Media & Journalism

Patrick Morgan

jc78 — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 15:55:24 +0000

Patrick Morgan jc78 Thu, 08/30/2018 - 11:55

Career Field

Media & Journalism

Graduate Student

Year of Graduation

2010

Duke University

[Chair's note: Pat had a bit more to report than we had room for here. In particular, he wanted to offer some advice to our undergrads. You can read his full text on the department blog at http://go.geneseo.edu/pm10.] The hardest thing about connecting the skills I learned as a �ʹڲ��ַ English major with my life after graduation is knowing where to stop. I could write a book on the subject. �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the synthesizing tools I needed when, immediately after graduating in 2010, I wrote for the National Park Service in Acadia National Park, distilling fifty-page science reports into two-page public-friendly versions. �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the expertise in clear, concise writing and proofreading that I used as a contributing writer and editorial intern for The American Gardener magazine, shouldering the responsibility for organizing several sections of the publication, such as Gardener’s Notebook and Regional Happenings. �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the multi-modal writing experiences that prepared me to work for DISCOVER magazine, writing four articles daily for the in-house blogs, 80beats and Discoblog. �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the public speaking skills necessary to interview geochemists, geophysicists, and geologists for my freelance science journalism articles for EARTH magazine. And �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the research experience, writing feedback, and encouragement I needed to apply to—and get accepted into—a slew of highly competitive English graduate programs, such as Duke, Northwestern, Oxford, and Cambridge. I am now working toward a PhD in English at Duke University, where I have used the scholarly skills I learned from �ʹڲ��ַ English to co-author with Priscilla Wald a preface for American Literature’s Thoreau Symposium and to construct a collaborative book with Cathy Davidson about digital literacies in the classroom. When I say that “�ʹڲ��ַ English” taught me these skills, I am of course referring to the many �ʹڲ��ַ English professors I had the privilege of taking classes with, as well as those I interacted with beyond the classroom—the professors who are so generous with their time, who challenge you to excel in school and in life, and who stay connected with you years after graduation.

Knowledge, Skills, and Tools

With regard to reading and writing skills, it’s easy to talk about generalities, like how the high expectations of �ʹڲ��ַ English professors forced me to learn proofreading and fact checking methods that I still use to this day; how researching and writing on a deadline was good practice for science journalism; and how the many blog posts I wrote for Beth McCoy, Maria Lima, and Alice Rutkowski prepared me for my journalistic blog posts for DISCOVER magazine. But there are reading and writing skills I learned at �ʹڲ��ַ that are simultaneously more specific and more difficult to articulate. �ʹڲ��ַ English, for example, gave me a sensitivity to different writing genres and to what I like to call “writing climates.” Every �ʹڲ��ַ English professor has high writing expectations. But to say that each professor has high expectations isn’t the same as saying that each professor has the same expectations. Part of the tacit knowledge one gains as a successful English major is the ability to quickly assess the subtly different expectations each English professor has for what exactly an essay should accomplish. The kind of essay I wrote for Rob Doggett wasn’t precisely the kind of essay I would write for Gillian Paku, or Ken Cooper, or Ron Herzman—through pre-essay meetings and discussions, each professor brings out and allows you to discover a different part of your writing voice, based on distinct conceptions regarding the kind of work an essay should accomplish. These subtly different expectations are what I mean by “writing climates,” and it’s this sense of different writing climates that’s so useful after graduation because different publications—even within the narrow field of science journalism—constitute different writing climates. Indeed, each section of each magazine is like a different writing climate: a DISCOVER blog has different expectations than a DISCOVER front-of-the-book print article; EARTH magazine’s News Notes section is different from its Benchmarks section; and there’s a difference between research, resource, and program briefs for the National Park Service—each part of a publication is looking for a different kind of voice, just as each �ʹڲ��ַ English professor brings out a different dimension to your voice.

There are three other specific-yet-hard-to-articulate reading and writing tools that I would like to briefly cover. One tool is the organizational abilities one needs to juggle the medley of high-stakes (conference papers, seminar papers, etc.) and low-stakes (blog posts, presentations. etc.) writing one undertakes as an English major. You’re keeping track of different genres, different writing climates, different due-dates, instructions, and expectations. It’s this type of intensive interpretive task-juggling—characteristic of being a �ʹڲ��ַ English major—that prepared me for the multiple roles I fulfilled, for example, at DISCOVER magazine: in addition to writing four blogs each day, I created photogalleries for the website, helped proofread certain sections of the print magazine, prepared magazine content for online publication, contributed stories to the print magazine, responded to subscribers’ emails regarding the website, and managed DISCOVER’s Facebook page. Another closely-related tool, or experience, includes the presentations and alternative writing projects �ʹڲ��ַ English professors expect from students. For example, I remember the challenging project Caroline Woidat assigned in her Native American Literature survey course, in which we had to integrate the standard academic essay with a creative nonfiction account of a personal family story. The science writing world is likewise full of the kinds of writing projects that force you to meet new expectations—that is, in which you dive into a project that’s unfamiliar to you, and yet you use the skills you’ve built up to tackle the unfamiliar with the familiar. Thus I knew that I could write the text for and design a poster for the National Park Service informing visitors about the vital characteristics of specific invasive insects because I’d successfully accomplished similarly unfamiliar writing projects for �ʹڲ��ַ’s English professors. The last specific-yet-hard-to-articulate reading and writing tool is the practice �ʹڲ��ַ English professors have of providing choices for term papers: you can respond to a specific prompt or you can meet with the professor to propose your own essay idea. Taking advantage of the latter option prepared me for the daily article pitches I gave to DISCOVER magazine editors—going from the idea stage to the I-need-to-convince-this-person-that-my-idea-is-viable stage.

�ʹڲ��ַ’s English professors allowed me to discover my writing voice, and yet there’s so much more than writing skills that I learned from these professors. In each class, they modeled the mind of a literary scholar—a discerning, critical reader, and interpreter of signs who is likewise mindful of social concerns. They generously gave up their valuable time to mentor me, whether it was in working as a teaching assistant for Rob Doggett, or participating in the slew of directed study opportunities I had with Ken Cooper, Gillian Paku, and Richard Finkelstein. The collegiality between the professors gave me a microcosm of the wider academic community—a microcosm that only expanded when Rob Doggett brought me and a bunch of other students to Sligo, Ireland, to participate in the Yeats International Summer School. The introduction to feminist criticism that Beth McCoy, Caroline Woidat, Rob Doggett, Alice Rutkowski, and Maria Lima gave me serves me well now as I complete Duke’s graduate certificate in Women’s Studies. I was introduced to Henry David Thoreau in Alice Rutkowski’s American Romanticism class, Ed Gillin’s Humanities II, and Ken Cooper’s guidance during my honors thesis—an introduction that has directly facilitated my own Thoreau scholarship, such as my 2010 article in The Concord Saunterer, “Aesthetic Inflections: Thoreau, Gender, and Geology.” And extending my interpretive skills beyond the written word—to film—through Jun Okada’s Film Classics has given me the confidence to do the same in my own classroom practices.

Looking back on my time at �ʹڲ��ַ, I realize that I made the right choice by majoring in English. The skills I learned from �ʹڲ��ַ’s English professors are the skills that have brought me around the U.S. writing, from the National Park Service in Maine to The American Gardener in D.C. to DISCOVER magazine in New York City. Although �ʹڲ��ַ English gave me the tools I needed to accomplish my career goals, I didn’t become an English major to become a science journalist because, at the time I declared my major, I didn’t even know that I was interested in science journalism. But it was an English professor who first sparked the idea in my head that I could be a science journalist—who believed in me and my writing, and gave me the encouragement I needed to succeed after graduation. Somewhere in that mentoring experience lies the ineffable quality of being a �ʹڲ��ַ English major.

Jill Capewell

jc78 — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:16:49 +0000

Jill Capewell jc78 Wed, 08/29/2018 - 12:16

Career Field

Media & Journalism

Entertainment Copy Editor

Year of Graduation

2010

Huffington Post

The best thing about �ʹڲ��ַ's small size was the relative lack of intimidation I felt going to an information session for the Lamron, the student newspaper. I had little journalism experience at the time (definitely did not know what AP style was) but sort of felt like, "If I don't write this Features article, who will?" Of course, the paper wasn't made or not based on whatever events I covered that week, but feeling like I had an impact and seeing my name in print made me want to continue. I ended up being involved in the Lamron all four years of �ʹڲ��ַ, and was the Features editor for two semesters.

There's a line from a short story that was first introduced to me by Rachel Hall, during my senior year as a creative writing major. It's called "How to Become a Writer," and the first line is, "First, try to be something, anything else." And I did — I started off as an English literature major, before switching to psychology, before briefly considering a career in medicine, until I realized that writing was really all I wanted to do. The support of the English faculty helped me gain confidence in my writing and envision a life after college in which writing and creativity were both priorities.

Since graduation, I spent a year in France teaching English (learning quickly that teaching was not for me), and then worked odd jobs from my parent's home in Long Island before starting an editorial internship at Babble, a parenting website that was later acquired by Disney. After several years there, I had moved up to Editor and loved working with the various writers and bloggers we employed, helping them hone their ideas into great essays and lists. I eventually moved on to try out publishing at Penguin Random House, where I worked in Managing Editorial, and was able to hone my proofreading and copy editing skills and learn about a whole side of book production I hadn't even considered before. Two years later, a friend mentioned they were hiring at Huffington Post, which is where I am today.

My best advice: keep looking for opportunities, during college and afterward. Find out what you tend to do in your off hours (for me, it was constantly reading the Internet and looking up the lives and works of various contemporary writers, wondering how I could be like them) and try to find a way to incorporate that into your work. And if your current job doesn't line up exactly with your creative vision, that's ok, too — you'll find a way to keep it going in the off hours. Keep going to your library, attend readings, ask questions, research MFA programs, listen to book podcasts — if that's the type of stuff you're into. The stuff you're really excited about can eventually find its way into your work, or at least give you something to look forward to when you clock out.

Lauren R.D. Fox

jc78 — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 16:10:38 +0000

Lauren R.D. Fox jc78 Wed, 08/29/2018 - 12:10

Career Field

Media & Journalism

Journalist

Year of Graduation

2011

MadameNoire

In Fall 2007, I entered �ʹڲ��ַ as a History major. Although it was an intriguing discipline, I didn’t feel excited about the classes I had to take.

As I transitioned into the second semester of my freshman year, I decided to declare my major as American Studies. Although I was not an English major, I took several English courses to fulfill the American Studies requirements. This allowed me to make lasting connections with professors and, most important, be led to my current career path. The summer before my senior year, I decided to fulfill my language requirement through study abroad. I lived in Peru for two months and returned home in August. I arrived on campus a week after returning from Peru and felt a bit out of the loop. Most of my friends knew exactly what they wanted to do after graduation and I, for once in my life, did not.

It was an uncomfortable and frightening feeling. To be honest, I knew I was not ready to graduate and that gut feeling gave me anxiety. As a student of color, there was a stereotype that we take longer to graduate. Because of this looming notion, many students of color pushed themselves to graduate within a certain time span. Although I knew I wasn’t ready to finish college, I enrolled in a ridiculous amount of classes to make my class’s graduation date deadline.

As the fall semester of my senior year unfolded, I found myself becoming depressed. During that mid-semester I went to visit Dr. Beth McCoy and found myself crying in her office. I told her how I felt and she suggested I do an extra semester. However, I was uncomfortable with that choice because my parents are immigrants who take education very seriously. I didn’t want to disappoint them or become the latest source of gossip at family gatherings. After speaking to Dr. McCoy, I had a similar conversation with Dean McKeever, who was the Associate Dean at the time. She, too, suggested I take extra time. After having two “God Is Trying To Tell You Something” moments, I reviewed the courses I had taken and realized I had completed the Black Studies major. "I will graduate in December 2011," I told my parents, "but will walk with my class in the May 2011 graduation ceremony."

Although I found solutions to the 99 problems I had in my life, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do career-wise. At the time, my parents wanted me to go to law school, but I always found some excuse to avoid taking the LSAT exam. In my final semester at �ʹڲ��ַ, I took Professor Gentry’s Hip Hop Literature course and found my calling: entertainment journalism. In the class we read about the culture I grew up in and wrote about pop culture. I was in heaven.

After excelling in the class, I began researching writing opportunities. I landed numerous freelance positions and internships in the media field after I graduated. However, I didn’t receive a full-time position to help pay my bills or the beloved Sallie Mae. So in the summer of 2012, I took a job as an Insurance Representative but got laid off after six weeks.

Thereafter, I began working as a sales associate at Ann Taylor, but I continued to look for work. Five months into my retail position, I scored an internship at MadameNoire, a lifestyle and entertainment website for Black women. Since then, I’ve been promoted twice and I am now a full-time staff member. At MadameNoire, I work as an editorial assistant. I write about lifestyle, business and entertainment news. I also interview numerous celebrities and culture curators. One thing I love about my job is having the ability to write for those who are not afforded the time, space or chance to tell their stories.

The English courses I took at �ʹڲ��ַ allowed me to gain life-long analytical skills that are beneficial to my career. As a journalist, you must learn how to investigate a person’s character in order to write their stories truthfully and professionally. On a more personal note, some English courses served as “church” for me. Classes like African-American Migration Narratives or Post-Colonial Caribbean Literature healed me to gain a healthier perspective about being born into a blended family.

With this wealth of knowledge, I believe current English majors should create their own academic journey. Many times, people register for certain classes or amount of credits because they want to "appear" smarter. Learn how to stay in your lane by working smart, not hard. College can be competitive fluff at times; learn how to see through it and you'll actually enjoy the learning process. Most important, strive to set yourself apart from your friends in any area of your life. You don’t have to follow in their footsteps to live a brilliant, soul-expanding life.