By Sydney Ellison ’24
As another midterms season comes to a close, and the looming presence of the school year’s end lurks in the future, don’t worry if some of those common college anxieties creep back in: What will I do after graduation? Is Macalester preparing me for the future? How will I know if I’m pursuing the right path? The Words hopes to put some of these worries aside, as we spotlight a Class of ‘18 Alumni, Nathan Vinehout Kane, and get some confirmation that you can accomplish all of these things and more!
Nathan Vinehout Kane graduated from Macalester in 2018, obtaining an English Creative Writing degree, but adds that with the time he spent in the Neuroscience Department, he could have got a minor in that too had it been an option. He was a member of the Ethics Bowl team, which he would later return to, helping coach last year’s team to a victory in the National competition. Right after graduating, Nathan went on as the organizing director for his mother, Wisconsin State Senator Kathleen Vinehout, in her campaign for Wisconsin governor. After her loss in the primary, Nathan was brought onboard to work for a friend, one contracted with the Environmental Defense Fund (EFA). The EDA primarily organizes and lobbies for issues of clean energy, flood resilience, and water quality.
Nathan was able to share how as time went on, he began to grow frustrated and burnt out with the political work he was doing, and sought to spend more time honing his writing craft. Fortunately, through the encouragement of the English Department’s own, Peter Bognanni and Matthew Burgess, he was accepted into the esteemed Iowa State’s Creative Writing and Environment MFA program.
When asked which skills or experiences at Macalester benefited him in establishing his professional career, Nathan sustains that his writing skill, and the ability to give others feedback, both of which he learned and reinforced in his Creative Writing classes, are the most valuable he took away from Macalester. Nathan commented that these skills are both valuable, and incredibly necessary for the job he has, “I use [both skills] almost every day. A lot of the work we do focuses on lifting up others’ voices to lobby their members of Congress on issues they care about, so I spend a lot of time drafting notes, editorials, letters, and other media for community leaders to look over and often give my interns and coworkers feedback on the materials they create”. Perhaps in addition to these skills, Nathan accredits his acceptance into the Iowa State Writer’s Workshop to the English Creative Writing degree he received at Macalester.
Lastly, Nathan was able to offer some advice for students planning for or approaching the start of their post-graduate career, and provides two nuggets of advice; first, utilize the connectivity of our world, and network! Emailing is truly a gift, and as he puts it, “Follow up emails make the world go round.” Second, Nathan shares to not be afraid to put down a project that just isn’t working. Nathan shares that he spent several years working on a capstone book project, making several drafts, and writing hundreds of thousands of words towards it, and in the end was the best thing that ever happened to his writing craft.
The Words gives out a huge thank you to Nathan Vinehout Kane ‘18 for collaborating for this issue!