Interview with Stephen Shepherd Conducted by Tony Bouxa, December 2012

How do you write?  What’s your process?

I think for a long time before I actually write anything.  Other people may outline, have something tangible on paper.  I think about the concept, and where I’d like to go with it.  Once I know what something is about, I’m really close to writing it.  Once I get what I’m really after with a song or a story I’m pretty much ready to say it.  One song I was telling you about took me over 23 years to write and I hadn't figured it out yet, the point to the song.  There was no chorus, no third verse.  I started working on it in 1975 and didn't finish it until 2006 or seven.

Is that pretty common with your more popular or profound works? Does it take longer for those to get from your head to your paper?

Yes, I think that’s true.  I've never woken up in the middle of the night, scribbled something down and said “what a wonderful piece that is.”  McCartney claims for “Yesterday” he woke up in the middle of the night and wrote it all in three minutes.  It was one of his most successful pieces.  That may be true but I've never done that.  I have always had artistic struggle in order to write.

Which do you prefer to write, music or fiction?

At one time it was whatever I could, if I could write a story I’d write a story.  It was kind of refreshing for a while, to be able to shift gears into different genres and say “I can write a story today” and then you struggle for a while and write a piece of music.  It was very refreshing.

So you write between genres?

I used to years ago and then when I started concentrating on music I wrote fewer and fewer stories it seemed.  That entertained me for quite a while, and it still does, but that entertained me to a point where it was more enjoyable to write music.  At one time when I was younger I was entertained by writing reports.  It got old and I started writing fiction and that went as far as I could take it I think. There might be something left, there might be a novel left somewhere but at that point in time I said “this is where I wanted to go with that.”  For me it’s about pushing the boundaries of my own creative mind, that’s it, if you read one of the stories you’d say “that’s quirky” and that’s how I like to write. A lot of times, when you lose that edge, you can’t push that boundary any further, you arrive and say “that’s what I can do with that.”

So talk about your fiction for us.  Is there an underlying element to your fiction or a style you like to write in?  You've spoken about a Rock and Roll sci-fi, is that a common vein, music and science fiction?

I think there is one that runs through those two pieces but it’s not sci-fi and it’s not fantasy.  It is social commentary.  There is a guy in one of the stories who owns a word dump in Madison.  He has created a landfill for words people no longer want to use.  In the story people come filing in from miles around, they’re bringing trash bins and bags and baskets full of stuff of things they don’t want to say anymore.  Swear words, idiotic things and they are giving them to the dump.  In other words the words become tangible and they are reaching into station wagons taking out words and letters. They are taking them back to the landfill and putting them into categories, with lover’s-lane words over here and swear words over there.  The owner of the word dump has had problems with his own marriage, and his wife brings him some trash bags full of words she’s been gossiping at the local beauty parlor.  He opens the trunk and she has bags full of words she doesn't want to say anymore.  He takes the trash bags out and one of them breaks, and at the top of the pile of letters is the saying “Donald, I love you”.  That’s how this guy finds out; the bag bursts and reads about Donald.  He brings all these words up and asks “who is Donald?”  She explains that he was never around; he was too busy with his dump and etc.  So he takes her over to the dump for the words from lover’s-lane and they piece together their marriage in a conversation from that pile. 

In another story, a guy serves fast food so fast that it’s invisible.  The food doesn't exist, the diner doesn’t exist, but people line up to buy it.  It’s a comment about how America can never get anything fast enough and at this point in time in the story things are so fast they don’t exist, there’s no more actual experience. 

There’s one about nuclear holocaust, about the unaccounted for nuclear weapons in the world.  But the United States and Russia are still negotiating a peace, underground, after a nuclear holocaust.  It’s called The Underground Holiday Inn.  They are negotiating after the world has already been destroyed.  It’s a comment about how diplomats talk and don’t act towards making the world a safe place.  Finally they get discovered by a team of nuclear experts who find them down there negotiating.  This team of experts shows up in their suits, and there is no radiation this far down.  One expert says “don’t you think it’s a little too late for talk?  The world’s been destroyed.”  The Russian asks “Well it didn’t happen did it?” He asks the president of the United States, the president responds “nope, never did and never will” and suggests a cocktail before a swim.

Sounds a little like Vonnegut.

Actually, when it came out, Bookslingers up in Minneapolis, a distributing company, advertised it with Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle so it has, certainly that influence.

So speculative fiction then?

Yes, it’s like Calvino, the Italian writer. It’s creating a reality, and it’s tough to do, creating in the readers mind an atmosphere where you can believe that these things are plausible.  It is a very tough thing to do.  I kind of push that limit with what I do with writing, it’s what I can do.  If anyone asks how creative I can be, there it is, that’s all I can do with that.  You know on the guitar there are parallels there.  The one clip you mentioned the other day about that interview on YouTube from the university here, it’s a finger picking style.  I could have used Paul Simon’s style from way back then, or a folk style, but I chose to make my own instead.  It’s taking something that’s already existing and making that your own through creative possibilities.  So the guitar became another outlet for it, the stories reached a point where I decided I couldn't do anymore with those.  I may be circling back to approach it at another point in time but when I stopped writing stories I had thought I had done what I could do.  Now I don’t know, I am still writing music, but from a creative standpoint I might reach a point where I've taken that where I can and I've decided what I’m doing next, I’m going to paint!  Cheever said writing isn't a competitive sport; it’s an act of self-discovery. 

So back to the music, why did you choose country?

It was easy!   My mother was a music teacher and she played classical music and Broadway show tunes.  My dad was a worked for a factory for 42 years and all of his relatives where from the south, so you get a lot of country from there too.  He played guitar too and my uncle Ray would come in with his fiddle and his friends from the factory would come in with their guitars and there would always be country music in the background with classical music coming from the radio, and there is some crossover there.

What advice would you have for artists, writers, creative types?  What is your stereotypical answer for advice?

As trite as it might sound, imitating other people is not the way to go.  Having people influence you is almost necessary, everybody gets influence by some artist, but to imitate a sound or some formulaic route is probably a waste of time.  It’s not very fulfilling creatively that way.  You can listen to the radio and say “oh I like that sound, I’m going to put these two sounds together and I’m gonna get that” I’m sure people do that. But the most satisfying way to do this is to do your own creative thinking, and not to imitate what is the latest and greatest but to test yourself to see if you have any talent for making your own work.  If there is anything that defines what really is “artistic” it’s when the artist can say “okay I have influences but those influences did not influence me to the point where it lapsed into some kind of imitated result.  I never did imitate, I have never imitated.  If you read my work you can see influences but you’ll never see anything quite like it.  That’s because I can genuinely say as an artist that I own it, it is who I am, and I am it.  

Digital Interview with April Schmidt Conducted by English Faculty, December 2012

What year did you graduate and what was your area of emphasis?

B.S. English-Professional Writing, 2002

B.S. Geography, 2002

M.S.E. Adult Education, 2007

How did you wind up working at UW-Platteville after graduation? (And/or) What is it like teaching in the program you attended as a student?

In 1997 at age 19 with a family of my own, I enrolled as a nontraditional student at UW-Platteville. Because I needed to support my family, I worked on campus almost the entire time I was a student. Initially, I served as caretaker for the Biology Department’s indoor greenhouse and later as administrative support for the Humanities Department. When I graduated in 2002, I was six months pregnant with my second son Owen, and my oldest son Kelvin was six years old. So, I was settled into the community pretty well by that point.

As an undergraduate, my ultimate goal was to become a freelance writer and editor for academic publishers. After graduating, I worked in-house as a project coordinator for a small publishing company. About 18 months later, I became a freelance editor for various academic publishers, including Taylor and Francis, IGI Global, Sage, and Ansmar Publishers. From 2004 to 2008, I edited over 100 published books and journals.

In 2004, as a graduate student at UW-Platteville, I became the graduate assistant for the Teaching Excellence Center and for the Early Childhood Education program of the School of Education. From 2006 to 2008, I also worked part-time for Public Relations, Alumni Services, and the Registrar’s Office. Additionally, I initiated and directed an internship program and some conferences. Knowing my work, the current chair of the Humanities Department hired me to teach Freshman Composition in Fall 2006, which I am still teaching today despite several semesters off, during which I explored other career options.

Honestly, I don’t feel like I teach in the same program I attended as a student because I only teach Freshman Composition, a low-level, required course. Aside from helping me identify my gifts with language (research writing, specifically), the comp courses I took as an undergraduate were a miniscule part of my program. Moreover, most of the English program faculty/staff I worked with as an undergraduate have retired, so the program has changed with the addition of new faculty. Thus, I’ve observed the program grow and evolve over the years.

Could you tell us a little about the paths you’ve traveled since you graduated?

In 2009, I chose to move to Illinois. I picked up a K-12 substitute teaching gig in Ogle and Lee Counties where I worked for about 20 different schools. Anyone with a degree can become a substitute teacher, and I just needed a job to pay the bills while searching for a teaching job at one of the local community colleges or universities. However, I enjoyed the variety substituting offered and learned that teaching kindergarten and first grade is the most difficult job on the planet.

In 2010, I enrolled in a Doctorate of Business Administration program in Social Impact Management at Walden University. My choice of programs is an extension of my interest in rhetoric and business ethics, which was the topic of my master’s thesis (on the shelf in Karrmann Library). Presently, I am three weeks away from completing my last course in the program. I will spend the next year writing my dissertation.

Also in 2010, I started working part-time at MotherHouse Crisis Nursery (MH), an off-site program of Children’s Home + Aid in Rockford, IL. MH is a small non-profit organization that cares for children of families in crisis, and it runs like an emergency room, not a daycare. Initially, I was hired as a fill-in lead teacher and later as a database manager and volunteer coordinator. Currently, I fill all three roles in one to two days per week and almost full-time during summers. It’s not a great-paying job, but I love it and the people I work with. All of my coworkers live extremely challenging lives, and they inspire me to persist and prevail every day despite adversity.

What are a couple of your favorite student memories of your time at UW-Platteville?

Answering this and the next question, I do not feel that my time was wasted in any way at UW-Platteville, but I regret not becoming more involved in student governance and clubs. My biggest regret is not participating in a study abroad program. My reality at the time consisted of family, work, and classes with no extra time or money to take part in other activities, so my favorite memories are entirely academic.

First, the experience that changed me the most was working as a graduate assistant for Dr. Gwendolyn Coe in the Early Childhood Education program of the School of Education. She had received a grant to implement Elena Bodrova’s Tools of the Mind program in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade classrooms of Southwest Wisconsin. This program is based on renowned Russian researcher Lev Vygotsky’s social development theory, and it basically teaches young children how to self-regulate their behavior and emotions. Among other tasks, I transcribed about 30 hours of Bodrova’s conferences. The task was extremely difficult because of her Russian accent, but I found the content fascinating and useful for managing my 2-year-old and expanding the age range of my communicative repertoire.

The two experiences I characterize as the most beloved of my time as a student are the graduate practicum in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL) and writing my master’s thesis. Patricia Jonas and Wendy Perkins led the TESOL course in which they and the students collaborated to teach an American/Japanese Conversation class. I simply enjoyed the collaboration and camaraderie in that class, specifically in how we worked together to provide our Japanese guests with valuable learning experiences.

Although I’m a bit embarrassed about the quality of writing in my master’s thesis, I’m proud of the message it contains about the importance of rhetorical analysis in collaboratively competitive contexts. Also, I really appreciate the critical feedback I received from my thesis committee, Dr. Dennis Ciesielski (and I suspect his wife Dr. Virginia Crank, an English professor at UW-LaCrosse), Dr. Richard Waugh, and Dr. George Smith. They were open to my idea for a multidisciplinary thesis and worked with me to improve my ideas and writing. The thesis made the most impact on improving my writing skills. I conquered writer’s block so many times during the writing of my thesis that I have not experienced it since. 

Is there a class or classes that you wish now you could have taken, but didn’t?  If so, why?

I wish the Social and Environmental Justice minor had been available when I was a student here because I have been extremely passionate about business human rights for the last 10 years or so.

Can you tell us about one or two high points of your life since you’ve graduated?

In October 2008, I wrote a paper based on my master’s thesis and presented it at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI during a conference called The World and Business: Responsibilities, Obligations, and Profit. It was an amazing opportunity for me to meet other scholars concerned with the changing business landscape in response to global climate change and resource depletion and for me to share my research on collaborative competition as a catalyst for corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage.

In 2008 and 2009, I developed and directed two conferences in partnership with the Humanities Department and Continuing Education. The main objective of the conferences was to familiarize high school English teachers with college writing concepts and requirements that would allow them to better prepare their students for college-level writing. Teachers were able to earn continuing education credits for their participation in the conference, and some teachers developed and implemented new learning activities in their classrooms based on what they had learned at the conference.

 (If you are a writer) Do you still write?  Can we follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on?

My writing consists almost entirely of research and technical papers, and I have only recently begun to develop my creative writing skills in song writing. As a current doctoral student, I write a minimum of 10 pages of research per week. Generally, unless I am reading, I am writing. I believe the English program instilled this discipline in me to write daily and to use that writing for practical as well as cathartic purposes. I would be glad to share my doctoral study with you when it’s finished.

Could you ask yourself another question about something you wished we had asked you about, and answer it?

What benefits did a college education (specifically, a liberal arts education) provide you?

Foremost, my studies in classic and contemporary rhetoric opened me up to a whole world of language I didn’t know existed. They have given me the ability to adapt in all situations and to understand and accept other realities. Combined with my natural inclination for empathy and tolerance, my courses in rhetoric, literature, human geography, education, communication, and ethnic studies gave me the disposition to correspond and get along with people of all ages from street bums to corporate millionaires, worldly and unworldly, local and international. In short, I have learned to live in the moment and adapt as reality unfolds. A college education is not just about getting a lucrative job; it is about creating a fulfilling life with a viable career; it is about learning how to make choices in situations when a clear right or wrong does not exist. Thus, a liberal arts education teaches one how to manage the gray areas of life and accept the outcomes or develop strategies to change or influence the outcomes. It saved me from a life of certain misery similar to the effect of education on Henrietta Lacks’ daughter Deborah (in the Campus Read book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks). When she learned everything related to the use of her mother’s cells, she was able to accept reality and transcend the paranoia and fear she experienced from relying on assumptions and incomplete information. Before that learning, she suffered mentally, physically, and socially. 

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

In ten years, I hope to be a professor/consultant in sustainability, business ethics, and business human rights. I am willing to move anywhere to achieve this goal.

Digital Interview with Ian Clark Conducted by English Program Faculty, November 2012

1)  What year did you graduate and what was your area of emphasis?
I graduated in May 2009 with a BA in English literature.

2)  How did you wind up working at UW-Platteville after graduation?
I got lucky, actually. I was unemployed for the summer following, doing this and that trying to get a foothold and a paycheck. Through the relationships I fostered while I was a student, I learned about a limited term, part-time job in the public relations office. Because I had a demonstrated ability to write within a variety of styles (MLA and APA) and to learn new styles (Associated Press and Chicago), and of course some good recommendations from faculty and bosses, I was able to get a foot in the door and rejoin the university that August.

3)  Could you tell us about your current occupation?
Currently, I am the content manager at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. I work with photographers, designers, marketers, writers, our Public Information Officer, and a whole mess of departments on campus to, in a nut-shell, help the university communicate more consistently in its messaging and voice. We are trying very hard to help UW-Platteville better establish a brand and leverage our existing brand so that we are more recognizable, more attractive, and better understood by our innumerable audience members. Prospective students, community members, legislators,... you name it--whomever is listening, we're trying to educate them.
Daily, I'm editing and writing press releases, working on our website transition project, handling media inquiries, and helping in public information matters.

4)  Could you tell us a little about the paths you’ve traveled since you graduated?
I've typically traveled up college drive to work every day, including summers, winter breaks, and all the times in between. I haven't gone too far outside of Wisconsin since graduation, except a few trips to Texas and an amazing 10 days in Israel.
As far as career paths, I was an LTE in the PR office and Distance Learning Center for nearly a year, Chancellor Shields' speech writer for a year, and now I'm the content manager. It has been an interesting ride, and I'm looking forward to where my life takes me.

6)  What are a couple of your favorite student memories of your time at UW-Platteville?
Oh boy. I had a lot of fun playing on the club hockey team, I played lots of video games with my roommates on our dueling big-screen TVs in Southwest Hall (I was part of the first group that got to live there), and I spent a lot of time up in the Writing Center where I worked during my 4th and 5th years on campus.

7)  Was there something you had to do here which you felt was a waste of time, or something that you would do differently?
"Things I would've done differently with my time" could be a subtitle to the 12-part autobiography I'll never write. As far as a waste of time, I'm sure there were a thousand little things here, but I don't remember any of them now, so they must not have been that important.
Doing things differently? I know I would read more. I would try to know my professors better. I would have studied more.

8)  Is there a class or classes that you wish now you could have taken, but didn’t?  If so, why?
My last semester, I was signed up to take History of the English Language with Doc C, but I dropped it because I didn't need it to graduate. Looking back, that class and classes like Grammar and Context, Shakespeare, Greek and Roman Mythology, even Biblical classes are very important I think, if for no other reason than if you're a writer, so much of what the greatest DWGs (dead white guys) wrote was based on metaphors, similes and analogies that are founded in Christianity, mythology, Shakespeare, and the texts that were THEIR canon. To best understand them, we need to understand what they're talking about, and to do that, we should know at least something of their reference points. I'm glad I took Shakespeare, but we need more of it, and Grammar and Context was awesome for me as a professional writer.

9)  Can you tell us about one or two high points of your life since you’ve graduated?
As far as high points go, I moved to the fourth floor of my apartment building. That's about it. I've had lots of valuable experiences since I graduated, but none of them have been the amazing moments of triumph that we think we're going to have. Life is lived day to day. And knowing that, all we can do is build on what we learned the day before. So while I don't have anything to unabashedly brag about, I'm working on it.

10)  (If you are a writer) Do you still write?  Can we follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on?
I write every day of my life. And I love it. Most of it is for work, but I also write in my free time. I'm usually working on a few short stories and my blog www.toobigforpostits.com at any given time. (My blog has, on average, zero hits per day, but that's what I get for being the 1 billionth person to start a blog; who cares, I'm going to keep at it.)
Yes, I'd be happy to be interviewed for the blog.

11)  Could you ask yourself another question about something you wished we had asked you about, and answer it?
I probably could do that, but nothing comes to mind. Sorry!

12)  Where do you see yourself ten years from now?
Alive and hopefully not screwing anything up that will ruin me either professionally or personally. Other than that, I'm just interested in seeing how it all plays out.

Digital Interview with Thomas Pitcher Conducted by English Program Faculty, October 2012

1)  What year did you graduate and what was your area of emphasis?

2006 - English


2)  How did you wind up working at UW-Platteville after graduation? (And/or) What is it like teaching in the program you attended as a student?

After going to graduate school, I returned to UW-Platteville to finish my teaching certificate.  Several people nudged me to pursue work here as a writing instructor and I was happy to do that.  As an alumnus I am really familiar with the infrastructure of student services here, so I already know where to send my students if they are having trouble and where to go myself if I need help.  More importantly, returning here to teach is a lot like coming home: I know a lot of the faculty and support staff well from my days as a student, and I feel comfortable talking shop with them, working with them, or asking for their advice whenever I need it.

3)  Could you tell us a little about the paths you’ve traveled since you graduated?

Since I graduated, I've been a pizza delivery guy in Dubuque, a door-to-door alms-seeker for the Public Interest Research Group, a customer service representative, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota, and a yoga instructor/counselor at a fitness camp.  It's been a trip %^)

4)  What are a couple of your favorite student memories of your time at UW-Platteville?

I have dozens of favorite memories, but I'll mention six to keep this relatively short:

* The trip to the Iowa Poetry Festival (sponsored in part by the English Department) - I got a chance to read my poetry on a student panel and hear Billy Collins (then my favorite poet) read his work.

* Freshmen Composition II - Getting into a protracted discussion with Dr. Ciesielski about the definition of "nature" that culminated in a research paper.  I learned to engage with academic writing and discourse as something living, evolving, and participatory not just as a litany of observations passed down from the ancients.

* Shakespeare - Dr. Hadorn, Shakespeare, and a group of brilliant classmates made for some really fascinating and engaging discussions which prepared me for graduate studies.

* World Novel - Dr. Stipe created an great atmosphere for discussion and the class was consistently engaged in good, fruitful discussions that made me really appreciate being an English major.

* French Club - From working the games at Carnaval/Fasching to caroling in French and German at the retirement community, French Club was replete with fun, fulfilling, and heartwarming ways of interacting with French and German language and culture while mingling with the Platteville community.

* Aikido Club - Aikido Club is a martial arts club headed up by Therese Waugh.  She's a perfect teacher for this non-violent martial art, someone who embodies the principles that she teaches and conveys them patiently to her students.  Therese's teaching style has cultivated a rare and sensitive group of students who I deeply enjoyed learning with.  Rarely have felt so at peace and so at home as on the mats in UW-Platteville's Aikido Club.

5)  Was there something you had to do here which you felt was a waste of time, or something that you would do differently?

Many of the writers on this blog have observed that we learn important lessons from the difficult or frustrating parts of our life, and, hopefully, we apply these lessons and teach them to others.  One of my mistakes as a student, both as an undergraduate and a graduate, was prioritizing grades above learning doing what I loved to do.  It's taken me internalize the idea that grades aren't as important as the experience and skill I developed by following my passions.  Fortunately, my best teachers, my friends, and my own impulses often got me to focus on learning, thinking, giving, and living fully and I left UW-Platteville with great memories and valuable experiences as a result.

6)  Is there a class or classes that you wish now you could have taken, but didn’t?  If so, why?

Though you don't need a map scrawled on yellowed parchment to find it, I have heard the geography program is one of this university's hidden treasures.  I wish I had taken greater advantage of it.

7)  Can you tell us about one or two high points of your life since you’ve graduated?

Living at a co-op style apartment with people from different corners of the globe (and a couple of dogs) in a diverse St. Paul suburb was pretty cool, as was attending graduate school at the University of Minnesota.  During the last five summers, I also really enjoyed the opportunity to work at Wellspring, a fitness camp for kids and young adults.

8)  (If you are a writer) Do you still write?  Can we follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on?

I am a largely fallow poet: I write a fair amount for my students these days (handouts, instructions, rubrics), but not very many poems.  I have found that the best way to overcome the inertia of not writing is to put on my favorite music, set aside a half an hour, and just write without judging it and without expecting (or aiming to create) profound or amazing work.  Though I don't think writing can be forced, I think repeatedly creating the conditions under which lightening will strike encourages my own writing process.

9)  Could you ask yourself another question about something you wished we had asked you about, and answer it?

What are the greatest things about UW-Platteville for writers?

The professors and their willingness and availability to help students.  One of the clear advantages about Platteville is the student's ability to get personal help from their professors.  Working closely with my professors on my major papers helped me improve my writing and my ideas in ways that would not have possible if I were working alone.

10)  Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Teaching.  Not sure who, not sure where, but teaching.

Digital Interview with Sarah P. Miller Conducted by English Program Faculty, October 2012

1) What year did you graduate and what was your area of emphasis? 

I graduated in spring 2012 in English with an emphasis in Professional Writing.

2) How did you wind up working at UW-Platteville after graduation? 

I wound up working at UW-Platteville after graduation because the fine folks in University Information and Communications decided to keep me. I started working as a student writer when I first transferred to UW-Platteville as a non-traditional student in spring of 2011, and happily, I've never left.

3) Could you tell us a little about the paths you've traveled since you graduated? 

Well, the path I traveled before I graduated was a bit more interesting. I lived in five cities in ten years, traveled a lot, screwed up, had adventures, got married, worked hard, had fun – it was kind of a nomadic existence. When I finally decided to finish my degree here, things settled down for me. By far the best thing that’s happened since I've graduated has been the opportunity to do work I really love. As the director of social community for the university, I’m in charge of all of the official UW-Platteville social media. Not only am I able to engage and build relationships with all sorts of different people connected to the university – prospective students, current students, alumni, donors, the greater community, etc. – I get to tell them about all the amazing people here and all the great work that’s being done. It can be a tough job sometimes, especially when people forget that there’s a real person behind our accounts or when I need to work in the evenings or on the weekends, but it’s so rewarding, and that’s a privilege.  I don’t take that for granted.

4) What are a couple of your favorite student memories of your time at UW-Platteville? 

Because I was a non-traditional student, most of my favorite student memories of my time at UW-Platteville are all about what I learned in the classroom. After several years of working to support myself as a writer, coming back to school was invigorating in a way that changed me – I actually believe learning again in a university setting altered the pathways in my brain. I went to three different schools before landing here (yes, three), so I have enough outside experience to say that the UW-Platteville English Program is just outstanding. Amanda Tucker, Dennis Ciesielski, Kara Candito, Kory Wein, Terry Burns, Kathleen Tigerman – they taught me and guided me and pushed me in a way only the best teachers can. They not only made me a better writer, they made me a better person, and that’s priceless.

5) Was there something you had to do here which you felt was a waste of time, or something that you would do differently? 

I don’t really believe anything’s a waste. Every experience ends up making you into the person you are – especially the experiences that seem pointless or horrible or both. Did I love Math of Finance? No. Did it help my brain become stronger? Absolutely. I don’t regret anything about my time here as a student.

6) Is there a class or classes that you wish now you could have taken, but didn't? If so, why? 

I wish I could have taken history classes here. My focus was on graduating as soon as possible, and I was working almost full-time as well, so I could really only handle my required courses. I love history, so I feel like I missed something I would have really enjoyed.

7) Can you tell us about one or two high points of your life since you've graduated? 

A high point was being hired here as director of social community, definitely. Also having my own time again. Going to school and working was really tough, but it taught me to value and appreciate my free time. I have more to spend now on my family and friends, and on reading, and that’s something I’m really grateful for.

8) (If you are a writer) Do you still write? Can we follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on? 

I do still write, but it’s harder now. I loved the structure of writing classes, and I really miss the feedback and critiques from my classmates and professors. I’d prefer not to be interviewed about my writing.

9) Could you ask yourself another question about something you wished we had asked you about, and answer it? 

“What would you say to people who claim that English degrees are useless?”

I would say they are so incredibly wrong. I've never been good at anything other than writing, so there was really no choice for me, but far more importantly, the study of English – both literature and writing – teaches you how to think. In our modern age more than ever, this is a critical life skill. And the ability to write and to communicate well is immensely valuable in the professional world, whether you’re a librarian or a stockbroker or a biologist. Doomsayers like to talk about the death of the English language (take Dr. C’s “History of the English Language” if you want to build up a treasure chest of arguments against these people), but we are more surrounded than ever by text. It’s everywhere, and the ability to parse it and craft it and use it intelligently will get you far no matter what field you choose to pursue.

10) Where do you see yourself ten years from now? 

If I’m lucky, I’ll still be doing work I love. That’s all I really want – to wake up excited about my day and to be genuinely committed to what I’m doing. One thing being here at UW-Platteville has taught me is that I care very much about doing work that contributes to the world. I may not stay in higher education, but I definitely want to serve. The good news is there are a lot of ways to do that.