10, 9, 8, 7… ZPlatt 2015 Prepares for Launch!

On April 24th, a few members of the ZPlatt 2015 staff, including myself, took a trip to

Montréal, Canada to visit Pixa Printing, where this year’s issue is currently flying out of the

printers to be delivered straight to your hands. We took a tour of the place, seeing all of the

different methods of printing from offset to digital, and learned from some printing professionals

about exactly how they make ZPlatt into a physical book. We even saw some extra cool stuff,

like the way they make perforated pages, and giant rolls of paper (I mean, huge). It was

essentially a printing wonderland. On top of the tour of Pixa Printing, we also did a book crawl

of Montréal, hitting all of the coolest used and new book stores like the Argo and Cheap Thrills.

And, if that wasn’t cool enough, we also ended up being given free Starbucks drinks thanks to a

cash register malfunction!

After the literary hype of the Montréal trip, we’ve been busily preparing for our launch

party. We’re preparing games to play like literary mad libs, or “Platt Libs.” There will be food,

and we’re encouraging this year’s contributors to read their work! Please join us this Friday, May

8th in the Cardinal Lounge for a celebration of all of our hard work, and the hard work of

everyone who has contributed their work and supported us along the way. If you like good

writing, art, games, food, or fun, you’re more than welcome!

–Michelle LaRosa

Michelle LaRosa is a senior English Language Arts major at SUNY Plattsburgh. She is a writer of fiction and poetry, and she is on the poetry staff of ZPlatt this year. She’s beyond excited to see the final copy of the magazine this Friday!

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Alumni Danielle Poupore

On Monday March 30, alumni Danielle Poupore came to speak with students about the many

benefits of being an English major. She gave students helpful hints about the challenges that

English majors will face while looking for a job after college. Danielle Poupore graduated from

SUNY Plattsburgh in 2010, where she gained her degree in English. Today she works in New

York City as a Communications and Marketing Specialist at John Jay College.

When asked the question, what skills are English Majors good at? She mentioned things like:

having the ability to do research, writing, reading, and taking criticism. She mentions that for

writing, “In corporate world, people are horrible writers! Business’s need people who can

articulate ideas in written format”.

After she spoke, I had the pleasure of asking her a few questions about life as an English major.

The first question that I asked her is a question that is on every English majors mind. What

troubles have you come across with finding a job as an English major? I asked this question

because I find it helpful to show that struggles of finding a job aren’t impossible, there are

struggles but everything always works out in the end. She replied to my question with “I think

finding that first job after college is tricky, no matter your major. For me, my English major

actually felt helpful. I didn’t feel pigeonholed into pursuing just one type of career. There are

options for English majors, I found that my skills and personality translated best into marketing

roles. I had to be very clear in my resume and my cover letters, and explain exactly what I was

capable of doing to benefit the organizations to which I submitted applications.

The next question I asked her was, what advice would you give to any student pursuing a job as

an English major or any major? She replied by saying, “Don’t limit yourself. A lot of people

have these romanticizing ideas about working in the publishing industry, or becoming a revered

college professor, or writing a famous novel. Here’s that problem with that mindset: Perfect jobs

don’t exist. I’ve worked in publishing, and the truth is that it’s not really a glamorous gig. There’s

a lot of paper work and administrative duties…Part of being a writer is figuring out how to live

and write at the same time, and it’s hard to cover the necessities if you don’t have other

work…The list is endless, and no career path is the “right” one. Do what works for you.”

The last important question that I asked her was, why did you choose to be an English major? I

find it interesting to understand why someone chose their field of study, and what it says about a

person. She responded by saying, “I wanted to write! I loved to write. I was always the

bookworm kid, making up stories to along with my crayon drawings in elementary school. When

I got to college, I decided to follow my strengths and spend time doing what I enjoy- and I

thought I could maybe even make a career out of it someday. I didn’t know at the time that I

would end up getting an MFA in creative writing and a job that allows me to use my skills. The

English major was a perfect choice for me.”

–Emily Mumpton