{"id":6077,"date":"2023-12-07T00:43:07","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=6077"},"modified":"2024-08-19T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T15:55:40","slug":"fall-capstone-presentations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-december-2023\/fall-capstone-presentations\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Capstone Presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Birdie Keller ’25<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the end of the semester approaching comes a flurry of homework and final deadlines. Amidst chaos and stress is (what I consider) the best night of these final few weeks\u2014capstone presentations! It is always so inspiring to see what these amazing senior English majors have been working on all semester. Majors on the Literature track present on a literary project they\u2019ve dedicated their semester to, and Creative Writing majors present on a large piece of creative work, be it poetry, screenplays, essays, novels, or more. On December 5th and 6th, capstone students presented their work publicly for the first time! Beforehand, I got a chance to speak with Professors Amy Elkins and Peter Bognanni, who taught the literature and creative writing capstones respectively this semester.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Literature capstone class focused on three objectives: reading deeply into texts that combine literature and photography, strengthening critical analysis and academic writing skills, and experimenting with photographs and the creation of a visual essay as a form of \u201cresearch-creation.\u201d Students developed topics unique to them alongside one another and with guidance from Professor Elkins. According to Professor Elkins, \u201cA highlight of the semester was being able to do research as a class in the photography archives of the Minneapolis Institute of Art and a curator-led tour of \u2018Another Look\u2019[…] Students have been working on photo-essays alongside long academic essays that use a comparative lens to study literature and photography.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Night
Night 1 of capstone presentations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Below are the four literature capstone students and the names of their pieces:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Bintz: <\/span>Being Seen in London: Black Britishness, Art, and Intertextuality in Caleb Azumah Nelson’s <\/span>Open Water<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charley Eatchel: <\/span>Inked: Photopoetic Inscription in Julia Margaret Cameron, Man Ray, and Shirin Neshat<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paige Schuller: <\/span>“The clothes that wear us”: Queer Embodiment and Camp as Resistance in Virginia Woolf and Alice Austen<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace LeCrone: <\/span>“Why Have there Been No Great Women Artists?”: The Politics of Recognition in Siri Hustvedt, Shola Von Reinhold, and Francesca Woodman <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Night
Night 2 of capstone presentations<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The creative writing capstone class features a broad variety of different creative projects\u2014they even workshopped a Choose Your Own Adventure story! Professor Bognanni has incorporated \u201cAccountability Crews,\u201d something he\u2019s never done before. Students meet up in little groups with only one task\u2014 to write! Speaking about the Accountability Crews, Professor Bognanni said, \u201cThe obstacle to finishing a capstone is not often talent; it’s more about maintaining confidence and endurance. So, any way we can bolster community is a good thing. My feeling after a great capstone is that I wish we could just keep going for another semester. I definitely have the feeling this fall, and I hope the Accountability Crews keep meeting even after the class is over.\u201d It sounds like the creative writing capstone has been a blast!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are the creative writing capstone students and their projects.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Jessop: Drifting City<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jamie Lansky: Empress<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abigail Stupar: Roadkill<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cat Terres: Cycle<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Tandy: Around the <\/em>Lagerfeuer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler Sanchez: Pauly’s <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asa Benjamin: Fledglings<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriel Preciado: So The Soul Sinks<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Izzie Behl: Echoes of Distress<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac Mullen: On Tilt<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver Mackenzie: The Story of Awesome John Doe<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miriam Ruiz: At the Edge of Magnolia Grove<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capstone presentations are truly one of my favorite events of the semester; seeing the passion that my peers hold for their projects and how hard they\u2019ve worked to create a finished work is inspirational. Great job everyone, and thank you Professors Bognanni and Elkins for your comments!<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Birdie Keller ’25 With the end of the semester approaching comes a flurry of homework and final deadlines. Amidst chaos and stress is (what I consider) the best night of these final few weeks\u2014capstone presentations! It is always so inspiring to see what these amazing senior English majors have been working on all semester. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":6037,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6077","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6077","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=6077"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8537,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6077\/revisions\/8537"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}