Her Campus Hollins: You are an SSL, a co-editor for Cargoes, and recently you were chosen as a finalist for the poetry prize for the INTRO competition. What other thing have you been up to?
Morgan Blalock: I’m also Academic Policy Board Chair this fall (Allison Schmitt is coming back from abroad in the spring and will take over), which is awesome. And just to clarify: The INTRO comp is more of just a [local thing]. Hollins picked three finalists from their entries and now we made it to the national round. I [am] so excited! I would LOVE to win so badly!
Her Campus Hollins: What are your three favorite things that you’ve done in your life?
Morgan Blalock: I went across Italy and France with a trip in high school with some of my best friends and favorite teachers. It was the most wonderful thing ever. I saw places I’d learned about for years (since I’m also a classics major and always took Latin and Roman History, etc) and just had a crazy beautiful time!
I always consider writing poetry a wonderful experience [as well], and this year I’ve written a lot of poems I’m really honestly proud of. Growing as a writer makes me really happy in a way nothing else can, so that process has been invaluable and definitely a favorite.
And finally, my favorite thing about my life by far is definitely (I’m a dork I know) how close my parents and I are. Any time I spend with them now that I’m more mature and see all they do for me is amazing and I love it. They’re so funny and kind and generous and whenever they say they see those things in me I am happy. So just growing to make my parents proud and hanging out with them as an equal is my favorite!
H.C.H: Do you have anything in particular you like to do with your parents?
Morgan Blalock: My dad taught me to love music and my favorite thing we have ever done was go see the Rolling Stones live this summer (he swore he would take me one day). And then all three of us go to our beach house in OBX, NC every summer and it’s just a great place to make memories. Other than that, we just kind of all watch Jeopardy together a lot and compete with how many points we get. -laughs-
H.C.H: Was there anything you enjoyed seeing most abroad?
Morgan Blalock: The Colosseum! It was HUGE, more so than I ever imagined. And the Louvre I could have spent days in. The beaches at Sardinia were also insanely beautiful.
H.C.H: Did you have a favorite part of the Louvre?
Morgan Blalock: Oh my lord, the Louvre. I’d always wanted to see the Egyptian collection, which was worth the wait. And then seeing the Nike of Samothrace at the top of a staircase when I didn’t expect it was a moment of…clarity. Like those weird instances you have sometimes where you’re just thinking, “Everything is beautiful in its own way and I’m glad I realized that”.
HCH: So, for the writers on campus thinking of submitting to Cargoes in the next few days, what writing advice would you give them? What would you say Cargoes is looking for? What do you think makes or breaks a piece?
Morgan Blalock: Cargoes looks for pieces that are coherent, have narrative direction but push traditional structure, and demand a response from the reader. Advice-wise: have other people read your work, writers or not. They’ll all have different comments and you need that as a writer. For artists, take photos of your work from all angles and see what looks best on a page. What makes a piece? I would say, personally, a piece that doesn’t spell everything out. I’m a big proponent of a piece making the reader work, meeting the author halfway. That’s very important. Also, a unique perspective and language that can associate itself with words or concepts that haven’t previously been explored. Passion too! Always passion for something.
HCH: Personally what themes or ideas do you find yourself exploring in your work?
Morgan Blalock: Oh this is a perfect question for me. -laughs- I write about the same things pretty much all the time, hopefully in new ways. Religion, sex and physical relationships are always in my poetry. I write a lot about a terrible break up I went through last November, honestly. For short fiction, almost all my pieces have really weird images/motifs throughout–I have three that center around unborn babies for some reason and a few that center around the devil and him eating in a diner. But mostly physicality and how we relate to other people intimately and how this affects us mentally/emotionally/etc.
HCH: How long have you been writing for and what got you started?
Morgan Blalock: As long as I can remember. But I knew I wanted to do it for the rest of my life when I was 11, for some reason. Never looked back. And then by the time I was 15, I knew I wanted to be a professor as well and go to graduate school for creative writing and help others find the love for [writing].[When I really began writing,] I just started using it as way to tell stories. I love to talk and never shut up, so I think it translated over really quickly.
HCH: Do you listen to music when you write?
Morgan Blalock: If it’s sad poetry, always. If it’s more “happy”, for lack of a better word, not always. When I’m not writing creatively, I also have to listen to something.
HCH: Do you have any favorites?
Morgan Blalock: Sad music favorites: Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Dads. Just music to listen to/write papers to in general: Arctic Monkeys, The Doors and, if I need a boost, Rihanna, haha.
HCH: And the question writers always hate – where do you get your ideas?
Morgan Blalock: For short stories, that is a mystery completely. -laughs- [But] I take a lot of inspiration from writers whose styles I envy: Hemingway, Miller, Stein, etc.
For poetry, obviously I just get sad and write about it. -laughs- [Actually,] sometimes I see an image or feel a certain way about a person/event/moment and can’t hold it in any longer.
HCH: Do you have any secondary passions?
Morgan Blalock: I love going to live shows. Concerts are awesome. I’m from Newport News, near Richmond and Norfolk, both of which have great nationally known venues. Roanoke doesn’t really, meh. I’m also really incredibly passionate about education. It’s always been #1 in my life after my parents. I love school and hate summer when there are no classes. Dork status.
HCH: What are you proud of?
Morgan Blalock: I’m proud of my senior project in high school. We had to do one to graduate (private school life ugh), and it was a huge deal. It’s a thesis, but in high school. I wrote 20 shorts stories in the styles of various authors and presented it in front of like 100 people, and so that was nerve-wracking to have my writing in front of so many strangers and adults, but I loved it.
HCH: What were a few of the authors’ styles you worked from?
Morgan Blalock: Hemingway, Miller, Burgess, Faulkner, Kerouac, Lovecraft–a lot of really distinct people, so it was easy!
HCH: So, doing all of this – what keeps you motivated?
Morgan Blalock: Two things! Making my family proud and repaying them for everything they do for me, and also having time with friends I love and care about, who can distract me when things get hard.
Also bonuses: cheez-its and coffee
HCH: Do you have a hero?
Morgan Blalock: I try to be my own hero. That sounds terrible at first but here’s what I mean. -laughs- I’ve had severe clinical depression for almost seven years, only five of it diagnosed/treated. And every day it’s hard to get out of bed, but when I do I’m so proud! It makes me feel like I can do anything. Beating sadness is heroic, no matter on what level. Luckily I have other people to look up to who have been through this and dealt with it better than me, like my father, my best friend Charlie, writers like Hemingway, and others. Every day I have to decide to keep going and every day I do it. That, to me, is heroic. Whatever anyone else thinks, it’s what keeps me going.
HCH: What is something you are afraid of?
Morgan Blalock: I’m scared of being depressed my whole life. But I’m also scared of more normal things. -laughs- Like heights, glass elevators, and getting a speeding ticket.
And the raccoons on this campus. -laughs- [You see], I was walking back from the writing center late one night, and outside the door were those trash cans. I didn’t see the raccoon rooting around in there, and I walked by and it hissed and I screamed and stopped and then I tried to edge my way closer to Main (where I live). And it followed me! I was like “no mister raccoon I just want to go to bed!” and it RAN AT ME and I was flipping out. Like why did it do that! They aren’t supposed to do that! It literally chased me onto front quad. Not dignified -laughs- I finally just kicked my foot at it and ran away.
HCH: Favorite book – fiction and non fiction – and movie?
Morgan Blalock: Fiction: Lolita. I have a line from it tattooed on my arm. Or The Garden of Eden by Hemingway. Nonfiction: The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell. Movie: Howl’s Moving Castle!
HCH: Why?
Morgan Blalock: Lolita is a love story. It’s the definition of a nontraditional, one-sided love story. It’s incredible and it opened my eyes so much. Also the way Nabokov uses language…WOWZA! Can’t compete with that. Hemingway I just adore. Everything. about. him. is. great. HMC gets me every time. [It is] so sad and beautiful and great. The music is lovely [too].
HCH: Finally, where do you see yourself in the future? Where do you want to go from here?
Morgan Blalock: My top three choices for grad school are Princeton, Syracuse, and Sarah Lawrence. After grad school, PhD, all that jazz, I want to teach at a university (and hopefully go to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.) I’ll be writing the entire time also, [and] hopefully being selected for journals and publishing my work. I have a lot of ambitions but I also want to make time to see the world. I’ve always wanted to go to Eastern Europe. I wanna do that too.
HCH: Anywhere in particular?
Morgan Blalock: Wallachia – where Vlad the Impaler was from – and Romania and just everywhere! I think people forget that Europe isn’t just Paris. -laughs-
*
Bonus: Morgan Blalock discusses Ancient History:
[HCH: As a classics major, do you have a favorite bit of history you’d like to share?]
Morgan Blalock: I LOVE JULIUS CAESAR. He is incredible. Everything about him is fascinating. I like to think we’re related because we have similar noses.
But a specific bit of history . . . Today in Latin we translated Suetonius’ life of Tiberius. Apparently Tiberius one time was approached by a man who caught a fish for him, and he was scared, so he made the man get smacked in the face with the face. Then he made the dude get whacked in the face with a lobster too. -laughs- I just . . . what? Oh lord.