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Major Breakthrough: Organizational and Political Communication

In the Major Breakthrough series, I interview former students who have lived through, and lived with, their majors during and after college. This week, Miranda – travel writer, novelist, blogger extraordinaire –  tells us how she combined her love of politics with the written word in the Organizational and Political Communication major at Emerson College.

Miranda’s post-graduate life is exciting and romantic. In fact, it’s enough to make me want to give up and go back to bed for the rest of my life. She lives in Oxford with her British boyfriend, recently finished her master’s degree in creative writing, is working on her first novel, hangs out with musicians, writers, artists, and journalists in pubs, and writes about all of it on her blog: www.aliteralgirl.com.

She is a creative writing tour-de-force, but in her undergraduate college, she felt that politics was her calling.

From Literature to Politics

“I had always been a very literature-oriented student, and when I went to college, I declared a Writing, Literature, & Publishing major. It was an obvious choice: I liked to read and to write. I excelled at English classes in high school. Secretly, I wished I could be Toby Ziegler, writing speeches for the President, but I wasn’t sure this was something that real people could do.

“This was 2004, election year, in Boston, John Kerry’s homeland. That fall the city was alive with politics, something which had always been a latent interest for me, and then blossomed into a minor obsession.

“Other things happened, too. I wasn’t enjoying my creative writing workshops, which felt full of arrogance and empty of meaning. I was getting lost in a sea of other Writing, Literature, & Publishing majors – we were everywhere, all of us without passion or direction. I had no relationships with my professors, yet I chose a tiny liberal arts college for the one-on-one privilege with the faculty.

“I acquired a boyfriend whose interest in advertising and living in the concrete professional world, rather than an immaterial academic space, started to rub off. I was taking a political science class as an elective, and was seduced by this image of myself, not as a frumpy writer but, as a sleek-haired, suit-wearing, political professional.

“Over the Christmas break, I met with professors from the Organizational & Political Communication department. I considered making up my own major, but they convinced me that I should take the plunge, switch majors, and start my new career.

“Easy. So I did.”

Practical Politics

“In some ways, it was the best decision I could have made.  It’s not a conventional degree; you don’t learn historical facts, mathematical principles, or discuss the great works of literature. I saw how politicians and political messages are marketed just like products; analyzed the portrayal of current events in the media; and learned from not only academics, but also practitioners. I had internships and jobs with congressmen, government agencies, public relations firms, and think tanks. My teachers were campaign experts, professional pollsters, political advisers, and consultants. I was heavily involved in the department – most of my long-lasting college friendships were made in OPC classes – and had the opportunity to put on events, engage with local and national politics, and do some serious networking (an ugly thing, but utterly necessary for professional development). And, I loved every minute of it.

“In a way, you could say that I learned how to interact with my environment, and that’s a pretty valuable skill. I’ll always be a reader and an avid learner, but for almost four years, I got hands-on experience that I wouldn’t have otherwise had.

There and Back Again – Politics to Literature

“So it’s surprising to discover that here I am three years later, doing exactly what I said I didn’t want to do. I’ve just completed an MA in Creative Writing from a university in Britain. I live in Oxford, keep a regular blog, do freelance work. I’m writing a book, and considering a PhD. I don’t own a car or a house or expensive high heels. I have no desire particularly to re-enter the nonstop, competitive political workforce. I like not having to wear a suit every day.

“But…(There’s always a “but”) my major, the things I learned, were crucial to my development as a person and a writer. I think about things differently because I studied Political Communication, and that’s what you want from a degree.

“You never know what you’ll end up doing when you leave college, but if you’re learning, and enjoying the process of learning, then you’re in the right program. So, yes: It is useful to me now, though you wouldn’t necessarily know it to look at me.”