I\u2019ve spent the last two weekends with Jennifer through time with two of her books: Another North<\/em>, including the essay<\/a> that was recently published in Colgate Magazine<\/em> (summer 2024, p. 8), and Unlearning to Fly<\/em>. As I flipped through pages, underlining and scribbling in the margins, I realized what a profound impact her written words had on me as a young writer. She titled one essay, \u201cMy Mother\u2019s Body.\u201d I, too, went on to write an essay that bore the same title. It was absolutely influenced by both her essay and<\/em> her teaching. In another essay, she writes about being a nonfiction writer: \u201cThe genre chose me, not the other way around.\u201d I feel the same way. During our time as university students, our teachers shape us. They expose us to the books and films and places where ideas inspire in us yearning, learning, and the desire to create. Reading Jennifer\u2019s words again reminded me of what it was like to be a student who had developed a deepening passion for the art of writing during my undergraduate years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a new alumna, I attended the Colgate Writers\u2019 Conference, craving more time with past professors and now friends and mentors. That week in June with late nights spent on the porch of Merrill House was a special time. In many ways, it encouraged me to keep on writing, and I later went on to get my MFA in creative nonfiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One last memory from 2009. The sun poured into the tall windows of a room in Lathrop Hall. I was to defend my senior thesis, a collection of essays. I was nervous to talk about the pages I had produced over the past four years, and also proud that I was able to wrestle these hard stories onto the page. Creative writing and English lit professors \u2014 Jennifer, Peter Balakian, George Hudson, and Jane Pinchin \u2014 sat across the table. Someone asked about the process of writing, and I talked about the power of discovering my aha! moment and how the essays seemed to write themselves from there. Today, I find myself looking for that aha! moment once again, and after spending quality time with poignant pages written by a past professor, I think I am a little closer to finding it once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kanitha Heng \u201909 Snow<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Snow will be the director of the 2025 Colgate\u2019s Writers Conference this June. For details: colgate.edu\/writersconference<\/a> or write to writersconference@colgate.edu<\/a>.<\/em> Thank you so much for \u201cThe Music Never Stopped<\/a>\u201d cover story featuring WRCU alumni (summer 2024). Many of my most cherished Colgate memories include the station \u201ca little to the right of left\u201d \u2014 spinning vinyl late into the night, helping eventual MTV VJ Martha Quinn secure her FCC license, and even making the leap to working at WCHN AM-FM in Norwich on weekends. I was there for the transition to 1,000 watts (we were so excited!), and to this day I\u2019ll occasionally pull out my folder of playlists and skim a few shows from back in the day. There\u2019s nothing like college radio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Craig Peters \u201980<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jon Dolan \u201996 \u2014 loving what you do and being great at it (\u201cThe Music Never Stopped<\/a>,\u201d summer 2024). Couldn\u2019t happen to a better guy! Also, the whole summer 2024 Colgate Magazine<\/em> is chock-full of inspiring profiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nCherished Memories of WRCU<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Craig Peters \u201980 (background) runs the WRCU board as a student.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nInspiring People<\/h2>\n\n\n\n