Writing Memory, History, and Insight
Meet creative writing major Edi Kim.
Hometown: Columbia, Missouri
Thesis adviser: Prof. Jae Yeun Choi [creative writing]
Thesis: “Diplopia”
What it’s about: Memory and remembering; various vessels for containing and uncovering history (the body, the home, the connections that bring people together); moments of and sites for transformation; in (in)sight and perception of the self and everything that has made it.
Influential classes: Poetry classes with Prof. Jae Yeun Choi and English classes with Prof. Kritish Rajbhandari opened my eyes to ways of seeing, understanding, and analyzing the world.
Concept that blew my mind: Posthumanism and the phenomenology of whiteness.
Cool stuff: I learned how to surf and juggle, studied and assisted with metal-organic aerosol reactions in an environmental chemistry research lab, assisted with oceanic postcolonial fiction research, people-watched during late night shifts at the college bookstore, participated in some amazing poetry readings, completed a manuscript of poetry, and assisted with editorial work for Bitch Media with Federal Work-Study.
Awards: I received a Locher grant (2020) to write a collection of poetry titled "Fingering Through the Compost" and an Eddings grant to edit and expand my creative thesis manuscript.
Challenges faced: The academic and social culture at Reed can definitely suck you in if you’re not careful. It took me a second to find what kept me grounded, balanced, and happy once the intensity of the school year kicked in.
How Reed changed me: My time at Reed truly changed the way I think about and approach the world. I learned how to formulate and follow the questions that matter to me, explore the many directions that it will inevitably proliferate into, and uncover, thoroughly and with trust and confidence in my own intuition and perception, how to sift out answers.
What’s next: I'll be traveling soon, first to NYC and then to South Korea. After I come back to the U.S. I plan to work, write, and recenter myself while I clarify my next steps. I want to eventually do an MFA and maybe go back for a PhD, but for now I'm excited to read, learn, and write outside of a school setting.