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From a very young age, Abra Berkowitz ’09 (Sharon, Mass.) has felt the need to express herself artistically.
She remembers as a child doodling on the walls of her bedroom and making finger paintings. When she became old enough to read and write, she began using words as her creative medium.
“When I began to learn how to express myself through writing and grow more comfortable with these wonderful tools called words, I began to write incessantly. I would write about anything,” she says.
Now an English major, Berkowitz has spent this semester honing her writing skills in the Creative Writing course taught by Lee Upton, professor of English and writer-in-residence.
“The best part about being an English major at Lafayette is that I am exposed to all different aspects of the field,” says Berkowitz. “Professor Upton has been so wonderful at getting me excited about the discipline of creative writing, and my other English professors have truly ‘hooked’ me on the written word.”
Berkowitz and 13 other creative writing students will share some of their writing 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. in Gilbert’s Café. The reading, which is sponsored by the English department, will open with a performance by a cappella group Soulfege and end with an open mic. Copies of the Marquis literary magazine will also be available.
Berkowitz, who will act as the host for the evening, will read a work of poetry called “The Plight of an Ordinary Blade of Grass on a Spring Day.” It is a monologue from the perspective of a blade of grass on the Quad, which criticizes Kermit the Frog for his complaints that “It’s not easy bein’ green.”
She believes that providing creative writing students with an open forum to present their work is hugely important.
“Not only is an open mic setting enjoyable, but the students who read their work gain an entirely new perspective on the piece they have produced,” she says.
Classmate Maggie Oberrender ’07 (Bridgewater, N.J.) agrees about how valuable this kind of experience can be for up-and-coming writers.
“Up until this point, most of us in the class have only shared our work with each other and our professor,” says the English and French double major. “We’ve all become very comfortable working with each other, so it will be interesting to get the perspectives of an audience that is not familiar with our class, assignments, and methods of writing. Also, the creative writing class has helped me become a lot more comfortable with sharing my work in general, so it’s exciting to be able to open it up to a new audience.”
Oberrender will be reading her sestina poem “The Park Bench.” A sestina is a highly structured form of poetry consisting of six six-line stanzas, usually written in iambic pentameter.
Creative writing has also played a large role in Oberrender’s life.
“I started writing poetry and short stories in elementary school, so creative writing has been a constant interest of mine throughout my educational career,” she says. “I enjoy writing both poetry and fiction, since both are such different ways to express yourself and your thoughts that might otherwise get lost in other mediums of art.”
Oberrender knows that writing in some form will continue to be a part of her life after Lafayette.
“I’m looking at co-teaching programs where I would help teach English classes in elementary school. Writing is a major part of education, and getting students interested in creative writing at an early age is crucial to helping them learn how to express their own ideas and strengthen their writing skills,” she says. “I’m also looking at the fields of publishing and editing, so the entire writing process (brainstorming, writing, revising, editing, and rewriting) is a key component of those areas.”
A writer’s life is also in the future for Berkowitz.
“I can hardly see myself not pursuing a future with writing after Lafayette,” she says. “I am not sure if I will write the ‘Great American Novel,’ but I would like to produce a short story or two, write for a magazine, and do what I love.”
Other members of Upton’s creative writing class are: Danielle Bero ’07 (Astoria, N.Y.), who created a major combining creative mediums and social justice; Jonte Dalton ’08 (Brandywine, Md.), an English major; Kristin Kenny ’08 (Hamilton, N.J.), an English major; Meghan Muldowney ’08 (Norwalk, Conn.), an English and anthropology & sociology double major; Thomas Nunnally ’07 (Pennsburg, Pa.) a physics major; Nora Posner ’09 (Charlottesville, Va.), a neuroscience major; Danielle Schreier ’07 (New York, N.Y.), an art major; Aman Seth ’08 (Short Hills, N.J.), a chemistry major; Valerie Simone ’07 (Delran, N.J.), an art major; Scott Spivack-Kerr ’09 (Bensalem, Pa.), an English major; Whitney Van Horne ’07 (Ridgewood, N.J.), an English and Religious Studies double major; Emily Weisenreder ’08 (Pasadena, Md.), an English major.