MFA candidates share creative works
Nonfiction writing presented April 8 by Melanie Cashin and Lauren Moore
On Friday, April 8, Minnesota State University, Mankato’s English department held a reading of two MFA candidates in the creative writing department. The students were Melanie Cashin and Lauren Moore. They each presented two creative non-fiction essays apiece. Both students sat down and answered a couple of questions about their future, and why they wrote what they wrote.
Q: Why did you write your particular essays?
Melanie Cashin: “So the first essay I wrote, I was literally sitting on a beach in Greece looking at myself, thinking. There are some downsides to being a mom, and I write a lot about, like motherhood, body issues, those sorts of things. So it just naturally came out of that scenario. The other one, I had written more of a research-type essay about rowing and everyone said ‘That’s kind of boring for non-rowers.’ So I thought, ‘What can I do to make this more entertaining?’ ‘I’ll focus on the inappropriate angle about rowing.’ So that’s what came out.”
Lauren Moore: “I guess I don’t know those specifically but I guess usually when I’m trying to write, either there’s a memory that has sort of resurfaced for me and that I’m thinking about. So, with that one about the Rapture I was sort of thinking about that moment in the church and I hadn’t thought about it for a long time. Then also, the idea of trying to answer a question. So, with that one about ‘Where the Wild Things Are,’ it’s a little weird to be scared of that movie because it’s a children’s movie. So, in that one I was just thinking to myself ‘Why am I so frightened by this?’ and try to answer that question. That’s usually how that gets started.”
Q: What are your plans for the future?
Cashin: “Right, so I currently work as an assistant director of Trio over at Carlton College and I just plan to continue doing that.”
Moore: “Well, I’ll graduate at the end of this spring. So, I’m hoping to become a professor at some point. Probably an adjunct at first, but that’s what I’m hoping to do. I’m teaching creative writing now, here, and it’s just really fun to see sort of what young writers are doing even though I guess I’m a young writer myself. But it’s fun to work with them, to see what they’re doing.”
To find out more information about the English department go to mnsu.edu, keyword English Department.
