The Words: December 2022

English Major Fall Accolades

by Zoe Roos Scheuerman ’24

English majors rock! As the semester (and the year) wraps up, The Words staff wanted to take stock of the department community’s many achievements. I reached out to English majors about what they were proud of this semester, whether that meant writing a capstone, scoring an internship or award, going to a conference, getting a creative or critical piece published, or something else they wanted to see acknowledged. Read on to see their responses!

Creative Writing Majors Present Their Capstones!

by Chloë Moore ’24

On November 30th, in lieu of a traditional Coffee House, students in the Creative Writing
capstone presented their semester-long Capstone projects! We heard from Kathryn Alldaffer, Andrea Liu, Ruby Rich, Mae Sullivan, and Ben Zimet. The capstone was led by Professor Matt Burgess, and the goal of the class was to produce a minimum of 60 pages. Students wrote novels, prose, and poetry, and throughout, “created a community where people [could] support each other on their individual journeys,” according to a very #proud and #blessed Matt Burgess. Click here to read about everyone’s projects!

HAIR!

by Birdie Keller ’25

There is often a great deal of overlap between students involved in the English and Theater Departments, from actors to designers and crew members. Indeed, the English department itself is plastered with posters from performances past. So, we are always excited to see the culmination of creative endeavors in the theater department, and this was true for this semester’s production of Hair. Click to read about the production from guest writer Birdie!

Alumni Coffee House

by Zoe Roos Scheuerman’24

On November 16th, 2022, English majors, minors, and department friends gathered on Old Main 4 for another cozy Coffee House – except that this time, their ranks included not just English majors past and future, but also majors past! Several alumni came to share their advice and experiences after Mac, chat casually with students, and enjoy some delicious mocktails, expertly crafted by the department’s student workers. Among the alumni’s ranks were Sophie Hilker ‘20, Miriam Moore-Keish ‘19, Jackson Ullman ’21, Danielle Freshwaters ‘22, and the Word staff’s beloved former editor, Kira Shukar ‘22! Nora Stewart ‘21 also made a surprise appearance, stopping in to say hello at the beginning of the event. Read on to hear more about their words of wisdom!

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An Interview With Colleen Apostle

by Anna Šverclová ’23

In my work for the WGSS Newsletter, I interviewed senior English Major, Colleen Apostle, about her experience spearheading Macalester’s Trans Oral History Project. The Trans Oral History Project is a new endeavor headed by the GSRC (Macalester’s Gender & Sexuality Resource Center), with support from the WGSS department, to capture the experiences of queer and trans students at Macalester, particularly, those with marginalized racial identities. Since oral history is an interdisciplinary form, combining interview and historical practices into the process of writing, I thought I would include a piece from Colleen’s interview in this month’s newsletter to highlight the work that English majors are contributing to, outside of the English department! Click to read more about Colleen’s work!