A new teacher at a workshop shares that she had a difficult time getting students to write about 9/11. This teacher said that some students refused, while others became angry about being asked. Stephen Fried is an adjunct lecturer in English at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York. In this article, Fried describes how every year on the anniversary of 9/11, his students write their accounts of 9/11 anonymously, which he then collects and reads to the class. Fried shares that no one in his class has ever objected or felt anything but relief and inspiration. He believes anonymity is an approach to writing that can enhance student participation in almost any type of college classroom, improve student writing, and provide benefits to the classroom culture. Here he describes how he uses this technique in place of class discussion and how it gives students a license to let their minds wander or think judgmentally. Fried reports that since he has turned to activities based on anonymous response, it has changed how students engage with him in class and with one another, and has also helped their development as writers.