I am honored to be a recipient of the Jimmy Gauntt award. Over the last few years, my English classes were my constant lighthouse, my constant sanctuary. They were a space of communion and creativity. I learned of the holiness of story – how it threads meaning in our lives, how it changes that meaning, and how it changes us. I also learned about the importance of being a creative reader, not just a creative writer. Good analysis requires that same openness and imagination. Who would have thought?
But on a deeper level, my professors taught me that to be a good reader one must first be a devoted practitioner of empathy. One must want to understand that bridge between the pages and the classroom. To be a better reader, one must try to be a better listener, a better person even. My teachers so taught me to find my strengths by being more attuned to those of others. I listened to others, whether characters or classmates, and in turn, I listened more to my own voice. One could say my English major was a constant cultivator of both camaraderie and individual growth. I learned to hone my confidence in my words but also in my silences.
The study of English also sharpened my understanding in my chosen career. As an actor, you want to be your character’s lawyer, not your character’s judge. And in my literature classes, I was always taught to defend, to debate, but never to judge. I was taught that there is always so much more to discover about people beyond what they seem, whether on the page or in the room. Talking story is key, inside and outside the major. Stories hold us and bring us together. Actors are storytellers and as such, they are challenged and honored by that responsibility. My English classes were a source of constant inspiration, always feeding into my work process on set.
So thank you to the mentors and friends I have had here at USC. I expected classes and instead I entered a space of communion with others and with myself. And for that, I have much gratitude.
I came in as a history and philosophy major my freshman year at USC and for the last four years I’ve been studying genocide and political violence. For my history and philosophy research I’ve been travelling many times now to India and England to study cases of organized violence and particularly violence in modern India. So basically, I study how people destroy things and especially, how people destroy each other.
I originally started taking English classes simply because I missed my high school English classes. I missed close reading and dissecting Woolf and Wilde and Collins. But over the years, the major has really grown to be something that is much more central to me. Partially that’s just because my English classes have kept me sane in the midst of all these genocide courses. But more than that, these classes have reminded me that people are also capable of creating things, and that people can create things in incredibly powerful and beautiful ways.
So after graduation I’ll be heading to India for a year on a Fulbright Fellowship to continue studying gendered history and gendered violence. And after that I’ll be going to Oxford University to pursue a PhD in history. The end goal after all this is to become a writer. And that’s because I’ve learned that the most effective means of communication is the written word and that when you communicate an idea through a creative medium—be it a play, a novel, a poem—you have the power to reach and affect a lot of people and in very profound ways.
I’d like to thank my professors, my mentors for getting me this far and for continuing to challenge and inspire me to be more and write more—especially because I come from a family of doctors and veterinarians in which even the few lawyers are considered to be very alternative and incredibly exotic. My parents have been incredibly supportive of my dreams but it hasn’t always been easy for me to find that so I’ve very grateful to have found such a supportive community that’s so passionate about the arts here at USC in the English department. I’m so excited and humbled and honoured by this award—thank you so much.
