Contents:
- ROXANE GAY: YOUR JOB ISN’T ALL-IMPORTANT
- ROXANE GAY: ON AMBN AND KEEPG YOUR DAY JOB
- I WANT YOUR JOB: ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR OF 'BAD FEMIST'
ROXANE GAY: YOUR JOB ISN’T ALL-IMPORTANT
”Wre to Roxane Gay at Gay is an endowed profsor of media, culture and femist studi at Rutgers, the thor of the forthg “Opns” and a ntributg Opn wrer. More about Roxane GayA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn BU, Page 5 of the New York edn wh the headle: Y, Your Job Is Important.
Dozens of wrers, artists, and Angelenos crowd to The Fom at Otis College of Art and Dign to hear Roxane Gay, celebrated wrer of both fictn and non-fictn, give a lecture that would kick off the Anaphora Wrg Rincy at Otis College. Roxane Gay’s wrg appears Bt Amerin Mystery Stori 2014, Bt Amerin Short Stori 2012, Bt Sex Wrg 2012, Harper’s Bazaar, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, T Hoe, Oxford Amerin, Amerin Short Fictn, Virgia Quarterly Review, and many others. Gay spoke to her own ambn light of the narrative of personal rponsibily: that ambn only grows hungrier and only mands more, rather than ever beg sated.
ROXANE GAY: ON AMBN AND KEEPG YOUR DAY JOB
It has had lastg repercsns, Gay argued, entrenchg the ia of personal exceptnalism for people of lor as the route to overg challeng. Speakg of her own experienc as one of a few faculty members of lor her partment—and sometim stutn-wi—Gay said that this is the price of the narrative of exceptnalism: You’ll be the only person of lor, or only one of a few people of lor, your field. ” Gay asked.
Gay was a mol of grace and wisdom while answerg qutns om the dience, some of her sights clud:. It’s important to fd your own ternal le you won’t cross, Gay said, rponse to a qutn about how to navigate spac that ask people of lor to modify their otherns. For example, Gay discsed her own le to not let her stutn e her likens for mp advertisg, speakg of not wantg to potentially mislead stunts of lor who might see and believe that the mp is a more diverse space than actually is.
Gay spoke of her own experienc at stutns where she was asked to be on every mtee, leadg to burnout.
I WANT YOUR JOB: ROXANE GAY, AUTHOR OF 'BAD FEMIST'
When Gay was asked to wre the World of Wakanda issue for Marvel, she was the first black woman to do so.
Gay submted nam of female wrers of lor to Marvel to “provi a ladr” to move more wrers to the space. Gay lled the day job “the greatt gift to wrers, ” eeg wrers om havg to promise personal or creative tegry orr to pay the rent. Eventually, wrers n hope to make enough om their own wrg to get rid of the day job, Gay said, but the meantime, the day job allows for creative eedom ee of fancial nstrats.
Gay suggted that fdg a mentor n be particularly helpful for navigatg the world of publishg. “A mentor don’t have to be a big fancy wrer, jt someone who has done what you want to do, ” Gay said. Dispellg myths of the publishg world, Gay knocked the ia that wrers need to have a huge social media prence before they n expect to get published.