Read the literary mixtape here: Calling My Shot
Monthly Archives: April 2014
Meet the Contributors: Max Pete
Name: Max Pete
Track: “I’ma Let You Finish, But …”
Education: San Francisco State University ’13
Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Who’s the current occupant of your dream job? Mike Caren, Lyor Cohen.
How was your 18-year-old self naive? I thought I was going to be the next big music producer without practicing.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Charming.
In a sentence, be the biggest critic of your writing: I need to proofread more.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? By continuing to following my passion and achieve my goals.
What potential perception about you would be misguided? A lot of people in the music business get a bad rap about being too full of themselves, and that is not me at all.
Meet the Contributors: Emily Perkins
Name: Emily Perkins
Track: “Recycled Romance”
Education: Psychology, Georgetown University ’14
Hometown: Milton, Massachusetts
Who’s the current occupant of your dream job? Yikes, I don’t know. Any professor in a university doing exciting developmental psychopathology research.
How was your 18-year-old self naive? I thought it would be fun to take intensive Russian (I dropped out after two days).
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Witty.
What ethical question confounds you? Do multiple “truths” exist, or is it just one that we view from different angles? That’s by far the deepest I get.
In a sentence, be the biggest critic of your writing: My sentences have been known to have too many shelves.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I hope my future self finds success in her relationships and in her professional work, pretty much like everyone else. I’ll also be proud of myself if I move back to Boston — there’s nowhere I belong more.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire? My two best friends at Georgetown — Danny Funt and Victoria Edel — have both contributed to CMS (although to different extents, I guess). To say I admire them would be an understatement, because they not only are incredibly gifted, but also make me question myself every day. Any evolving I’ve done while in college is thanks, at least in part, to them.
Meet the Contributors: Victoria Edel
Name: Victoria Edel
Track: “Recycled Romance”
Education: Georgetown University ’14
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York
Who’s the current occupant of your dream job? Tina Fey and Joss Whedon. (I really want to be a hybrid of the two.)
How was your 18-year-old self naive? I thought that I had most things figured out and that my time in college would simply be a time to reap the rewards of my hard work, that it would be a straight line between the present and my future, and that I could predict everything that would happen to me. Thankfully, what actually happened was much more interesting than what I could have predicted.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Loyal.
What ethical question confounds you? I’m really interested in the call shared by Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Jesus Christ that asks us to live virtuously to serve other and I struggle daily to understand what that means for me and what I ought to be doing.
In a sentence, be the biggest critic of your writing: It’s too informal, too personal, and tries too hard to be sentimental.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I hope I’m happy. Growing up has only showed me how hard finding happiness can be, and it would be naive to set some terms of some future happiness now, but I hope that I’ve found something deep and meaningful.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire? Fr. Matthew Carnes, S.J. If you’ve ever been to one of his masses, you know that he’s just spewing genius.
Meet the Contributors: Nicholas Dirago
Name: Nicholas V. Dirago
Track: “Small Fish in a Big Pond”
Education: Philosophy and Government, Georgetown University ’14
Hometown: Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey
Who is the smartest person you’ve ever met? Connor Moseley, my best friend from home.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Thoughtful.
What potential perception about you would be misguided? I suppose the perception that I am cold or unfeeling, while perhaps understandable, is misguided. It’s more that I am heavily introverted and tend to find meaning and energy internally before externally. I think we privilege extroversion, likely to our detriment.
What ethical question confounds you? What can we be compelled to do?
What do you lie about most often? Being “almost done” with my thesis.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I’d hope to be impressed that I stuck to a set of values, and maybe even changed some minds in the process.
Meet the Contributors: TM Gibbons-Neff
Name: TM Gibbons-Neff
Track: “Some Lives Are More Equal Than Others”
Education: English, Georgetown University ’15
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
What is success? Knowing when you’ve failed.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Loyal.
In a sentence, be your biggest critic: I’m too sensitive.
What ethical question confounds you? Why do the good die young?
What’s the best published piece you’ve ever written? “Why We Died”
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I would be impressed if my future self had a beard.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire?Lauren Weber; don’t know her too well, but she seems pretty bad ass.
Meet the Contributors: Alex Dickey
Name: Alex Dickey
Track: “Married to Your Morals” and “Colorful Language”
Education: UC Berkeley ’14
Hometown: Carmel, California
What is success?The short answer is, “it depends.” I guess, generally, success is a product of an action that causes you to feel good. If I’ve gotten what I want, I’d usually say I was successful.
How was your 18-year-old self naive?Aside from all things romantic: I think my 18-year-old self was naive in the same ways my 22-year-old self is naive, except my 22-year-old self should know better by now. “Things will work out one way or another, your life won’t end if ___ doesn’t go the way you want,” etc., etc.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Sincere.
What do you wish people weren’t judged for? Any and all things bedroom related.
What ethical question confounds you? “At what point have I stopped being a good person that does bad things, and started being a bad person?”
In a sentence, be the biggest critic of your writing: I’m a self-conscious writer, and I’m afraid that shows. I couldn’t even answer this question directly because I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take on the persona of an externalized critic, or respond as me, my own internalized critic. But now I’m thinking about it, that self-consciousness might manifest itself more in process than in product. I don’t know. Fuck you.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I would be most impressed if my future self was happy. I don’t yet really care what he’d be doing, but if he’s glad to be doing whatever that may be, I couldn’t ask for too much more.
Meet the Contributors: Evan Hollander
Name: Evan Hollander
Track: The Dumb Demographic
Education: International Politics, Georgetown University ’14
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Who’s the current occupant of your dream job? Jen Psaki (State Department spokesperson).
Who is the most ethical person you’ve ever met? John Lewis.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Diligent.
In a sentence, be the biggest critic of your writing: Plagued by a lack of creativity and a tendency to be long winded.
What potential perception about you would be misguided? Perceived brusqueness.
What ethical question confounds you? Virtually every one.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? With humility despite success.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire? Pat Curran. A great friend, Pat is calmly rational and incredibly compassionate in equal measure.
Meet the Contributors: Connor Gregoire
Name: Connor Gregoire
Track: “Sports Fanaticism”
Education: Economics, Georgetown University ’13
Hometown: Kinnelon, New Jersey
What is success? Success is exceeding expectations.
Who is the most ethical person you’ve ever met? Rev. Matthew Carnes, S.J.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Discerning.
What potential perception about you would be misguided? Like stereotypes, perceptions are oftentimes based in reality. I don’t think I’m fooling anyone.
What ethical question confounds you? Whether or not the justice system should have the authority to sentence a person to death.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? By his sincerity.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire? Lauren Weber.
Meet the Contributors: Ryan Whelan
Name: Ryan Whelan
Track: “Death of the Love Letter” and the bonus track “Duty to Rescue Friendships”
Education: Finance and Management, Georgetown University ’14
Hometown: East Greenwich, Rhode Island
Who’s the current occupant of your dream job? Tom Condon. He is one of the most knowledgeable and successful agents in the NFL.
What one-word description would you find most flattering? Sincere.
What potential perception about you would be misguided? That I am not open minded.
What do you lie about most often? My peace of mind.
What do you wish people weren’t judged for? Mistakes they genuinely regret.
How would you hope to be impressed by your future self? I would love to see that I have done an incredible job as a father.
Who is another Calling My Shot contributor whom you admire? T.M. Gibbons Neff
Calling My Shot 