The insidious question resurfaces again and again: what are you going to do with that degree?  The difficulty of obtaining a secure teaching job coupled with the recent cutbacks to community colleges may have caused some newly minted MAs in English to become discouraged, to say the least.   Student loan payments may also be an albatross around the necks of overworked, underpaid English graduates. Despite many horror stories about the dearth of teaching jobs, Rick Taylor assures graduates that pursuing an academic career is well worth the many sacrifices if one has a passion for the discipline.

Many ECU graduates have done fairly well in terms of obtaining teaching jobs and receiving competitive assistantships and grants.  Corinee Guy, who is undoubtedly dedicated to teaching and scholarship, knows exactly what she wants to do. Corinee  recently received a teaching assistantship to attend University of Kansas at Lawrenceville, Kansas. Corrinee will continue to study Renaissance writers and engage in her unique penchant for dwarf scholarship.   Amy Macadam also enjoys teaching and academic pursuits.  Amy hopes to obtain a job wherever her gypsy spirit will lead her and plans on applying to a PhD program in literature next year.  Congratulations to students who have been accepted into any terminal degree program.

Creative writing students such as Jeff Stewart and Jeff Nasse will most likely continue to hone their creative writing talents.  Jeff Stewart plans to work and write fiction and poetry in Maine.  Poet and fiction writer Mike McLanahan plans on completing his MA this summer.  Mike is also determined to make writing a lifelong commitment.  We will most likely be seeing their work in print soon.

While many MA graduates pursue terminal degrees and academic careers, not all graduates will pursue teaching jobs. Patrick Newton, the assistant director of career services, advises students about tapping into a hidden job market. Some MA students may find themselves pursuing non-academic careers in communications and public relations. Melissa Edmondson, who currently works with North Carolina Literary Review, is planning to pursue a career in publications. David Flatly is eager to make enough money to pay all his bills. Flatly is looking at doing some contracting and is optimistic about his prospects. I am also very happy to report that recent graduate Steve Losey, who graduated with distinction, has recently been hired by The Federal Times in Springfield, VA.  His job duties include copy editing and writing. Way to go Steve!!! The paper is a Gannett newspaper that covers government issues.

Personally, I plan to travel to Spain and France this summer and will work wherever I can to find monetary sustenance, learn Tai Chi, and indulge in hedonistic, lowbrow pursuits. When flipping through a poetry book, I discovered a poem called ìFamousî by Naomi Shiab Nye and find consolation in her words:

I want to be famous 
in the way a pulley is 
famous, or a buttonhole, 
not because it did 
anything spectacular, 
but because it never forgot 
what it could do.