An autobiography course for nontraditional students at community colleges can foster appreciation for cultural diversity and integrate discourses that challenge writing genre hierarchies. Students who signed up for such a course developed processes that worked best for them. Selected as texts for the course were autobiographies that reflected cultural and literary diversity. Students, most of whom were women in their thirties, responded to the readings by forging personal connections with the texts' authors. Student-centered learning strategies were found to be especially productive with regard to students who were members of under-represented, marginalized groups. After first reading some noted autobiographies, participants were arranged into groups which read autobiographical works in progress and discussed audience responses. Authors and audiences alike were encouraged to negotiate criteria which gave predominance to writers' individual goals. Confidence and writing skill grew. Genre styles and writing processes deserve continued study, as these can empower or disable students, especially those students who are members of marginalized groups. (Eighteen references are attached.) (SG)