First Year Winner: From Fermata to Overture

WRIT 1003, Introduction to Professional Writing. Course Director: Andrea McKenzie

Abstract

Adults often warn students that: “There is no future in art, in self-expression, and you should have no part in it.” The writer replies: “But maybe I want no part in a future without art.” By questioning the demands that adulthood and “collective” culture place on the individual, this powerful piece personalizes a debate that is particularly relevant in a neoliberal era that places the arts and humanities under continuous threat. This first-year assignment asked for a “familiar” essay that merged autobiographical narrative and reflection with texts read and discussed during the course, bringing together a series of exercises into a single piece. The result is both a profoundly personal text that portrays the angst of the writer and a thoughtful reflection about choosing an educational path of creative fulfillment over financial stability.

The committee noted, that, as the title announces, the writer is also a musician, something that is quite evident in her lyrical writing style.