Student voices this spring
New writing from Liberal Studies, Economics, Politics, Creative Writing, Philosophy, and Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism
At the close of the New School semester, we’re celebrating the student writing published in Public Seminar this spring. Our student contributors have tackled Mitski, Taylor Swift, Black identity on screen, migration narratives, gender hacks, Navalny, the bankers’ club, unreliable narrators, unreliable bandmates, unreliable elevators, and so much more.
“I was concerned for her knees”
Hannah Burns (MFA candidate, Creative Writing)
I had been worried that “My Love Mine All Mine” was the only song some people had come to hear, just because it blew up on TikTok.
Horror and Humor in Hulu’s The Other Black Girl
Kelby K. Clark (MFA candidate, Creative Writing)
For Black women, even fictitious ones like Nella and Hazel, working in corporate spaces often requires shrugging off prejudicial slights and microaggressions, often while working in industries with little upward mobility.
Taylor Swift, the Modern Alcibiades
Jack Condie (PhD candidate, Philosophy)
At the risk of being yet another voice in the endless cacophony of opining about Swift, I must confess I have a “take,” one that might seem a little bizarre. I think she’s a modern day Alcibiades.
Forget This Book
Chloe Cheimets (MFA candidate, Creative Writing)
Nunez’s protagonists are usually self-aware; this one goes a step further in intimating that we needn’t hang on her every word—or every experience. It’s a novelist’s bait-and-switch: Does what happens in The Vulnerables matter, or not?
Belonging as Poetry in New Narratives on the Peopling of America
Paloma Griffin (PhD candidate, Politics) in conversation with T. Alexander Aleinikoff and Alexandra Délano Alonso
I spent a lot of this book wondering to myself, What is the consequence of lacking a cohesive and shared story? What is the value of a narrative for a country like the United States, and what does it do if we lack one?
HE 2 SHE: Artist Pippa Garner Hacks Her Gender
Abby Merrick (MA candidate, Liberal Studies)
Pippa Garner is a walking Gesamtkunstwerk. Her body-as-work body of work encompasses the techniques of the hacker, the inventor, and the provocateur—but can’t be limited to any one paradigm.
A Band on the Brink of Collapse
Emma Minor (MFA candidate, Creative Writing)
The image of musicians in a recording studio beset by interpersonal tensions—while making their best music—is so familiar it leads a listener to wonder, Is the strife all somehow necessary?
The Little Prince Haunts New York
Albert Nguyen (MA candidate, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism)
Saint-Exupéry, anticipating a brief four-week stay, explored Manhattan like a tourist. One of his favorite novelties was bird’s nest soup, which he’d sampled in his previous visits to New York and excitedly encouraged his friends to enjoy.
From “Boring” to “Roaring” Banking
Anna Pick (MA candidate, Economics)
The finance giants have successfully positioned themselves not only as the most efficient engines of growth and prosperity but also, in recent times, as the only possible funders of social transformation—including the energy transition and the “development” of the Global South.
Exploring Immigrant Experiences
Rupal Rao (MA candidate, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism) in conversation with Annell López
Reading Annell López’s short story collection, I’ll Give You a Reason (Feminist Press, 2024), is like strolling through a neighborhood and getting to know the locals along the way. All the short stories are connected; the protagonist of one story might reappear later in the book as a bit player in someone else’s narrative.
The Man Who Was Too Strong
Anastasia Shteinert (MA candidate, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism)
In such extraordinarily dark times for Russia and the world, Navalny remained one of the few political figures who inspired faith in change and the triumph of justice.
American Fiction Offers a New Spin on the Challenges Facing Black Artists
Zenzelé Soa-Clarke (MA candidate, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism)
Audiences are left to debate questions such as, How do we support and foster Black artists without pigeonholing them? and, How do we honor the reality of Black trauma without essentializing it?
The Elevator Paradox at The New School for Social Research
Austin Tannenbaum (MA candidate, Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism)
For the intrepid, introverted, claustrophobic, or simply late among us, an urban hike to the upper floors offers a much-needed alternative to the dumbwaiters. So why has this option been taken from us?
Mitski’s Notes of Yearning
Miranda Young (PhD candidate, Philosophy)
Though Mitski has held the world at an arm’s length—keeping many details about her personal life private—we can’t help investing ourselves, not just in her lyrics but in the multiple lives and worlds that she creates in each little song.