New Issue of Undercurrents Puts Spotlight on First-Year Writers
The new issue of the English Department鈥檚 publication, Undercurrents: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Composition, has been released. New issues can be found on the journal鈥檚 website.
鈥� Their topics are heartfelt, passionate, and reflect some of the ideas that students today are grappling with. 鈥�
Established by the English Department鈥檚 Composition Program in 2018, Undercurrents publishes outstanding writing produced by undergraduate students enrolled in first-year composition courses at UMass Boston. The Undercurrents editorial board selects these showcase essays from nominations provided by students鈥� writing instructors. The journal鈥檚 yearly issue is presented online by Digital Editor Dan Messier.
Like the courses in the English Department鈥檚 Composition Program, the texts cover a range of topics and disciplinary perspectives. This year鈥檚 issue highlights essays on race and rhetoric, the morality of incarceration and capital punishment, breaking free of gender norms, the consequences of digital technologies for language, learning, and intellectual development, a range of theory-based strategies for overcoming writer鈥檚 block, and a rationale for why, perhaps, 鈥渂ullshit鈥� may be more strategy than scourge.
鈥淲hat stands out to me the most is that students wrote essays, and chose topics, that mattered greatly to their own lives and those around them,鈥� said Editorial Director Brittanie Weatherbie-Greco. 鈥淭heir topics are heartfelt, passionate, and reflect some of the ideas that students today are grappling with. These students were not simply writing about an assigned prompt but developing inquiries that were meaningful 鈥� and writing in a way that shared their beliefs and opinions.鈥�
The journal is intended not only to celebrate the most accomplished written works produced by students in these 铿乺st-year classes, which include ESL and Honors sections, but also to inspire and serve as a resource for students writing in these same classes now or in the future.
Quinn Gabrielle Cantor, a mathematics major born in the Philippines, wrote about Linda Villarosa's essay from the 1619 Project in the New York Times in her essay, 鈥淩ace and Rhetoric: Examining How the Audience鈥檚 Race Creates Rhetorical Constraints and Influences Rhetoric.鈥�
鈥淗aving my essay chosen to be published in the Undercurrents journal makes me feel elated and proud. It wasn't something I expected to happen, as I've never felt that confident about my writing skills,鈥� Cantor said. 鈥淗owever, after having my essay published, it not only gave me a newfound sense of confidence in my writing abilities, but it also made me appreciate how much I've grown as a writer, especially with the help of Prof. [Susan] Field and Prof. [Natalia] Scarpetti.鈥�
Associate Professor of English Lauren M. Bowen, director of the Composition Program and editor-in-chief of Undercurrents, said the nine works in this year鈥檚 publication 鈥渞epresent the range of interests, voices, and talents that UMass Boston students share with us each year.鈥�
The nine student honorees and their essays are:
- Quinn Gabrielle Cantor (Mathematics):
- Alex Der-Kazaryan (Management):
- Emma Kennedy (Latin American and Iberian Studies):
- Anna Krasnoslobodtseva (Biochemistry):
- Kylie Medeiros (Biology):
- Vance Naftal (International Relations):
- Karina Silva (Psychology):
- Jillian Steeves (History):
- Ina Tolentino (Nursing/Psychology):
鈥淚t is important to our Composition Program to publish the voices of our students because we desire to embrace the power that writing affords. Students from all majors take Composition courses so we have a wide range of interests and passions in each classroom,鈥� Weatherbie-Greco said. 鈥淲e know that when students are empowered to write, with authority and authenticity, that they come to see themselves as members of the academic community and feel a desire to contribute to the ongoing issues that matter to them. We want them to know that their voice matters and that it is vital they speak up and help shape not just academia but the world beyond.鈥�