The Offense

Deanna Mujaj, Verrazzano Class of 2026, completed major in English Writing and minor in Philosophy

Studying English with a concentration on writing, I naturally decided to write a short story for my capstone. The hard part of beginning any creative task is finding the right inspiration. My parents are from Dnipro, Ukraine, and immigrated to the U.S. just a few years before I was born. With most of my extended family still living in Ukraine, the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has been a constant topic of discussion (and sorrow) among my family. It is difficult to imagine that had my parents not decided to come to America, I would be living in Ukraine during this horrible time. This topic was the inspiration for my short story, which follows a young man and his family in Ukraine at the start of the war, their fear, their reactions to the threat of death, and the sense of duty which compels every citizen who loves their country.

I expected the capstone to be a challenge; I had never written anything so long before. I anticipated the final work to be about 18 pages, but it ended up being 22 (and could have easily been much longer if the semester was not so short!). Once the topic had been established, the writing process was quite easy, and ideas flowed freely onto the page. My mentor, Simon Reader, was a tremendous help with the brainstorming of the plot, the character arcs, and making sure the story was compelling. We held regular meetings in which he provided notes for my writing, acting as both an editor and a guide. Looking back, the work was much easier and much more fulfilling than I anticipated. Writing about a topic that interests me, and taking inspiration from my own family truly helped me express the emotions that had been building up within me.

Part of my research was reading short stories and books that revolve around the war in Ukraine, including You Don't Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl from Ukraine by Yeva Skalietska, and Jonathon Safran Foer's comedic, but heartbreaking novel, Everything is Illuminated. As further research, I try to keep up with the news concerning the war, and I occasionally read short stories and flash non-fiction concerning the topic. Overall, this experience has inspired me to write more and not shy away from taking inspiration from my family and my day-to-day life. 

Have You Ever Thought About the Second Person?

Gianna Liantonio, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in English Writing and minors in ASL and Italian

I wrote a critical analysis on the creative nonfiction essay, "You Are the Second Person" by Kiese Laymon, with Professor Cate Marvin as my mentor. We explored the different themes of the essay such as racism, prejudice, family, health and revelation.

Kiese Laymon wrote about his experience working under a toxic editor for five years to gain his approval, but realized in the end he was not going to get his book published. He decided to put himself first and write what he wanted to write, publishing many books and essays.

He is a strong advocate for Black writers and is authentic in his work, never filtering what he knows is important to be said. He writes from the heart and if it’s not real, it has no business getting published. He wants to be able to stand by his work years later, but said there is no shame in revising over and over. He has revised works that seemed perfect at the time, but wanted to make them even better. He is a hard-working writer who, from this experience, learned the types of books he wants to write and would not let anyone dictate the topics he includes.

I read the essay in Professor Marvin’s creative writing class, and appreciated Laymon’s realistic view of the publishing world that you normally would not hear about. I enjoyed reading and learning about Laymon and his experience and identified with this piece because I hope to one day work in publishing and editing.

I knew I wanted to do a creative writing project of some kind for my capstone and felt Professor Marvin would be the perfect mentor. I enjoyed her class immensely and learned a lot to help me become a better writer.

The capstone was a summary of the essay and delved into different themes we discovered as I was writing. I realized I had more I could write about than I initially thought, gaining new insights each time I read the essay.

The biggest challenge was the page count and being able to write new ideas without repeating myself, and I was surprised with how many pages I ended up with at the end. I did enjoy writing this paper as it helped me interpret the essay in different ways and discover more themes than I initially saw. The easy part was that I enjoyed reading the essay over and over, analyzing different parts, and seeing details I may have missed the first time.

Once I had a steady outline I was able to write a lot, with new ideas blossoming every second. When I did get stuck, Professor Marvin helped me find more aspects of the essay to write about, and that helped me finish it.

Even though Laymon's essay had the same amount of words each time I read it, I gained a new perspective each time. For example, he wrote about a man he observed outside his window. Each time I read it, I thought of different reasons why he included that in this piece.

I could expand this piece with in-depth writing on his other essays and novels, or how there are two sides to the publishing world, one of which is rarely heard about.

What I take away from this research experience is that I feel like I know Kiese Laymon by reading through his words and eyes. The essay was in second person, which had us walk in his shoes during his experience and helped the reader to empathize and understand his situation.

I enjoy analyzing works of literature and finding the deeper meanings behind a line or paragraph. I enjoyed writing this paper and even though it was challenging at times, I had fun delving into different themes and aspects. I want to read more of Laymon’s works and see similarities and differences in his writing. He is a talented writer who writes what he believes no matter what anyone says. 

 

Writing Skills in Motion in the Classroom

Kai White, Verrazzano Class of 2024, completed major in English Writing and minor in Studio Art

It is the dream of every author to write a book they can proudly stand behind. I got to engage with the writing of unfamiliar authors and my talented peers and was inspired by the craft and creativity of both.

This project covered styles of writing, tones, and perspectives that were completely out of my comfort zone. While writing this story and going to school, I was constantly gaining new ideas and my own writing style kept shifting with every new literary influence.

There were many times, even towards the end of the project, where the stories became creatures I didn’t know how to interact with anymore. I’d become a different writer, and what I’d written only months before became wholly unrecognizable, the work of a stranger. This was especially the case with “The Lockbox,” being the bigger monster of the two pieces. From its inception, “The Lockbox” was already unlike anything I’d ever written before. In the class where the idea sprung, we were reading authors that I was exploring for the first time.

There was this constant fear that I was too inexperienced as a writer, with too limited a world view, to be attempting to tackle the serious themes I was handling. But throughout my final semester, I got to listen to lectures from professional writers, and their words greatly encouraged me. One writer in particular, Robert Jones Jr., mentioned that part of being a writer is accepting that you’re a better writer today than you were yesterday, and you’ll be an even better writer tomorrow than you are today.

Suffice it to say, I’m a completely different writer now than I was when I wrote these stories a year ago. So long as I’m alive, learning and writing, the stories I create will never truly end within the pages they’re contained. But that collection of pages represents the place I was in at that time, the concepts I wanted to explore, and how I may have interpreted and challenged various facets of the world around me.