2019 Recipients

The 2019 Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award Recipients-The Tenth Year of the Jimmy!

by Casey Gauntt · 0 comments

in 2019 Recipients, News And Announcements

The 2019 Jimmies L to R: Dimitris Tzoytzoyrakos, Christina Similien, Isabella Preisz, Zharia O’Neal, Catalina Acebal-Acevedo and Francisco Juaregui
(Photo by: Steve Cohn www.stevecohnphotography.com (c) 2019)

On Tuesday evening April 30, the six 2019 recipients of the Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award, aka the “Jimmy,” were introduced by their nominating professors and feted at the charming Ostrich Farm restaurant in Echo Park Los Angeles. This was the tenth year the Jimmies have been awarded and the significance of this milestone was fully embraced by everyone in attendance. Since its inception in 2010, 59 Jimmy awards have been awarded.

This year’s event also included some “news.” Another graduating senior, Lynn Tamayo, was recognized and celebrated in a special category of her own. Lynn completed her degree in English while working at USC for the past forty years. She is a published author and most deserving to be honored for her remarkable achievement.

Members of the English Department staff, Jimmy’s family, post-doctorial students and twenty-five faculty members were in attendance including the following who introduced their nominees for the Jimmy:

Professor Geoff Dyer: Dimitris Tzoytzoyrakos
Professors David Treuer and Aimee Bender: Zharia O’Neal
Professor Anna Journey: Christina Similien
Professor Elda Maria Roman: Catalina Acebal-Acevedo
Professor David Roman: Francisco Juaregui
Professor Chris Freeman*: Isabella Preisz

[*Professor Freeman stood in for nominating professor Joe Boone who was unable to attend]

After welcoming remarks by Professor Roman and introductions of his fellow committee members for this year’s Award, Professors Melissa Daniels-Rauterkus and David Treuer, Jimmy Gauntt’s mother, Hilary, made a special toast to mark the 10th year of the Jimmy Award. Borrowing from a pre-Russian Revolution tradition described in Amor Tolles’ wildly successful book, A Gentleman in Moscow, that the Gauntt family adopted to honor the 10th anniversary of Jimmy’s passing last August, glasses of Chateauneuf-du-Pape were poured and raised to all the Jimmies.

[Here are links to HILARY’S TOAST as well as her beautiful exchange of letters with the author, Amor Tolles THE MOSCOW LETTERS]

This event is only possible because of the generous donors to the Jimmy.
We give special thanks and gratitude to the R.C. Baker Foundation, John Dale, Evan Nicholas and the Gauntt family.

Hilary and Casey Gauntt with the 2019 Jimmies
[Photo by: Steve Cohn www.stevecohnphotography.com © 2019]

With the Jimmies L to R: Brittany Gauntt Kirby (Jimmy’s sister), Professor David Treuer, Ryan Kirby (Jimmy’s brother-in-law), Professor Melissa Daniels-Rauterkus, Casey Gauntt, Professor David Roman and Hilary Gaunt
Photo by: Steve Cohn www.stevecohnphotography.com © 2019

{ 0 comments }

CHRISTINA SIMILIEN

by Casey Gauntt · 0 comments

in 2019 Recipients

Hi! My name is Christina Similien, and I am a senior at the University of Southern California. I‘m graduating this May with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Reading and writing are what sustain me, so to have spent the past four years submerged in stories and surrounded by professors who are masters at storytelling is the privilege of my lifetime.

When I was six years old, I moved to the United States from Haiti, a small, impoverished, yet beautiful island in the Caribbean. I didn’t speak a word of English and learning it was a difficult and an embarrassing process. At some point, I became ashamed of my own voice; of my inability to sound like I belonged. So, I hid in books, and I made friends with the characters inside them. Instead of voicing my thoughts out loud, I wrote in journals and turned all the good and bad things that happened to me into stories I could read over and over again. Even after I became unafraid of what I sounded like; of what others thought of me, I kept reading and writing stories that allowed me a space to find myself (and I am still finding myself — perhaps always will be).

I’ll read anything as long as it’s good, but my favorite thing to write about is sports. The world of sports has some of the best, most inspiring and heartwarming stories, and the characters come from everywhere and are often bigger than life. I love weaving what I know about storytelling into the sports articles I write, because I believe anything told as a story instantly becomes more impactful — more lasting.

I am honored to be a part of Jimmy Gauntt’s story; a story that will go on forever. Folks always talk about how life is short but, actually, life is, for the most part, of course, very long, and stories like Jimmy’s — stories about kindness, friendship and an unrelenting determination to live beautifully and without regret is what will sustain us through the long and painful moments.

I’m thankful for Jimmy like I’m thankful for all the other stories in my life that have cemented a place in my heart and kept me alive.

{ 0 comments }

CATALINA ACEBAL-ACEVEDO

by Casey Gauntt 2019 Recipients

My name is Catalina (like the island). I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and raised in Key Biscayne, Florida. When I was five years old, I told my mother six words that changed my life. As she was picking me up from school one day, I looked up and told her “I want […]

Read more →

ISABELLA PREISZ

by Casey Gauntt 2019 Recipients

My love for storytelling began at a young age. I grew up listening to my father, a Danish immigrant, read me Scandinavian folk stories every night. My Grandma, an Italian immigrant, put paint brushes in my hand as a little girl. I’ve always been drawn to the way that color and word come together to […]

Read more →

ZHARIA O’NEAL

by Casey Gauntt 2019 Recipients

I moved to the United States from the British Virgin Islands when I still had all my baby teeth. Though I’d heard a lot about America, I was fairly certain that it wouldn’t be too eventful — nothing big, nothing life-changing, and certainly nothing to write about. I was wrong. I started writing stories […]

Read more →

FRANCISCO JAUREGUI

by Casey Gauntt 2019 Recipients

Frank. Franklin. Francisco. Panch. Panchí. Jeremy. Frankie. Stepping onto USC’s campus during move-in week, I needed to decide which version of myself I wanted to present for the next 4 years. As a son of two immigrant, hardworking parents of color, I already had a predetermined narrative attached to my character. “I don’t belong here,” […]

Read more →

STELLAR ENGLISH SENIORS HONORED AT THE 10TH ANNUAL JIMMY GAUNTT MEMORIAL AWARD DINNER

by The Jimmy Gauntt Award 2019 Recipients

Here is a link (followed by full text) to the wonderful article written by Susan Bell, Managing Editor of USC Dornsife Magazine Stellar English seniors honored at the 10th annual Jimmy Gauntt Memorial Award Six outstanding seniors nominated by faculty from USC Dornsife’s English Department are recognized for their commitment to the arts at an […]

Read more →