Alumni Insight: Emily Chervony
With post-grad life inching closer, I wanted to step back and gain some perspective with the help of someone who has been in my shoes! I spoke with Emily Chervony, MAM ’19, about her experience beyond the grad program and to hear her thoughts when looking back on her time at Columbia. For context, Emily is the Manager of Administration at The People’s Music School here in Chicago.
Alumni Spotlight: Angel Kristi Williams
For this alumni spotlight, I got the opportunity to interview Angel Kristi Williams, Cinema Directing MFA ’15.
Good People and Graduation
The final semester in the MAM program is a strange world. We all seem to be sprinting into a feverish job hunt AND trying to cherish our l..
New Year, Last Semester
January 28th, 2020 was my officially my last “first day of day school” as it was the first class of my last semester in the poetry program. Leading up to the day, I felt a bit of excitement—I felt a moment of pride knowing that my work and dedication to my poetic craft was not too far from cultivating an accomplishment that appeared unattainable during my undergrad years: walking across the stage with a Master’s degree!
Thinking Back
One foot in, one foot out
November hit and the countdown to the end of the semester seemed to commence simultaneously for all of the grad students. This was accompanied mostly with excitement and a little stress mixed in. For those of us graduating in May, the conversation is starting to turn toward the ever-looming job hunt. Within the month of November, we have applied for Spring graduation, enrolled in our courses for the last semester, and have started fielding questions from family members about what’s next. My first though: yikes. There has always been a good amount of stuff to juggle as a student in this program but now it feels like everything is ramping up when it should (theoretically) be slowing down. More and more, I am finding myself continuously balancing the here and now, plans for two months from now, and looming questions about my life six months from now.
Enjoying Films while Making Films
It’s the last couple of weeks of the semester (wow, that was quick), so my one credit Cinema Studies class just kicked off. We’re watching a number of classic films and analyzing them and one thing we briefly discussed in class is how difficult it sometimes is as a filmmaker to not over analyze films.
In the Director’s Chair
As a producer, I spend a lot of time working with directors but that doesn’t mean I totally understand them or their thought processes. So..
Spotlight: Wabash Arts Corri-Doors
The ~best~ thing about the MAM program is getting to see student work come to life. About a year and a half into this program, we are getting to see each other’s ideas turn into plans and plans turn into work and work turn into fully realized art. The Hokin Project, The Third Mask Festival, and The Fresh Connect are all examples of student ideas becoming reality. In the past few weeks, we have seen another MAM student’s idea take full flight. This would be none other than 2nd year and resident #doordork, Yvvi Atanassov. Since starting the program, we have heard about Yvvi’s obsession with doors, which is fully detailed on her Instagram @enchantingdoors_ (go follow!). Yvvi describes her love of doors through her favorite quote from Julie Powell: “Doors are going to open doors you can’t even imagine exist”. This passion and obsession with doors has led her to create the amazing project below!
Interview with Poetry MFA Ju’Juan Day
For this blog post, I thought I would try something a bit different. Sure, you’ve seen me discuss plenty of topics: how to prepare for a reading, places I explored during the summer, and even how to get out of an uninspired writing rut. But I thought it would be nice to see someone other than myself provide their own insight on these topics…