{"id":3304,"date":"2021-03-03T22:26:05","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T22:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=3304"},"modified":"2024-07-30T17:29:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T17:29:34","slug":"rambles-about-the-ramblings","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/the-words-march-2021\/rambles-about-the-ramblings\/","title":{"rendered":"Rambles About the Ramblings"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Kira Schukar ’22<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 10, 2021\u2014At five minutes to five o\u2019clock, English Department student workers gathered in the virtual lounge, waiting for Coffee House to begin. Since going virtual, Coffee House has transformed from a weekly snack break into a number of student celebrations. Last semester, students had the chance to meet Professor Rachel Gold before her latest book launch. In early February, members of Mac Slams performed poetry for the English community.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 10th was no different. Just before five o\u2019clock, the faces of Eric Fong \u201921 and Amy Vandervelde \u201921 appeared on everyone\u2019s screens. They would be the VIPs for the next half hour, as students and staff celebrated the launch of the department\u2019s new podcast, <\/span>The Ramblings<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Joined by host Teddy Holt \u201922, Amy and Eric star in the premier episode, <\/span>\u201cThe Matt Burgess Fan Club.\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The podcast\u2019s producers, Anna Chu \u201922 and Hilary Kaufman \u201923, hosted the event. As Anna explained the inspiration for the podcast, she emphasized the loss of community that students\u2014especially seniors\u2014have faced since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cWe wanted to give [the seniors] a platform to reflect on their achievements from the last four years,\u201d Anna told the group. The podcast also gives the seniors a virtual space to share their experiences with younger students.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Jan Beebe, the Department Coordinator, listening to the podcast reminded her of \u201chaving English majors in the department and hearing their random conversations\u201d\u2014the types of conversations that she normally hears in the lounge or during an in-person coffee-house.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Matt Burgess Fan Club\u201d is certainly random. With Teddy hosting, the conversation quickly moved from Eric\u2019s early writing about his body hair (found in the <\/span>spring 2019 issue of <\/span>Chanter<\/span><\/i><\/a>), to fan fiction, to Amy\u2019s attachment to her characters. Of course, Matt Burgess also comes up a lot in their ramblings.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After playing a segment of the episode, Anna and Hillary opened the floor to Amy and Eric, who thanked the podcast editors and producers. \u201cIt was a lot of fun because it was really just a conversation between Teddy, Eric, and I,\u201d said Amy.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coffee House conversation continued into the Q&A segment of the night. \u201cAmy,\u201d Eric said, \u201cdo you like the sound of your own voice over the podcast?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShort answer,\u201d she laughed. \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event ended as Amy and Eric commented on fanfiction in the department community. \u201cI think it\u2019s something all English majors read in our preteens,\u201d said Amy. For Eric, reading fanfiction isn\u2019t a phase. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of fun. It\u2019s a great place to find writing that\u2019s earnest,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s also great for exposing yourself to more writing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for books, Amy recommends you read <\/span>An Ember in the Ashes<\/span><\/i> by Sabaa Tahir, the <\/span>Truly Devious <\/span><\/i>series by Maureen Johnson, and <\/span>The Witcher<\/span><\/i> books by Andrzej Sapkowski. Eric has just one book that he wants everyone to read: <\/span>This is How You Lose the Time War<\/span><\/i> by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Episode Two of <\/span>The Ramblings<\/span><\/i>, \u201cChanter\u2019s Probably not a Cult, but the Mac Weekly Might Be\u201d is <\/span>out on Spotify<\/span><\/a> as of February 24th. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Once a month, the English Department will host a Coffee House dedicated to the seniors who appear on <\/span><\/i>The Ramblings<\/span>. The next release party is March 10, when the department will celebrate episodes two and three. Be on the lookout for this and other upcoming events in department emails!<\/span><\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kira Schukar ’22 February 10, 2021\u2014At five minutes to five o\u2019clock, English Department student workers gathered in the virtual lounge, waiting for Coffee House to begin. Since going virtual, Coffee House has transformed from a weekly snack break into a number of student celebrations. Last semester, students had the chance to meet Professor Rachel […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":3301,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3304","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3304"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7105,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3304\/revisions\/7105"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}