by Teddy Holt ’22
Welcome back to the English Department this fall, and welcome back to The Words! It’s a crazy time to exist in the world, so readers are (unfortunately) less likely to find Words editors sipping tea and eating bagels in the comfort of the English lounge, and even the office assistants will be fewer and farther between in physical office space. As such, we thought we’d introduce everyone on staff in the English Department this semester—we would hate for you to miss out on any of our beautiful faces.
Malcolm Cooke ‘21 has moved up in the ranks and joins us this semester as the Senior Newsletter Editor. Dalton Greene ‘22 is coming to us again as a Newsletter Editor and is joined by new Words staff Alice Asch ‘22, Teddy Holt ‘22, and Kira Schukar ‘22. In the office, we have our ever-talented and hard-working Kelsey Stender ‘21 as the Office Manager, joined by Anna Chu ‘22, Hilary Kaufman ‘23, and Chloe Moore ‘24 as Office Assistants.
New Student Workers
Alice Asch ’22 is a junior English Lit major from Chicago, and she can’t wait to be a Newsletter Editor this semester. Over the summer, she read We the Animals by Justin Torres, which she will gladly talk about for too long with anybody who will listen. Some of her favorite things include eating pineapple-flavored gummy bears and playing with her dog, who is a very opinionated goldendoodle named Blue.
Anna Chu ’22 is a junior English Major on the Literature track and a Math minor. She is from Woodbury, MN, and works in the English Department as an Office Assistant. She loves romance novels because they’re little drops of happiness in this world. She read Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins this summer, and loved every second of it. She enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and vibing and dancing to music.
Teddy Holt ‘22 is a junior English major on the Creative Writing track. He is from Norman, OK and will be a Newsletter Editor this semester. One good book they read over the summer was Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, a loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin that features not one, but two(!), enemies-to-lovers romances. He does too many things on campus, including Chanter, Concert Choir, and co-facilitating the Trans Identity Collective. Their passions include transformative justice, home design, and bartending poorly.
Hilary Kaufman ‘23 is a sophomore Spanish and Media & Cultural Studies double major. She is from Brooklyn, NY (Crown Heights!), and is new to the English Department, working as an Office Assistant this semester. Over the summer, one great book she read was Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. In general, she likes drinking breakfast tea at all hours of the day and highly recommends the TV show “Tiny House Nation” for a fun time.
Chloe Moore ‘23 is a first year with an intended English/History double major and a Human Rights and Humanitarianism concentration (although that’s subject to change—thanks liberal arts!) She’s from Ithaca, NY (think Cornell University and bad pizza), but grew up in North Carolina (think decent pizza and bad politics). She’s an Office Assistant this semester. The best book she read over the summer was Marlon James’ recommendation for all Mac students: The Path, by Professor Michael Puett and Christine Gross-Loh. Right now, Chloe is (begrudgingly) organizing for Joe Biden and (enthusiastically) organizing for Tina Smith, as well as a State Assembly race in her hometown. When she’s not aggressively reloading Twitter in the hopes of new polling, she’s probably reading, napping, or thinking about her (four!) dogs.
Kira Schukar ’22 is a junior majoring in English Literature and minoring in Geography. She grew up in Madison, WI and is joining the Newsletter Editor team this year. This summer, Kira acquired many more books than she had time to read, but one of her favorite volumes was a copy of Our Town by Thorton Wilder. This version (found in a Little Free Library) included some delightful annotations written in pink pen by a previous owner. Outside of the English department, Kira enjoys playing viola with the Macalester Orchestra and recording podcasts for the media section of the Mac Weekly. If you’re having trouble reaching her, she is probably reading a book under an old tree or walking to the Mississippi river.
Returning Student Workers
Malcolm Cooke ’21 is a senior English Literature and Media and Cultural Studies Major. Hailing from Los Angeles California, he is taking on the role of Senior Newsletter Editor and isn’t stressed at all about this new online format. So siree, no worries whatsoever. Not a single one. Of the books he read this summer, one of his favorites was The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, a post-apocalyptic novel with some eerie similarities to the current moment, but with a wonderfully compelling internal voice.
Dalton Greene ’22 is a junior English Lit major with a minor in Classical Languages. He hails from Wheeling, West Virginia, which is so snugly nestled between Ohio and Pennsylvania that it hardly counts as West Virginia at all. This summer, he read (and loved) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, which he says everyone reading this should instantly go check out. He’s excited to be a Newsletter Editor this year.
Kelsey Stender ‘21 is a senior English Lit and AMS double major. She is from Bethesda, MD and will again be working in the department as the Office Manager/Office Assistant Supervisor. She is super excited to start reading Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, a “Southern Black Girl Magic” twist on the classic Arthurian legend that sounds super awesome.
We are so excited to be in community with our wonderful English Department this semester, and we are looking forward to the year ahead!