I am applying for admittance to CSU’s MFA program in Fall 2019. I graduated from The Evergreen State College with a Bachelors of Arts with an emphasis in creative writing, focusing my last two years studying creative nonfiction. I experimented with syntax, played around with my characters, showcased my writing, and tried out different specialties within the creative writing community until I crafted an individual style.

    I love connecting with people, and memoirs have always been a way for me to do that. I connect with authors, and find friendships within characters. I found a home amongst their pages, making me realize that I want to turn my words into a home: relatable, understanding, and emotion provoking. With this in mind, during undergrad, under the mentorship of Sandy Yannone, the director of Evergreen’s Writing Center, I began the process of writing a memoir about my childhood, showcasing the ups and downs that come with parents who are addicts. Reliving my childhood memories was gut wrenching. I often wanted to quit while describing my father’s alcoholism and violence, but I knew that my words mattered enough to keep me motivated. Through the many tears, the late nights, and the many positive resources in my life, I produced a story worth telling.

While at CSU, with the guidance of Harrison Candelaria Fletcher, I want to turn my experiences into a full-length memoir. Fletchers collections of essays, Descanso For My Father, had a tremendous amount of influencing on my own writing. It was interesting reading his essays where he often described his dad the influences he had had on the family after passing, while I’m writing about I can’t believe my dad is still alive and how much influence that has had over my family. My main goal for graduate school is to have a publishable body of work by the time I’ve completed my masters. With these resources, and my skills, that goal can easily be achieved.

I’ve always wanted to teach in some capacity. While at Evergreen, I worked at The Writing Center on campus for two years, and tutored for a year-long freshman only program. Program tutoring taught me how much I love helping others with their writing in a constructive way, and how tutoring inspires my own writing.  Collaboration is key to my learning style, and my writing transformed when working with others on their writing. This led to me starting a writing critique group, where we would share our writing and give appropriate feedback.

        CSU is the right place to continue to tutor, teach, and write because of our shared values. When I read about ‘The CSU Effect,’ I felt a kinship in our shared need for making a difference in the world for others, and ourselves. CSU put’s it’s values on people in an inviting, accepting, and supportive way that aligns with my own personal philosophy towards others. Publishing a memoir is my first step in trying to make a difference. I want people to use my words to escape from their daily lives, to find kinship, a friend, a home. From there, I will begin teaching, using my knowledge to assist others in finding their voice so that they can make a home for others.