Posts tagged: newschoolprofessor

Highlights from the Lit Studies Alumni Panel

On February 18th, 2022, Professor Jennifer Firestone welcomed back five Lit Studies alums—Jaye Elizabeth Elijah, Hilina Da Costa Gomez, Shulokhana Khan, Colin Marston, and...   Read More

Watch the 2021 Literary Studies Book Party!

Missed the Literary Studies Book Party? It’s not too late to see what it was all about! Watch the reading below! On October 21st,...   Read More

Remembering Ann

Ann Snitow May 9, 1943-August 10, 2019 Ann Snitow, a founding faculty member of Lang College and the creator of the Gender Studies Program at...   Read More

Read an interview with Jennifer Firestone

Assistant professor of literary studies Jennifer Firestone published Gates and Fields earlier this year. Read a compelling interview with her about it here.

The Epiphany Machine

Faculty member David Gerrard has published The Epiphany Machine, a book that has been called “hilarious” and “razor-sharp” by The Washington Post, a “wildly charming, morally...   Read More

Juan DeCastro steps up as chair of literature

The Department of Literary Studies welcomes Juan De Castro as co-chair, Literary Studies and Chair, Literature. Juan De Castro is the author of The Spaces...   Read More

Rachel Aydt’s new essay – The Pilgrims

Literary Studies Faculty member Rachel Aydt has published an essay called The Pilgrims in The White Review. Read her beautiful essay here.

Welcome visiting assistant professor Thom Donovan

Thom Donovan is a poet, essayist, editor, curator, and archivist. He has a PhD from SUNY Buffalo. His books include The Hole (Displaced Press,...   Read More

Thom Donovan is a poet, essayist, editor, curator, and archivist. He has a PhD from SUNY Buffalo. His books include The Hole (Displaced Press, 2012), Withdrawn (Compline, fall 2016), and Withdrawn: a Discourse (Shifter, fall 2016). He is the co-editor and publisher of ON Contemporary Practice, and recently edited Occupy Poetics (Essay Press, 2015), Supple Science: a Robert Kocik Primer (with Michael Cross), and To Look At The Sea Is To Become What One Is: An Etel Adnan Reader (with Brandon Shimoda). Since 2006 he has edited the weblog Wild Horses of Fire. From 2011-2013 he was the Archive Manager of the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation. He has taught at numerous institutions including Parsons, Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wesleyan University, and Bard College.

He will be teaching Advanced Poetry in the fall semester.

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On February 18th, 2022, Professor Jennifer Firestone welcomed back five Lit Studies alums—Jaye Elizabeth Elijah, Hilina Da Costa Gomez, Shulokhana Khan, Colin Marston, and Jasveen Kaur S.—to share their thoughts on life after college and the creative ways that their Literary Studies degrees propelled them onto their current personal and professional paths. 

You can watch the entire video here or read the transcript here

Their paths have all differed greatly, ranging from publishing to journalism school, from an MFA in Poetry and to work in Film Production. They all agree that the breadth and interdisciplinary focus of classes offered by Lang’s Literary Studies department were incredibly formative. 

  • “There were all these opportunities I had to enhance my facilitation skills, my teaching skills, and think about how I would want to be more equitable when it comes to teaching.” —Jasveen Kaur S.

  • “No experience is ever wasted. Within all the classes that you take there is really always something to be mined… Anything that you’re doing is going to help you move on to the next thing.”—Shulokhana Khan

The panelists gave concrete, practical advice on what to look for when applying to jobs and internships, without sugar-coating the reality of the creative job market.

  • When applying to internships, “be clear-sighted about your objectives and also hold them accountable. They should pay interns. The system is exploitative and if it’s not for academic credit, get paid.”—Colin Marston

  • “Don’t be afraid to leave, as well, if you feel like you’re being mistreated… The right people will understand why you left.”—Hilina Da Costa Gomez

Overall, the panelists helped set clear, honest expectations of life after college: it’s hard and competitive. But the tools they acquired from their many experiences in Lit Studies and The New School at large have helped them remain flexible and creative in their pursuits.

  • “There’s a lot of possibility and I think there’s a real emphasis on having a book, or having the most beautiful idyllic publishing job, or going straight into a program right after graduation, and none of that is required… don’t get caught up in the myth of ‘prodigy’ and needing to have it all figured out. So I would say let yourself fail and fail hard and it’ll come together eventually.”  —Jaye Elizabeth Elijah

  • “The jobs that I got look pretty neat on paper, but there are a lot of rejections in between, a lot of ‘I don’t know what I’m doing!’ ‘I don’t know if I’m ever going to get anything!’”—Shulokhana Khan