Tag: intern

Meet our new graphic design intern: Katy Bilbrey!

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“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Like Alice, I often feel as if I’m lost in the middle of Wonderland. I don’t exactly know where I am going (or where I want to go for that matter), but I’m starting to learn that the path you choose is not as important when compared to how you decide to walk it.

I am currently a design major and business minor at Maryville College, a small school located in the beautiful town of Maryville, Tennessee. My hometown, Crossville, is only an hour or so away from the campus so, despite my thirst for travel, I’ve lived in the same area my entire life.

Although I didn’t know what graphic design was until my late high-school years, I’ve always felt drawn to the visual compositions that surround our lives. As a child and an angst-filled tween, I was captivated by the over-sized art books I found in the local library and illustrations found on my great-grandmother’s sewing patterns. I often experimented with funky fonts when typing up school papers, and I still have a thick stack of advertisements I cut out and collected from the pages of various teen magazines.

A graphic designer’s job is not limited to creating a work that is visually appealing or eye-catching. Most importantly, it includes the need to communicate a specific message to a world already filled to the brim with information. A slightly daunting task, but one I’m eager to consistently tackle.

Even as I face an approaching graduation date (this May to be exact), the instructions that include what I’m supposed to do with my degree have yet to surface. I’ve been so lucky to have landed at Sundress Publications, and I’m positive that my experience here will help me get my bearings. I’m determined to fully experience everything I encounter as I navigate through the Wonderland that is adulthood. After all, life is about the journey (including the occasional fall through the rabbit hole).

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Katy Bilbrey is a senior at Maryville College and is majoring in graphic design. A lover of vintage advertisements, typography, book-cover design, and the entirety of the Art Nouveau movement, she knows she is in the right field but is unsure of what she’s going to do with her degree. Her talents include reading multiple books at once, making fast decisions, and applying liquid eyeliner. In her free time, she enjoys laughing and FaceTiming her cat, Strawberry.

Meet Our New Editorial Intern: Kate Belew!

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When I’m not writing I love to dance, travel, go to concerts, hula hoop, and read tarot cards. My dog Rosie is possibly my best friend, and pizza is a staple in my diet.

I was raised in the small town of Marshall, Michigan. Marshall is so small that I can’t go anywhere without knowing someone, but outside of Marshall I would have to show others where I’m from using the palm of my hand held up to represent the mitten. It’s a Michigan thing…

As soon as I had a car I began spending time in Kalamazoo where I now attend college and study poetry with Diane Seuss at Kalamazoo College. I plan to graduate next summer with a degree in English and a minor in Psychology. I live in a big blue house at the bottom of campus with six girls that also attend Kalamazoo College. In my spare time, I intern at the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center for their reading series, and co-edit The Cauldron, which is the literary journal at my school.

I began to write in third grade and it has since taken me everywhere from interning in New York City at Poets House and the National Book Critics Circle to studying in abroad in Madrid, Spain with a woman named Dora who spoke zero English and didn’t believe in the internet. Two summers ago, I spent a few months in the woods as a writing fellow at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute near Kalamazoo. This summer I taught children poetry through the words of Pablo Neruda and Shel Silverstein in workshops held at the public library in my hometown of Marshall.

I believe that poetry is a vessel for communication and human expression. I am so grateful that poetry has now brought me to Sundress as an editorial intern.

In the nearby future (after I graduate), I hope to move somewhere new and hopefully continue my writing career teaching poetry workshops before someday pursuing my MFA in poetry.

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Kate Belew is a student of Poetry at Kalamazoo College where she studies with poet Diane Seuss. She interns with the reading series at The Kalamazoo Book Center, and received the Nature in Words Fellowship at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute where wrote in the woods all summer. She has been published in journals such as The Minetta Review, Collision Literary Magazine, and Cliterature. When she’s not writing she’s dancing, hula hooping, or reading tarot cards. She is a firm believer in duende.

Meet Our New Theater Intern, Erik Schiller!

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It’s good to be a part of something dynamic and exciting again. When I was an undergrad at the University of Tennessee, I liked to keep myself busy. I got involved with environmentalists, progressive activists, artists, musicians, and writers. I discovered acting, and became a performer. This, while double majoring in Anthropology and English. I wanted to do everything, be everything for everyone. So, I had no free time. It was a great- I’d recommend it to anyone. True, I made plenty of mistakes while I was at it; there were times I fell flat on my face or stuck my foot in my mouth. I was taught some difficult lessons. But I learned, and I got better. I was giving myself a future. I didn’t know it, though: I just wanted to DO stuff.

I graduated in 2013. I was anxious. Not surprising—I had been taught to be fearful of the real world, often by trusted advisers with good intentions. But now I know I needn’t have been intimidated. Because I knew what I wanted, I knew what made me happy. I had a passion for performing, for storytelling. It was inside of me, in an embryonic state, but very there and very real, all the same. I may be a cynic by conditioning, but I am romantic at heart, and romantics don’t give up on what they love, even in spite of the warning signs, and all the obstacles, all the ghosts chasing after you in the form of “good advice”. You ignore all that. You just do it.

And I did it. I kept performing. I persisted with blind faith, and my loyalty is paying off. I know what I am: a working actor, regularly performing with local film and theatre companies who have kindly let me be a part of what they do. And, I know what’s next: I’ve been given a chance to be involved with a group that advocates and nurtures the things that I love, in a community that I love.

Thank you, SAFTA. Now, enough about me, let’s get this show on the road…

 

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Erik Schiller is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he received his BA in Anthropology and English, with a minor in Theatre. He has been performing in live stage and film productions in Knoxville since 2009, working with local companies that include the Clarence Brown Theatre, Yellow Rose Productions, and Badland Pictures. In addition, he has served as Secretary for All Campus Theatre at UTK, is a founding member of the guerilla theatre troop Shakespeare Unauthorized, and has had poetry published in the Phoenix Literary Arts Magazine

Meet Our New Community Relations Intern, Rachel Worsham!

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“Never again,” I said in jubilation, “will I write another English paper.”

The day I made this declaration and turned in my last high school English paper I was set to start college at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee as a marketing and management double major. Nashville’s music business scene is where I thought I was headed. So much so that I transferred to Belmont University—the school I initially chose Lipscomb over—to enter its Music Business program. After one semester at Belmont, I realized how much I didn’t care about copyright law and had a tear-filled come-to-Jesus moment in the office of a rightfully alarmed English professor I’d never met before but who I’d take a handful of classes with after.

My not-so-graceful journey to receiving my Bachelor of Arts in English-Writing from Belmont University in May 2012 is a lot like how I’d describe finding my way post graduation. Let me tell you—there have been tears. Moving back in with your parents is hard on everyone, y’all. Truthfully, I don’t know exactly where I want to end up, except that I know I long to be a part of a community of writers and creators and thinkers. And for that reason, I’m glad my role this summer as SAFTA’s Community Relations Intern is a stop along the way.

 

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Rachel Worsham is a 2012 graduate of Belmont University and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English-Writing. Like many post-grad English majors—and most 21- to 25-year-olds, in general, for that matter—she’d very much like to take the “So what are you doing now?” question off the table. She’ll let you know when she figures it out. Until then, Rachel is running the Children’s Department at the Knoxville Barnes & Noble and collects more books than she has time to read. She’s a writer and editor in her not-so-spare time and has been called the Bruce Lee of wearing leggings as pants.

Meet Our New Editorial Intern, Chelsea Faulkner!

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Hello, all! My name is Chelsea Faulkner and I am honored and ecstatic to be working as an editorial intern with Sundress this summer under the wings of some of the greatest creative minds Knoxville has to offer. At the end of this summer, August 16th to be exact, I will turn twenty-five years old—that’s a quarter of a century in case you were wondering. While many twenty-five year olds are starting their careers or even families, I will be graduating with an undergraduate degree in English Literature from The University of Tennessee and slowly dipping my toes into the terrifying pool of adulthood.

I am a non-traditional student. I have attended three different colleges and switched majors multiple times, yet I would not change one moment of my journey. Looking back now, it is fascinating to see how every failure and every altered course played a role in shaping the person and student I am now. In December, when I finally walk across the stage to receive my diploma, I imagine I will feel like I’m standing at the edge of a spectacular precipice, filled with the joy and sense of accomplishment that accompanies a long, difficult hike.

I love trying new things and meeting people and, therefore, I possess a long list of hobbies. I like to sing and play my guitar and can often be found stretching my vocal chords at Toot’s Karaoke on the weekends after a few drinks. My parents always hoped I would become famous, but I am unfortunately plagued by terrible stage fright. I also marched in The University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland Band Colorguard for four wonderful years and made some incredible memories—and went to a lot of football games. Additionally, I love to craft, decorate, and garden and I am constantly working on one new project or another. Needless to say, I stay busy!

But, above all, I love to read. Any book lover can relate when I say that every time I buy a new book, it feels like Christmas morning. A love of literature is one that never fades and I hope to find a career that allows me to hone and share my literary enthusiasm. Therefore, I am anxious to start my new adventure at Sundress and surround myself with individuals who also maintain a passion for the artistry of the English language.

As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”

 

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Chelsea Faulkner is an undergraduate senior at The University of Tennessee majoring in English Literature. One of her greatest college experiences has been marching with The Pride of the Southland Band Colorguard from 2009-2012, in which she served as both squad leader and captain. Born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, she possesses passions for reading, crafting, and bluegrass music. Chelsea hopes to one day find a job that will incorporate all three of those things. Until then, she spends her time collecting books, singing, arranging flowers, and decorating her tiny apartment.