Intern Sees the Value in Storytelling to ‘Widen and Inspire’ Viewpoints
As a young girl, I spent most of my time reading books and writing fictional stories.
A lover of fantasy, my early stories centered around sentient animals going on grand adventures—such as a rabbit who got an elf shoe stuck on his head and a mouse who was mistakenly recruited into a rat war against cats.
Most of my stories stayed in my head, as I was a slow writer and new to the art of expressing myself on paper. I also had some trouble focusing at first, often getting started on writing one story but soon abandoning it for the next project. Encouraged by my older sister, in my senior year of high school, I finally finished a story of my own creation, a narrative from the perspective of a ghost child haunting his old house.
Once at Westfield State University, where I am now a senior, I was unsure about what I wanted to pursue as a major to set me up for my future career. Tormented by the stereotypical image of the starving fiction author, I decided to study to become a high school English teacher, majoring in English Literature with a concentration in secondary education. This felt more practical to me and would still allow me to immerse myself in reading and writing.
Only recently, I came to the realization that teaching was not for me. I decided that I could make a bigger impact by distributing literature and informational texts that could widen and inspire people’s views of the world and their views of themselves as individuals.
I decided to drop the secondary education concentration from my major and promptly signed up for an internship with Beetle Press in order to gain writing experience in various genres. I am currently writing blogs and managing the editorial calendar, and I also have my hands in many other projects, including writing press releases.
Storytelling is a passion for me. I feel that stories are a safe medium, through which one can gain insight into the minds of others and explore new experiences and emotions. Stories also evoke empathy from the reader and stimulate greater understanding and exposure to new ideas.
I believe that every individual has valuable stories to tell, and would love to get involved in helping authors get their stories into the public eye. For the future, I would like to work in publishing and distribution and also become a successful creative writer myself.
I am pleased that with my new concentration, I can tell others’ stories, as well as my own.
My creative pursuits also extend into music. I serve as a music director at Westfield State’s radio station WSKB 89.5FM, sorting through the various music that is sent to the station and deciding which songs will be added to the rotation.
I also have my own radio show, featuring good music and commentary about tea, books, and movies. I also participate in the English honors society, Sigma Tau Delta, through which students collaborate and further develop their skills as writers and readers through attending conferences and hosting literary events.
In my free time, I enjoy singing and teaching myself to play the guitar. I also consume vast quantities of Let’s Plays (recorded footage of videogame play-throughs with commentary from the game player), short comedy sketches, and video blogs (a.k.a. vlogs) on YouTube.