Writing with Juliet Iwelunmor

You may lose to their gaslight and lies, lose to their ignorance and power, but what they do and how they lie, the crafty schemes they pull to steal, seize or make away with ideas birth from deep within you are closed to them forever, as are, indeed, the blueprint of stories as grants, our genesis, which fall on them no more than were they dead leaves in middle of a fall season, although for years, they have wondered how you soared in their midst, today they see their laziness and lies will never do. Every day you rise is a reminder, that their ways will never do.

A little over four years ago, I was asked to teach a course on grant writing. It was and still remains the best gift I was given by a colleague who felt I had it in me. See, I am researcher and a very proud one. Most in academia have no idea what it takes to be a researcher as they barely write papers and of course never write grants to the tune of millions, not only for the success but also failures along the way. To see some even as Professors, so-called chief officers of hope with no grant writing experience or going up to become one with less than 50 research papers and no grant writing experience is a joke even as they struggle to lie (not teach) about their experience today. But I digress.

When I was asked, I knew I would be a difference maker. Grant writing was me and the idea of teaching it was like being asked to make a red velvet cake, your way. I approached the course like anyone would do and used all the textbooks I could find. At the end of the first year and though my students loved it, I was bored. So I tried another way the second year and the same thing. Though the students loved it, I still knew there was more to it and kept working to perfect it.

In fours years of teaching the course, I have changed it around four times because I honestly believe that grants can change anyone’s life. I am a living proof. We also wrote a grant about this (even as we knew the end was near) because I truly believe in my way of teaching it. And yes, there is a fifth version of the course, I debuted to few students this spring and only time will tell if it gets funded as it’s my next thing to do, help so many like me to learn how to fund their dreams. So again, grants are everything to us.

Still, a version of that course will be ripped off from my playbook today and lies will be told about why I choose to teach or not teach the course this Fall. But let me leave this here as a keep for myself first. No one will ever excel in the knowledge of my ways except by my permission. The subtle details of my thinking, feeling, reaching and writing grants are my own, with enough failure and success to justify how I approach this course. Steal, rip off, lie or even do your worse with a course that will never be yours. But know the same thing you lie about is the reason why I am where I am today with so much more grants and failures to my name. There is beauty in my approach to grant writing no matter how you hover over like vultures to steal what does not belong to you.