This study examines how seventeen writing intensive instructors at a Midwestern, public university used writing as a mode of learning about complex, sensitive, and challenging issues across the disciplines. For their students, the pen effectively became a bridge to the development of critical thinking skills, greater self-awareness, and a deeper understanding of people perceived to be different from oneself. Instructors used inclusive teaching strategies such as learner-centered assignments relevant to student lives, experiential learning, and revision to grapple with nuanced arguments to prepare students to be critical thinkers and skilled writers in an increasingly diverse and polarized society.