CHSS Connection Episode 1 S2: Major Matters -English 101

  
Sonal: Welcome to season 2 of CHSS Connection, a podcast where we interview different students about all things CHSS, from academics to careers to everything in between. If you're wondering who would make a podcast about chess, that's actually not the CHSS we're talking about. We're referring to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences here at Mason. This is a student success podcast by CHSS students for CHSS students. And even if you aren't a CHSS student, we're happy to have you here. I'm one of your hosts, Sonal Prakash. 

Zoe: And I'm your other host, Zoe Nix. During this second season, we'll be highlighting 3 majors, English, Communication and Integrative Studies. This episode introduces us to our first major focus of the season, English. This episode and a number of future episodes were recorded last semester by the podcast's former host Cadie Junker, so it'll be her lovely voice that you'll be hearing. With that being said, here's Cadie. 

Cadie: In this episode, our guest is a junior English major with a minor in theater and a concentration in creative writing. He's here today to tell us all about the English program here at GMU. Please welcome to the show, Elias Collier. 

Elias: Hi people, I'm very excited to be here and thank you for having me. 

Cadie: Of course, thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing? 

I'm doing good, I'm doing good, all things considered. 

It's final season, yes. 

Right now. 

Yes, it's a bit all over the place, but I'm really happy to be here and I'm glad that we could make time to to do this. 

Yeah, absolutely. 

Well, to give listeners a little bit of a peek behind the curtain, this is Friday of week 15 of the spring semester. By the time you're hearing this, it's the beginning of the fall semester or middle of fall semester. I don't know when this is getting released. That's not up to me anymore. However, when you're hearing this, we are no longer in the spring final season, so little bit recording this a little bit ahead of time. So, for this interview, it's going to be split into two acts. The first act will be more general questions and the second act will be a bit of deeper reflection. Shall we get into it? 

Elias: We shall. 

Cadie: All right. Well, I said what programs you're a part of in your introduction. I would love it if you could tell me more about the English program here at GMU. 

Elias: So, I am a junior, so by the time that you guys will be hearing this, I'll be a senior in my final year. I've been an English major since I came to George Mason. So that's all I've really ever done apart from my minor. The English major is a little bit intensive with the classes that you're required to take to graduate. I think there's quite a few of them and a lot of them are very writing heavy in facets that you may not be accustomed with. I'm a creative writer in my concentration and regularly.. I don't really do like literature writing that much or analytical writing. And there's a lot of classes that focus on things like that. 

So, it's difficult at times because it's not what I specialize in, but I think that it's the thing that I like, I think the most about the English department and the major is that they force you really to explore writing techniques that you haven't used before as a way of better filling out your portfolio and figuring out what it is that you actually enjoy doing and what you're good at doing. Because those can be two very separate things, what you're good at and what you like doing. So, I think that's my favorite part of the English department and all of the teachers and the academic advisors and everybody, they're pretty supportive people. My academic advisor is really on top of things. So, I've never really had to struggle to figure out what classes I'm taking and if I'm graduating. So, I think the English department is really fleshed out and I think that all the staff are really well equipped to handle the workload that comes with that. 

Cadie: Yeah, absolutely. Why did you decide to major in English? 

Elias: I really didn't think I was going to go to college through most of high school. I was going through.. I was going through stuff, we'll say it like that, and I just never thought that I was going to go to college. And then at some point, I don't really know what happened in high school, but I was just like, you know what I do want to go, I do want to go to college.  

So, I was thinking from that what I would want to do college wise. And kind of thinking about my high school and my middle school, I kind of realized that the teachers that had kind of always been there for me and kind of had pushed me forward to keep pursuing what I'm pursuing were my English teachers always. And I've always been a writer since I was a kid. I used to like write like books on like printer paper in first grade and then force my classmates to read them. So, I've kind of, I've kind of always been there with that. And I think, I mean, I've never been told otherwise, but I think I'm a fairly decent creative writer. So when I was kind of thinking about it like that, I knew I wanted to do something with English. 

And then I was thinking about it more and I'm like, well, I don't know what I'm doing with that degree besides teaching. So that's kind of what I decided to lean towards. But I think I've always known that I was always going to be a humanities majors to some extent. That's no hate to the STEM majors that may be listening. I'm real happy that y'all are doing what you're doing. That's got nothing to do with me though. I've never been good really with math. I've never cared for and science is kind of here or there. I think it was always going to be some kind of writing artistic thing. So, I think I've known ever since I kind of re-upped and decided that I was going to go to college. I think I've always known that it was going to be English that I was study. 

Cadie: Yeah. Please tell me a little bit about your concentration. Why did you decide to concentrate in creative writing versus whatever the other concentrations are? 
Elias: I'm not sure. So, I think to my knowledge, the other ones are film studies, folklore, linguistics. There's probably more that I don't know about. 

Cadie: Is there like a literature based one? 

Elias: Yes, there is a literature one. Yeah, I think it's literature, folklore, creative writing, film studies. There may be another one. I'm not sure. But I think out of all of those, I, I was hesitating. In fact, as of right now, I'm still technically not a creative writing concentration. I haven't filled the form out yet. And my advisor's getting on me to do that. So, I know that's what I'm going to do because that's what all my credits are in. But I have not filled the form out yet. But it's been, I've been, I was debating earlier on what I wanted to do and I think I was debating becoming a film studies concentration because the writing that I tend to do is more script writing more than anything. It's plays or.. 

Cadie: Elias, you and I are such kindred spirits. Oh my gosh. 

Elias: So, it's.. I've written plays, that's kind of been my big thing. And I've written plays that have been put on both at Mason and at my high school. So, when I was thinking kind of about the stories that I wanted to tell, I was leaning more towards the film or the theater side, mostly towards film and TV because I think the stories that I want to tell are too big to fit on a stage. So, I was leaning towards a film studies concentration. 

And then I just did nothing with that up until like my sophomore year. And then I was kind of, when I was thinking about it more, I realized that I think with the things that I want to do, if I ever did want to write a book, for example, I think that being a creative writing concentration would better help flesh that out more so that I could kind of better broaden my horizons and figure out what I wanted to do. And I think once I started taking classes for the concentration that kind of both doubled for the concentration in the major, I started realizing that this is kind of more up my alley of what I wanted to do.  

So, the creative writing classes, I think they're all cool. A lot of them are workshop related classes where you write a piece and then you get feedback on it and then you give feedback to other people. I've taken three of them as of right now. I think they're all really good. And I think it's very interesting to get a fresh perspective on work that you're writing that. I think by doing that I've kind of reaffirmed that I am good at writing prose wise because that was a big reason why I kind of shifted to TV is I never really felt like I was good at writing prose and novelist works. And then I went to my fiction workshop and they were like, you’re really, really good at this, and I was like, OK, so I am doing something right.  

So, with those kinds of workshops, I've kind of started gearing more towards the creative writing side more than film studies. I think still screen writing is a bit more up my alley with the way that I write, but I think that doing the creative writing concentration has really let me see more of what there is, I guess to do and kind of figuring out where my strengths lie even within my own writing. So I think it's a really great concentration. 

And if you're not sure English wise what concentration go for, I'd recommend it. I think it's really easy, quote UN quote, but I think you meet a lot of really interesting people through that. And I think it's a really great way to start getting your work out there and getting kind of like audience feedback on your work. 

Cadie: The reason why I say we're such kindred spirits is because, and people on the podcast know I have my associates in English. I was a dual credit student throughout high school, took classes at the Community College, able to graduate and that's how I got that. The reason why I chose English is because I was looking up.. What degree would I need to go into screen writing? What is more advantageous, a film studies degree or a creative writing English degree? And the websites that I saw, unless you went to a film school that had a specific screen writing program, then it was always going to be English and creative writing because that taught you the skills that you needed to world build, character build, get your dialogue right, and all of those necessary skills to be a good creative writer. And so that's why I got the English degree instead of a film studies degree. 

The other thing, what's really interesting at Mason is how many different creative avenues we have, especially with film, because in the English department, we have film studies there, we have an entire college dedicated to film and digital arts. We also have media studies within the comms program. So there's a lot of different angles that you can kind of attack and be a part of the same industry, and I just think that's really cool. 

Elias: I agree. 

Cadie: So moving on, what are some of those core classes that every single English major needs to take? 

Elias: Oh, I got to.. I got to remember I did a lot of them my freshman year to get them out of the way. I think Mason core wise for the English department, you have to take a lot of there's a big focus on doing everything. So even if you're an English major, you still have to take like a math class and science classes and history classes. The regular Mason core stuff for an English major, and I don't know if this is specific just to the English major or if other majors have this too. You have to take, I think it's three courses worth of a language. So you have to get, I think it's an upwards of nine, upwards of 12/9 to 12, I think credits to be proficient in a second language for the English department. 
And then there's a lot of smaller English classes that you have to take. There's a lot, there's so many of them. It's just kind of ridiculous. But there are, I'm trying to remember English 301, 302, 305 are big ones that you have to take. And those are like field that's fields of English literature classes somewhere in there. And then there's a writing like rhetorical analysis class in there. And again, like I said, I don't do that. So that's they, they really kind of force you to go down all the avenues just to get experience with it. 

And while I, I didn't like being in, I think it was 302. It's either 302 or 305. It's a paper writing class. It's research papers, getting information from papers, writing papers, writing advocacy letters, etcetera. But I didn't like that class just because the workload was so much. And it's not what I like to do, but I was really good at it. And I think I finished that class with like a 109 in the class. So I think that it's really interesting how much they make you do outside of what may be your comfort zone because again, you can be really good at something and not like doing it, but those skills are still applicable outside of that. 
Other than that, English wise, a lot of the requirements are really dependent on what your concentration is. Creative writing concentrations they have to take, I think it's a you have to take over. Like I think it's 9 credits of classes over 400 and then I think you're required to take like a fiction workshop for that. And then a lot of 497s and English 497s is just fields of English. So they're not fields of English, they're topics in English. So there's a lot of different things that you can take through 497. One of my 497s that I'm taking now is folklore and fantasy, which is a specific thing. I’m taking a 497 next year, which is changing genres. And then I took a 497 last semester, which was digital creative writing, which I think out of all of them so far, that was my favorite one just because it's so off kilter and it's not really something that you would look at every day. But I think it was one of my favorite classes that I've ever taken. 

So a lot of the requirements for the English department, at least that I've seen and don't take me as the end all be all, but a lot of them are, are pretty specific on what your concentration is outside of just a basic Mason core and then taking the English 300s. 

Cadie: So it sounds like it's a little bit more mix and match than other majors are. I know for comms, I have four classes that every single communications major has to take. Ironically, rhetoric is one of those. I just finished that course. Shout out to Doctor Lisa Greenpemble, all my fellow Comm majors out there. If you can take a class with her, take it. She's amazing. That was my writing intensive. And then I have 4 required PR concentration courses that I have to take. And then I also have my major electives on top of what would be my Mason core. I'm in the honors college so I have like the honors college core instead, but as far as my major goes, that's kind of how it's broken up. But it sounds like English is a little bit more choose your own adventure type. 

Elias: Yeah, a lot of them, the requirements are just to take a class with a specification. So that could just be like literature before 1800. And then you have like the five class options that you can take for that. Or I'm trying to, I'm trying to think you could take like a, if you're a folklore concentration person, for example, I'm, I'm assuming, but you could there, they will give you the category that you need to fulfill and you can take any class that fulfills that category. So that's what a lot of the English department classes that I've seen are, is that they'll give you that choice in that catalog to look at so that you can pick something within that requirement, but something that you still want to do so that you're not like reading Shakespeare if you don't want to read Shakespeare for that requirement. So there's a lot of choices. And I think that's one of the things that makes the English department so strong is how many choices there are to get done what you want to get done. 

Cadie: Yeah, absolutely. For you specifically, what are some of those classes that you've taken to fulfill your creative writing concentration? 

Elias: As I mentioned, English 497, digital creative writing, I think there is a, some facet of English major that has to take that class. I can't remember what it was, but I think English 497 is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken. And it's, I think it's been my favorite so far. And it's all about the ways in which you can write creatively through digital media. As if it wasn't clear from the title, but we did a lot of you learn to code with HTML in that class and you, you'll make a website of some kind that tells a story. And I, I, the one thing about that class that that I think was difficult for me is one thing about me. I'm going to overachieve every single time. I'm going to overextend myself every single time. But my my first project, because you only have two major, like big, big projects for that, which I guess would be midterm and final quote, UN quote, and then a lot of smaller ones where you learn the techniques of it. But my first project that we did, it was basically making a wet different web pages on a website called Neocities. And I think one of the major requirements is that the websites, the pages had to link to one another and that was kind of what we were testing for that project. That's what she was testing. 
By the way, shout out Suzanne Rigdon, the teacher for that class. She's an amazing teacher. And if you can take that class with her, I think it's really worth taking it. I don't actually think it's a 497. I think I, I've been saying that I think the 497 is advanced hypertext, which is the second course for that. I think the digital creative writing is, it might still be a 497. I'm not sure off the top of my head. But I think if you can take it, take it. But the first project is just making the websites that connect to each other and she really doesn't give you any guidelines and you can kind of do whatever you want with that. So for mine, I made like, I want to say upwards of 100 like Wikipedia-esque pages. And it was supposed to simulate like a real Wikipedia page. And the whole story behind it is that you're a college student. That's kind of like deep diving into this government conspiracy with these civilians that were sent into space. 

Cadie: Oh my gosh. 
Elias: So they were sent into space, and then they disappeared and no one seen them again. And then NASA covered it up. And there's these Wikipedia articles basically that you're following that are kind of positing that it's a hoax. And then as you kind of go through it, it gets deeper and deeper. And the whole point of it is basically you trying to figure out what happened to these civilians. Like I said it to space and then never came back, right? That was overly ambitious. I didn't have to do all that, but I wanted to because again, things like that aren't really something that I would have expected that I would have liked doing. And then I started doing it and I realized that that is an Ave. that I'm probably going to pursue future wise because I'm good at it and I like doing it. 

And then the second big projects for the final for that class is you use Twine. And Twine is a text based kind of, I guess RPG system. You don't have to make RPGs with it, but there it's a branching kind of pathway story building system. And basically our final was just make a text based RPG that has different paths. That's what it was. So I'd made mine again, overextended, way too far away, too far. I think it takes maybe 2 hours to get through the whole thing and there are 9 different endings. And it was again, she gives you a lot of creative freedom with it.  
 
What I did for mine was it was a story about the six strangers who end up in this building together. And at the end of every day in this building, they had to vote for one person that would die in this building. So you would get to, you got a fake agency over it. Because if I were to do it so that you could actually like vote every single time, it would have taken forever. But you do have agency over who you vote and the relationships that you have with the other characters there. And I've always loved RPGs, so it kind of always been my thing. So I think 497 is a really great class. If it is 497, whatever digital, creative writing is whatever, that class is one of my favorites. I think all of the 497 classes though are really interesting because their topics change every semester. I'm taking folklore and fantasy right now. I don't write fantasy, that's not my genre. But I took it because they cancelled Advanced Hypertext with Suzanne Rigdon. because no, like nobody signed up for. I think I was like one of three people. 
Cadie: So this is your sign to go and sign up for that.  

Elias: Go sign up for Advanced Hypertext. 

Cadie: Exactly because to me it reminds me a lot of an Arg. That's what you guys were doing. 

Elias: That's what I was making. 

Cadie: And that is so cool to me as somebody who like has a special fascination with ARGS analog horror. I have debated making my own Arg. 

Elias: So you might get an e-mail from me with that link actually. 

Cadie: OK. 

Elias: It's.. I think that if anybody has any experience or want to do things like AR, GS, you could do analog horror through the website. It's definitely possible, but it's very what I did took a lot of time and a lot of research outside of class. And I think that was also something that I thought was interesting is like I went into that class not knowing how to code in HTML and now I know how to code in HTML, which is never thought something I thought that I would need to do after like IT 104, which is like a Mason core thing, right. So there's a lot of, I think that the with the upper level English classes, there's so much expression on what you can do and what you can write. Like I said, I don't write fantasy, but I took the class because that was the only 497 and I wanted to take one. And I found that I really like writing fantasy and I've been a really good friend in that class who I've kind of collaborate with now. So I think those two, folklore and fantasy and digital creative writing have been two of my favorites. I think all of the fiction workshops, it goes without saying, I think they're all really great. If you can take a fiction workshop with Laura Scott, she's so engaging. She's really fun to talk to, and she really cares about the work that you're writing. So I think those three have been my favorite.  

And I'm kind of blanking on the ones I took in the past because I took all of I took a lot of my Mason Core and heavy English classes way, way, way earlier on so that I could kind of like have fun, quote UN quote later. I'm not having fun right now. Like I, I love what I'm doing, but the work is a lot. But it is fun in a way. But I think it's fun because I enjoy what I'm writing about more than I'm like in the classroom right now. But that's what I would say. I have been some of my favorites in the creative writing concentration. 

Cadie: Yeah, well, it's also really fun to hear about an English class that teaches you how to code when something like game design feels really intimidating for some people. Like I know for me, that's kind of what has made me hesitate. I hate to actually putting time into a project like that. Also then like also, what time do I have to create an ARG? But like game design, coding, even using the programs to edit together a video to go in the ARG can seem really intimidating. So it's great that you're able to be taught that from a writing perspective, from a humanities perspective, that may feel a little bit less intimidating for us chess people to take. So you've already answered your best class that you've taken here, and what professors and courses do you recommend, so my next question for you is what has been your favorite memory involving your major? 

Elias: I think I'm going to pull from recent memory because I think it's the one that sticks out most. But my advanced fiction workshop that I'm in this semester, I was kind of nervous going into it because like I said, I don't write prose often. I kind of stopped doing that because I just didn't think that I could do it. And something about me is that when I get to writing, if I ever stop to start planning the story out, the rest of the story is not getting written because I get so bogged down with it.  

So for that, when I was doing this class, I knew I wanted to do a fiction workshop because I'd like the one that I'd been in the semester before, which was the creative writing workshop. And I like that, but I was kind of intimidated going into this class because a lot of these people are people that have been writing a long time and this is kind of what they're good at. So I decided that I was going to use one of my free writing projects. And by that I mean, it's a project that I'm not allowed to plan out and I'm just writing it. And I'm a lot, I, I've planned out some things of it. At this, at the point that I'm talking about maybe two months ago, I, I had known specific events that were going to happen, but I wasn't allowed to plan out what was really going on. So I submitted maybe 15 pages of this and it was a Western because that's kind of, I wouldn't say I specialize in that, but that's the big project that I'm in right now is westerns and kind of post civil war. What is going on? Because fun fact for the podcast Outlaws and that the Wild West are a direct result of the Civil War ending. That's why that happened. 

Cadie: I have a question for you. 

Elias: Yes. 

Cadie: Have you seen Eddington? 

Elias: No, but I have the posters up on my wall. 

Cadie: You need to go see Eddington. I'm sorry, mandatory New Mexico plug. I need to do it every episode. Go see Eddington. It's oh. It's such a good movie. 
Elias: Yeah. I work in the. I work at an AMC, so I get access to the movie posters, and I got the one that had the bison falling off the Cliff. And then there's one of just Pedro Pascal aura farming on the poster. I didn't ask for that one, but they know who I am because I collect all the Pedro Pascal posters that come out in the movie theater. 

Cadie: Well, of course. 

Elias: Well, yeah, so they gave that one to me. But I love writing Westerns. I think that they're very interesting. And I know somebody's thinking it. No, I have not played Red Dead Redemption 2. I haven't touched it yet, so I don't know. That was a question I got a lot from this piece that I submitted was like, have you ever played this game? No. Now, is it sitting on my Xbox at home? Yes. But I know that if I start playing it now, I wouldn't have gotten any school work done throughout the semester, so I didn't touch it. 

Cadie: It's a summer project. 

Elias: Exactly. So, I'd submitted this piece and it was kind of, I guess a spoiler for like the later. And because it was like a really big moment where a lot of people had, it was the aftermath of a moment where like a lot of people had like just died. And there was a lot of it is an argument between basically 6 people on whether the lead character should live or die after betraying, quote UN quote the group, right? And I, it was a risk on my end because I think a lot of the people that were submitting work in the class were kind of submitting the start of stories because that's kind of what they wanted feedback on. 

And I was like, you know what, let's go to hell. So I just submitted. I submitted the middle of this would be like the tail end. This is like the last, like the third to last chapter in the book, right? And again, none of these characters are established. Nobody knows anything about these characters. So when I was writing this, I was kind of aware that one, if I finished this project or I, I extended it, it wouldn't be written like this because the way that it was written was very much giving information that would have been explicated way earlier in the novel, for example. But it's really hard to write 6 characters arguing when the class knows nothing about who these six people are, what they're motivated by. So that was kind of the challenge that I faced with that. But I kind of already, I've had a long running thought because I'm not allowed to write it down or I wasn't allowed to write it down at that point. I had a long running thought of who these characters were and the motivations that they all had. So I kind of just put it to page and I was like, you know what, if it sucks, it sucks. 

And we got to workshop and everybody loved the piece and everybody one of the questions that I had asked the group was like, are the characters clear enough despite you not knowing who these people are? And it was a resounding yes. And kind of, I think getting that feedback from that class that what I'm doing is working in that even without this, like the information coming beforehand, they can understand it. And it was enjoyable to read that for me, really kind of sparked my interest back in prose writing. And I think it's one of my favorite memories because a lot of people came up and asked me about it and where I thought the project was going to go.  

And as of now, now I'm in production. I don't know if that's the right word, but I mean, I'm in the process of actually turning it into a novel and actually kind of committing to it for real. Because then I submitted a second part after that. And again, everyone really liked it. And we got, we got into not an argument, but one of the questions that I posed was who is your favorite character and who's your least favorite? And there was genuine contention between the intentions of the characters and how sympathetic they were. And I was like, oh, oh, I'm in it now. So, I think that is my favorite memory because it's kind of spurred me to start picking it up seriously again and realizing that I can do this as long as I put my mind to this and don't let myself get bogged down by it. So I think that's my favorite memory for sure. 

Cadie: Absolutely. My final question to you as we end out Act One, what drew you to writing Westerns? 

Elias: I don't know, I think I grew up in the South. And by South I mean North Carolina and Georgia mostly. And then my dad lived in Arizona for a bit, so I've kind of always been there.  

Cadie: Because I'm from the Southwest, so like I'm always like, oh, that's my backyard. That's mine. 

Elias: So I think for me it.. 

Cadie: Arizona too. 

Elias: Arizona is fine. They have javelinas on. I don't, oh, I don't like wild pigs, but they scare the hell out of me. But I think for me, I think that the Civil War is such an interesting time in American history. And I think with Westerns, we kind of see a lot of white men doing white men things. And for me now that that's not interesting, but a lot of like Cowboys were black, a lot of them were people of color. A lot of there were women, right, that were doing it too. And I think that we don't see that very often depicted in Westerns. And when there are people of color depicted in Westerns, they're very kind of one note. And I don't want to say they're not engaging, but they're very one-dimensional, I feel like.  

Cadie: It's the token character more times than not. 

Elias: And that's frustrating to me. So I think I've only the only Western that I'm writing is this one that I'm writing right now. But I've kind of always had an interest in the Wild West because again, a lot of what happened there came from the instability of the Civil War and that's why Outlaws bloomed really in that time was because of that. So when I was, I was kind of thinking about what I wanted to write if I wanted to have a writing project. 

And I think for me, I was like, I what I was thinking more of was that I can write a Western that is focused like, yes, on white men being like doing white men activities because that that is what was going on at the time. But also you don't have interesting characters of color and interesting women of color in my piece. And I think that that would be something fresh and new that we don't see often. So I think that was kind of my motivation. And then as I kind of started writing it, I think I started getting more engaged with the content and the characters of it. 

And then I also, I wouldn't say I'm a history buff by any means. I think it is interesting, though, to see how we get where we are. So I got to do a lot of really interesting to me, interesting research on the Civil War and what, you know, the 1860s through 1880s were like. So I think that was kind of why I think that it's a really prevalent time in American history. So I think that's what really drew me to it mostly. 
Cadie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that is a wonderful way to end out Act 1. You are now going to hear from a correspondent as well as some CHSS announcements. Take it away, Zoe. 

Zoe: And now it's time for the bulletin board.  

Sonal: Our monthly CHSS Ambassadors will be at Kiosk A in the Johnson Center from 3:00 to 5:00 PM on October 6th. 

Zoe: On October 7th, the Chess Midterm Destress event will be taking place in the Horizon Atrium, which is right outside of the mix, from 12:00 to 2:00 PM. 
Sonal: The Link Up Career Mentoring event with alumni mentors is happening in the Horizon Atrium on October 8th from 5:30 to 7:00 PM. 

Zoe: The Modern and Classical Languages Department is hosting the 7th Mason Annual Student Conference in Korean Studies on October 9th from 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM in the Johnson Center Meeting A on the 3rd floor. Join for presentations on Korean culture, a traditional Korean song performance, and free pizza. 

Sonal: Lastly, the Fall for the Book Festival will be October 6th through 10th. Check out fallforthebook.org for more information. 

Zoe: And finally, some wise words from our correspondent this week, advisor for the English major, Dr. Laura Scott. 

Dr. Scott: Hello, my name is Laura Ellen Scott. I am a term full professor in the English department and the main undergraduate advisor for students in their BA in English, BFA in Creative Writing and the English. I also teach undergraduate fiction writing courses. I can be reached by e-mail at lscott@gmu.edu and my office is in 4167 Horizon Hall and students can make appointments with me via Patriot Connect, I offer in person and virtual advising options.  
 
Appointments with me usually take 10 to 30 minutes. I try to keep things relaxed but to the point. Students often have specific questions they want answered, like what to take next semester, but they also want to talk about overall degree planning, minor options, timeline to graduation, potential career paths, and opportunities like professional development and study abroad. Common advice that I give, I would recommend that you review the schedule of classes before your time ticket opens so you can register with confidence at your earliest opportunity. Try to take a balance, manageable course loads and maintain strong attendance because showing up makes all the difference. 
 
One thing I'd like to tell students is to love your major, get plenty of sleep, study, and have a social life. Everything else will fall into place. As an undergraduate, I was not the best student and yet I've managed to work in a university environment my whole adult life and it still feels sort of magical. 
 

Students should feel free to reach out to me by e-mail because it's the quickest way to get an answer to specific questions. And I think that's important because a lot of the questions that cause a lot of things unnecessary anxiety if they're left too long. If your questions are too long or complicated to answer in an e-mail, I'll let you know. I think an underutilized resource is the fact that the English department and the English professors are all in Horizon Hall, which is a beautiful, comfortable building with lots of space and terrific views of the campus. Drop by, even if it's only to stare out the window for a while. 

Well, I think a lot of students place probably too much emphasis on graduating on time. And I understand why it's a financial concern, but it doesn't have very much relationship to how people think about you beyond the degree. And so I really wish that students could think about Mason or the campus as something they own, a little city they live in, a little small town that they live on, live in, and to take advantage of everything that's there because you don't get to do things like this later on, you know? 

And another area I think that could be demystified quite a bit is what Graduate School is for, right? I think a lot of people just think that, oh, I have to go to Graduate School or that Graduate School is something a lot like undergraduate education. Not realizing that as you move through the graduate programs, you're becoming narrower and narrower in focus and contributing to a body of scholarship or a body of knowledge basically by the end of that that degree process. 
 
To recap, my name is Laura Scott. My e-mail is lscott@gmu.edu for quick questions. I'm also assisted by two advising assistants. They do virtual advising for the most part, Ariana Payne and Jesse Capobianco, and they could be reached as well. Anytime you get an e-mail from me, you're going to see the book appointment links at the bottom of my e-mail for all of the advisors available in the English department. So feel free to use that. Feel free to reach out just to get that information quickly. 
Zoe: Thank you, Doctor Scott. And now, back to Katie. 

Cadie: And welcome back. We are now going to enter into Act 2. This is going to be a little bit of a deeper reflection pulling more from your personal experiences. My first question for you, what was that experience of choosing to major in English like for you? You already kind of spoke on how you didn't really think you were going to college, but, you know, was it a relatively easy decision? Was this career path you always knew you wanted to pursue? Was it the opposite? 

Elias: I think for me, as soon as I kind of came to cognizance that I wanted to go to college and actually kind of do something with my life, I think I always knew it was going to be English. I just wasn't really sure what in the beginning. And I moved to Virginia in January of 2022, so my junior year of high school. So right before I had really had to commit to something and I had zoomed one of my teachers from back in North Carolina and was talking to her about it. Kind of, I was like, I think I want to do English. I'm just not sure what I want to do. And she had kind of told me like, I think you would be a great teacher if that's something that you're considering doing, if that's something that you're considering doing, which it wasn't at the time. 

But I think the more that I thought about it, the more that I kind of realized that part of the reason that I like writing books and script writing is I think that there are tangible ways that you can change public perception and change the world in your own way through that writing. And I think in the same way, you can do that exact same thing as a teacher. So I think for me, after that conversation, I kind of always known what I wanted to do with my degree. I think I've always known that I was going into English to teach and it's kind of like maybe I write a book and I get famous and then I don't have to do that. But I think even if that were to happen, I would still want to teach. 

I think that there's, especially in the world that we live in right now and the way that COVID has impacted us as people, I think that there is tangible use for teaching people and teaching them to be literate. I think there's a huge literary crisis in America and that is worrisome because the way that we were impacted by the news and current events and things like that is very heavily dependent on whether you can read something and interpret it genuinely. And I think that's, I think a lot of people can read. I don't think a lot of people can comprehend what they're reading. And I think that's part of the problem. So for me, I think I've always known that once I wanted to go to college, it was always going to be for English. And then a little bit after that, I think I always knew that it was going to be teaching that I go into. 

Cadie: Yeah, absolutely. With teaching specifically, what is the age range? What's the class that you want to teach? 

Elias: I think I'm definitely leaning towards seniors in high school. So AP Lit, AP Lang, creative writing in that sense. I think that at that age, I mean, first of all, my big worry has always been I'm going to cuss in front of these kids and I'd rather cuss in front of a 17 or 18 year old than like a nine year old. But I also think that 16, 17, 18 is a really pivotal time where you fully start to kind of comprehend the world around you and what you're reading and the, the impacts that it has on your communities and the people around you. So I've always kind of known that I wanted to teach an older age group because I think that that's where you can really start having in depth conversations about what it is you're reading, how to interpret the things that you're reading and stuff like that. 

So I think I've always also, as soon as I knew I wanted to teach, I knew in instinctively that it was going to be probably an older age range, like seniors or juniors in high school. So that's kind of always where I've been heading. Now I might become a professor if that's something that I decide to do later on. But I think right now, I think teaching younger people is one of the most important things that we can do right now as a society. 
Cadie: Yeah, I agree. You have talked a lot about the different projects you've done here. I'm really curious to know if you had to choose one, what is your favorite that you've done? 

Elias: Definitely. I would say it is. Oh, I actually can't even say definitely. That's hard because I think it's definitely between the two that I did for digital creative writing. So the Space one, the ARG and the RPG. I also think my novel, the Western is up there. I think if I had to pick one of them, I think I would pick the Western just because I think that it really did kind of revitalize my love for writing prose and books. Because I think the thing that I always preface with is because I'm a script or playwright is my dialogue is always really great. 
 
Everything between that, I really can't say nothing about that. But I think being able to practice that with this and getting such a positive reaction from people has really motivated me to keep doing it. So I definitely say that the Western is my favorite because I think it's just it's a breath of fresh air from what I'm used to. And I think the other projects are fun kind of in their contained-ness, but I don't think that I ever would have done that without the class. I think that I would have always have done the Western. I think that this is just kind of really made me realize that this is what I want to do. So I would say the Western for sure. 
 
Cadie: Yeah. What are some common misconceptions about English and how can we debunk those misconceptions? 
Elias: I think a lot of people think that it's easy. I think this goes for all of the humanities. I think a lot of people think that it's easy.  

Cadie: I've definitely heard that for Comm. I've said it. 

Elias: Well, yes. And I think that it's easy in the sense that if it's, I think it's a lot easier to be devoted to what you write, for example, because there's such a heavy attachment to it. Then for example, like a science. A science is very methodical and you can love doing science, but there's always that's kind of set process that you have to do it in. I think English can be perceived as being easier because there is a bigger level of emotional investment that comes with that, I think. But again, I think that the English department is very wide and expansive. And I think that there's a lot of things in it that normal, quote unquote, people don't think about on a day-to-day basis like writing APA citations when for like a writing intensive class, right? That is difficult for people who do not do that. And if you like doing that, it may not be difficult. But I think that there is a big misconception that English is like an easy major to have. 

And I think it's easy in the sense that a lot of the people that are here are doing it because they like to do it. They're not doing it because they're they want a job that's going to pay them well, right. And I think that that I'm not saying that English is easier than the sciences. I don't think that's true inherently. And I think that part of why the sciences are harder is there can't there is often that lack of real investment in it because most people are doing it so that they can get a high paying job. I think with English, a lot of the people that do it are there for love of the game, for lack of better wording. But I think that it is hard to, for all of the arts railing communications and things like that. I think all of it is difficult in its own way. I just think that the difficulties between it are different. 
 
You're not going to have the same problems that you have as an English major, the as you would if you were a CS major, for example. So I think that that's my big one. I think the other one that I hear often is that English majors are, are like weird. They're not wrong. They're not wrong, but I would say that again, in the same way, I think, I think as an English major that CS majors or political science majors are weird, right? So it really is that conversation of what is weird to you, right? Like I would never, this is no hate to y'all. I don't think I'd ever hang out with like a poli sci major if I didn't know them, right? If you led with that, that wouldn't really pique my interest. And I think it's the same thing for science majors of if you were to tell them like do you want to go hang out with this random English major? They're probably going to tell you no because you there's not much in common there. 
So I think there's, there's a lot more in common between this the humanities and the sciences than a lot of people realize. Voice crack of doom, golly. But I think, I think, I think that there's a lot of similarities between the two. So those are the two misconceptions that I hear the most often. There's probably more, but I hear those a lot, especially working at the Comm center. 

Cadie: Yeah. Well, to me, it's, it's interesting as somebody who, you know, all throughout early high school, middle school, really, I was a STEM girlie. I was like, that was my thing. I skipped.. I took math like I was in math two years ahead of where my like grade level was. And so and like I wanted to go into astrophysics and I wanted to do all this stuff not work out. 

I so, but I have like a massive amount of respect for STEM people and I've talked about it a lot on this podcast, even though this is more humanities and social sciences, like there's a lot more intersection than I think people realize. Because even in my friend group, we have me who's a comms major of my friend who is a global affairs major, a friend of ours is a forensic science major, and then the last is a cybersecurity major. And then I have another friend also part of my group who's another comms major. And so because of that, there's like so much overlap here at Mason. And I think that's really, really neat that we get to have so many diverse perspectives, not only through, you know, demographics, but also just through the amount of programs that we have here. I mean, this is just a podcast looking at one sliver of one college and we still have heard so many different different perspectives, views, experiences at Mason.  
 
Next question for you, how have you been able to find and create a community within the English program? 
 
Elias: I think for me it's a lot harder because I am a commuter, so I'm never on campus for a lot of the CHSS events that we have. 
Cadie: Yes, thank you for driving here, by the way. Thank you for coming on this podcast. 

Elias: I think for me, where a lot of my community comes from, because I'd say some of my best friends that I've made in college are other English majors, I think a lot of that comes with supporting each other. I think a lot of the friends that I've made, I've made them because I've given them praise on the work that they've done. So I think with English, again, there's a lot of them, there's a lot more emotional investment in the work itself. And I think that that can make people cagey about their work. So I think what's really important English wise for building a community too, is finding people that like what you write and that you like what they write and stay in contact. I think that that is a really great way to build community and just to have people in your corner that you can kind of bounce your ideas off of and not have to worry about whether they're even interested in that. 

So for me, I think definitely a really important part for community building is being there for each other, both as friends kind of emotionally, but also on kind of like a work level is what I would say. 
Cadie: Yeah. Does GMU have like a creative writing club or something like that? Do you know? 

Elias: If there is one, I'm not aware of it, not that I know of, but I know that individual students often build writing groups within those fiction workshops. I am a part of one. So I think that again, a reason why I always suggest take a writing group, if you take a writing workshop if you can, is you'll meet a lot of like minded people who like the things that you're writing. And I think that's a really great way to have someone in your corner to bounce ideas off of, because that's the only way I think that you can really be held accountable for what you're writing. 

Cadie: Yeah. What has been your most fruitful experience within the program? 
Elias: It always goes back to that fiction workshop, I feel like I think it's always going to be either that or digital creative writing. And I think for both of those it's the same in the sense that they kind of pushed me out of my comfort zone, but showed me that I am good at the things that I do. And I think they've reaffirmed for me that I am in the right major. But both of those classes. So as much as I've already gassed up both of those classes, I think it's always going to be those two because I think they've really just shown me what I can do when I apply myself to doing it. 

Cadie: Yeah. Well, and the other thing too, it's interesting to me because you have repeatedly said like those were the topics that were unfamiliar to me, but they're also the projects that you're the proudest of. And I think that really speaks to the value of stepping outside your comfort zone. And it's interesting because you know you're talking I'm you're more unsure with pros, but you're better with dialogue. I'm kind of the exact opposite. So as I move more into script writing, it's been interesting to really focus more on dialogue and less on figurative language. But I'm hopeful that I will have a similar experience to you. 

Elias: Yeah. I think it's never too late for that to happen either, as I think something important to know, yeah. 

Cadie: And just the importance of taking risks because you never know what's going to happen. And then if the writing project is bad, then you just don't return to it. Or maybe you do down the line and create a second, third, fourth, fifth draft. 

Elias: Right. And I think a bad piece of writing is better than no piece of writing because you can always take what was wrong with the bad piece of writing and make and use that as a way to make sure that you're not repeating that in pieces of writing moving forward. So I don't think.. I think that there is bad writing objectively, but I think that all writing serves a purpose in progressing an author as an author. 

Cadie: Right, so I want to do a little bit of looking ahead to post grad life. Now you got another year here at Mason. So it's a little bit farther away, but you know, I'm sure it's still in the back of your mind like I think it is for all college students. How has your time here at Mason set you up for success? 

Elias: I think that it's shown me that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could. I'm a theater minor, as I've said. So there's been a lot of times where like I'm taking up my writing intensive and I'm in a musical and I'm in a play at the same time. And kind of like I said, when I took my writing intensive, I was in the middle of a really dialogue heavy play for me, for my character and being able to both memorize the show and get a 109 in that writing intensive. I think for me, it really proved that I know what I'm doing and I'm competent enough to do that.  

And I know that when I graduate, I'm coming straight back to Mason for grad school, that I think that doing all of the English stuff that I do and all of the work that I've had and never letting it get the best of me. Not that there's anything wrong if it does, because that happens to everyone, But knowing that I now know the threshold of what I can handle. I think it's really set me up well for grad school when I do it. And also being a teacher and everything that comes with that. I think that all of the writing that I've had to do and all of the miscellaneous assignments that I had to do on top of the writing. And then the extracurriculars that I've done on top of the miscellaneous that I've done on top of the writing. I think they've really proved that I'm competent at what I do and that I can handle a lot more than I thought initially possible. So I think that's where I am with that and I think that it's very much setting me up to be successful in the future. 

Cadie: For students who are interested in the English program, what do you recommend they do? 
Elias: Take a class. I think it's the easiest thing. Even if you're not fully set on joining the major or even the minor for it, I think taking a class that you're interested in is a really great way to start getting involved with that and figuring out what it is that you want to do. And that could be if you're interested in Greek mythology, there's folklore classes you can take if you just want to write and have people give you feedback on your writing, there's the, the writing workshops that you can take. There's poetry classes and Shakespeare classes and Chaucer and Milton and specific authors. There's just, there's so much that you can do within the English major that I always recommended if you aren't sure what to do, because there's a lot that you can do with the major itself and the degree. I mean, a lot of people go into teaching with it, but there's things like journalism and social media marketing. There's a lot that you can do with an English degree. So I would say if it's something that's interesting to you, at the very minimum, take a class or two in a specific topic that you're interested in. For sure. 

Cadie: Yeah. Well, Elias, this has been such a wonderful interview to get to sit down and talk to you about all sorts of things. Here at CHSS Connection, we like to finish out all of our interviews with the same final question. And that is, what advice would you give to our listeners? 

Elias: I would say that the only risk not worth taking is none. I think you should take. That doesn't make any sense at all. Hey, I think that every risk is worth taking and I think that every risk that you take will always progress you in some way, shape or form. I think especially with.. if you're a writer, if you want to be a writer, if you've even thought about being a writer, even outside of that, if you want to be an actor or a singer or anything like that. The best thing I think that you can do for yourself is put yourself in spaces and in positions to do that thing. Because I think that you'll always find out that there is more that you are capable of then you may think. And if that is what's holding you back, kind of that thought that you may not be good at what you're doing, I think that the English department here in general, but also writing journals and open calls and things like that are really good.  

And something that my professor for my folklore fantasy class, Deborah Schudica, hey, something that she's always said is that every, it takes a hundred rejections to get one acceptance. And I think that that's really important to know that a rejection doesn't necessarily mean that you're bad. It just often means that they're not, you're not what they're looking for, right? So you can only really get accepted into things with that risk of rejection. So I think it's really, it is very, I think important to always be willing to put yourself out there, as scary as they that may be, you can't do anything if you're not risking putting yourself out there and you're never going to get anything done if you're not trying to. So I think my to sum that up, basically because I'm needlessly verbose I suppose. I think the best way that I can sum that up is that it is never bad to take the risk that you're thinking about taking. 

Cadie: Yeah. Well, thank you again just so much. 

Elias: Thank you for having me. 
Cadie: Do you have anything or anyone you would like to shout out or promote? Where can listeners find you on social media or within CHSS? 

Elias: I'm on Instagram @starrycatenjoyer. You can always reach out to me there if you have questions. I want to shout out professors that I enjoy. I've never taken Art Taylor. I've only heard great things about Art Taylor. Doctor Laura Scott, if you can take her. Deborah Shudica if you can take her. Suzanne Rigdon if you can take her. Those are kind of my big ones that I would always recommend. They're all super passionate about the work that they do and really kind as well. So if you can take them, I absolutely would recommend it. And then shout out to some of the English people that I've become friends with overtime. Shout out Danielle and Xander and all those wonderful people that I've met through the writing program. But yeah, thank you for having me so much. Shout out you, I guess. Thank you for having me. I've loved being here and talking, and I hope that the people listening can find some use in the things that I've been running my mouth about. 

Cadie: Absolutely. Well, thank you once again, Elias, for being here and being our premiere episode guest. And listeners, thank you so much for listening to this episode of CHSS Connection. 

Sonal: And that brings us to the end of episode one and I've noticed you've been real quiet. But don't forget the mic works both ways. We'd love to hear any thoughts or questions that you might have for future guests or episodes. Send us your ideas or even request to be in an episode by emailing us at chsspod@gmu.edu.  
 
Zoe: If you enjoyed the show and would like to express your support, there are a few things you can do. You can leave a review wherever you are listening to this podcast. You can help by word of mouth, either by telling someone directly who might be interested or posting about it on social media tagging at @CHSSPod. All these things help support the show and we appreciate anyone who has done so or will do so in the future. 
 
Thank you for listening to this episode of Chess Connection. This podcast is hosted written by Sonal Prakash and Zoe Nix. Our audio engineer is Danis Gabitov. Our supervisor is Eleana Velasco. This podcast is produced by George Mason University's College of Humanities and Social Sciences undergraduate academic affairs. Special thanks to the Mason Innovation Exchange for access to their recording studio. The podcast could not happen without them. 
Sonal: This project was developed in collaboration with Career Services and the On Campus Internship program. If you love the show and want to interact with more of our content, follow us on Instagram at @CHSSPod or check out the CHSS website where there’s an ongoing library of our episodes. 

Zoe: Once again, thanks for tuning in and we hope you'll join us next time.