels’ classes celebrate Halloween or Valentine’s Day, with distinct writing exercises for each occasion. Leading up to this past Valentine’s Day, WashU a cappella group The Aristocats performed “A Whole New World” in her class. Daniels expressed her hopes to implement more a cappella in future semesters, including the fall. This might sound excessive for most classrooms, but for Daniels, this is very much the norm.

One word to describe Daniels, that she uses herself, is “eclectic.” Her office is the same way.

“It’s jam-packed, but it’s curated,” Daniels said. “It showcases everything that’s inspired me from my students or from things from around the world, because I’m endlessly learning new things and fascinated by new things. Like tomorrow, I might be interested in shark teeth, I don’t know.”

As Kaldi’s closed, thus marking the end of the interview, though it was not complete without a personalized reading assignment of my own: The cult had decided it was my time to read Joan Didion. Indeed, the Cult of Bethany is powerful. On the individual level, it represents an exploration of potential and inspiration. On the class level, it represents a community: a mosaic of her students, past and present.

Editors Note: Anaelda Ramos is the Managing Illustration Editor of Student Life. However, she was not involved with the process of writing the profile.