As the quarter draws to a close, the MAWRD program will graduate four students. Before these students move into new phases of their educational and professional careers, we wanted to hear about some of the meaningful experiences WRD has created for them. So, we caught up with Amanda Finn, one soon-to-be graduate, on her time in the program, her plans after graduation, and her best advice for continuing WRD students.
Amanda, you came into MAWRD after writing professionally for several years. Did your time in the program shift any parts of your writing career?
For me, being in grad school was more of a personal scholastic journey re-affirming how much I love words and why I wanted to be a writer in the first place. When people ask me what “WRD” means (because the words “writing, rhetoric, and discourse” may not be meaningful to general people), I usually tell them the field is about learning about what we say, why we say it, and how we say it. I think that that’s what the program has really done for me and helped me understand.
Were there any particular projects or classes in WRD that really ignited that passion for you?
Feminist Rhetorics with Monica Reyes helped solidify a project I had already been working on, which was essentially research around the passion play in Oberammergau, Germany. In the final project for that class, I was able to develop the feminist research practices I would actually apply when I was in Germany doing my research, and then the following quarter I got to continue and complete an independent study with Monica based around that project. My hope is that after grad school, I’ll send out a book proposal for my research, which focuses on theatre as a sacred object. This past summer, I was able to do more research around the world on the history of theatre and what it means to the different communities that build it, and I’m really hoping that that research goes somewhere further.
You mentioned doing research “around the world.” Can you tell us more about that?
Since my main research was the Oberammagau passion play, I actually spent a week there and got to see the press opening of the play. This was great timing since they only perform the play six months out of every decade, as they have been doing since the 1600s. I got to interview cast members, the music director, and the actual director of the play, who helped reshape the whole piece and who has been working on it for over 40 years.
One takeaway was how important being in a place is for research, even with something like the passion play which I had been reading about and having conversations about for years. None of that background work could have prepared me for actually being there, even with just the cultural differences of getting their perspective on the play in contrast to the very western, American perspective I had been getting. I don’t think anything would have replicated immersing myself in that process and seeing how much that presence informed my research.
Overall, I spent five weeks in Europe–including some research time in Prague, where (as far as researchers can tell) the notion of the passion play first started, and in Athens, since Greece is where much of our notion of theatre began. We also got to jon the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and there were almost 5,000 plays happening in the festival that month, which was crazy!
To fund some of my research, I was given a scholarship through the Graduate Research Fund (GRF) here at DePaul, which offset some of the costs of my travel. I did have to push back a bit to secure the funding, because the GRF is typically for students researching for a conference or more defined professional opportunity, but ultimately I was still able to get funding for much of my research.
Besides that amazing research, are there any other projects or classes that were especially memorable?
I truly didn’t take any classes in our program that I didn’t enjoy, even if they were classes I wasn’t necessarily excited about at first. For example, I wasn’t sure the Grant Writing class was going to be up my ally (even though I had done a bit of grant proposal writing in my career), but I ended up really loving it! I didn’t realize how creative and interesting you can make that process, so it was a great surprise.
I also loved Global Englishes and Sociolinguistics with Jason Schneider. I got to explore some really fun questions in those classes.
What are you looking forward to after graduation?
I’m excited to be able to take advantage of more opportunities in my professional life, whether that’s saying “yes” more spontaneously to media trips or conferences, or anything that would have pulled me away from being on campus during my time in school. I’m excited for more of that flexibility in my schedule.
As far as plans beyond graduation, I’ll continue working on pitching my book and building upon the travel blog I launched last year.
Finally, what advice do you have for current or prospective MAWRD students?
Since I came into the program after seven years away from school, I felt intimidated. Even though I have real world experience in some of these writing situations, it was nerve-racking to be back in a college classroom. The hardest lesson I had to learn in this transition was that it’s okay to question things, and it’s okay to push back–especially with theorists or with fundamental rhetorical subjects that are important to you. Don’t be afraid to say when you don’t agree, because academia is always shifting, and so is our understanding of words. “Rhetoric” tomorrow is going to mean different things than it did five years ago, and that’s why people are still studying it–it keeps us all in work.
Another piece of really valuable advice is something Monica [Reyes] taught me: always be looking for opportunities and don’t be afraid to “make your own program.” That means that if you have an idea, even if it’s not “what your program does,” see if you can find someone who will fund it. Chances are you can find opportunities to research and explore the things you care about, and there are institutional supports for those things. Even as a graduate assistant and while working full time, I was still able to do a fellowship and to pursue research abroad. These things are possible, we just have to plan for them!
To find these opportunities, I also had to make my desire to learn certain things known. The professors are so in tune with what’s going on on campus and can get you connected to great opportunities. I didn’t know anything about the GRF or the fellowship options until I started talking more about the kinds of opportunities I wanted. Finding a professor who is interested in similar things to be your mentor, even if they work in another department beyond WRD, is really valuable as well. Networking is the most important way to make these things happen–in school or not.
You can find more of Amanda’s work at her website, Dream Suitcase, and on Instagram @Finn.Writes.
Thank you and good luck to Amanda, and to all our graduating MAWRD students. You and your contributions to our department are greatly appreciated and will be greatly missed. Best of luck with your new endeavors!