Gillian Eileen Pasley
Name
Gillian Eileen Pasley
Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Major
Creative Writing
Sociology, High Honors
Hometown
About Me
My name is Gillian Pasley! I grew up in Concord, MA, and am very sad to now be graduating and leaving Oberlin College. I majored in Sociology and Creative Writing, and developed passions for poetry, nonfiction writing, teaching, and education reform. I completed an honors thesis in sociology investigating normative whiteness in social justice-oriented teacher training programs, and am finishing up a capstone that experiments with transitional prose forms to explore fatherhood, death, and aftershocks. Outside of the classroom, I served as station manager this past year at WOBC, and was a DJ and/or staff member at the radio station for all four years at Oberlin. Ive also enjoyed making my dreams come true as a concert booker for the Sco since 2017. Additionally: been an unreliable tasty things maker in Harkness; a visiting poet at Langston Middle School; a singer for illusive campus band "The Milos"; a sporadic employee of the admissions office; loyal customer of Feve, Blue Rooster, etc. I will miss my lovely friends and this community so much!
Study Abroad
Galway, Ireland during the spring of 2019.
Campus Jobs
Student Union staff
Office of Admissions
America Reads
Favorite Place
WOBC! I was station manager this year, on staff for two years prior, and have been a DJ for four. The basis of some of my best memories with community (cover band showcase, times with friends in the studio), but also the site of much self-discovery and growing passion for community-minded media.
Favorite Class
Teaching Imaginative Writing with poetry professor Lynn Powell!! Lynn is such an inspiring professor, and completing my first poetry residency at Langston Middle School ignited a passion for teaching.
Clubs & Organizations
Gear Co-op
Oberlin Student Cooperative Association
Student Union Programming Committee
Wilder Voice Magazine
WOBC: Oberlin College & Community Radio
Writers in Residence
Memorable Oberlin Moment
As a booker for the 'Sco, I got to book my favorite musician of all time (Jonathan Richman, of the Modern Lovers) for a show in fall 2017. They say never to meet you heroes, but it actually worked out--this artist who I'd listened to and was inspired by all throughout high school was lovely to talk to, as weird as his music would suggest, and put on a phenomenal show. After the 'Sco was all cleaned up, I prepared to say goodbye -- when he realized he had parked his van across a driveway on Woodland Street and it had been towed during the evening. If you had told 15-year-old me that I'd be driving my hero to a junkyard in Elyria in my beat-up Toyota Camry, I never would have believed you. When I got back to Wilder, he gave me a hug and got into the van--"the adventure continues!!" he called, and drove off into the night.
Graduation Date
05/25/2020
Future Plans
As of right now, undecided. I am hoping to work in education, public media, non-profit development, journalism, or some combination of all of those...
Citation
“Gillian Eileen Pasley,” OC2020, accessed April 26, 2024, https://oc2020.oberlincollegelibrary.org/items/show/274.