Life After Mac: Real stories of alumni finding their way — Ashley
I graduated from McMaster twice. The first time was in 2012 with a B.A., double majoring in English/Cultural Studies and Critical Theory, and the second was in 2013 with an M.A. in English. As any student knows, especially a student in the Humanities, their program comes with the question “what are you going to do when you’re done?” A degree like English is so general, and truly I didn’t have an answer. The best part of not having a plan is not having a plan B. With that, I learned to bet on myself. I knew that I was passionate, and that my studies in the Humanities was asking the kinds of questions and having the types of conversations that made me both passionate and curious. I followed my gut, I learned how to market my skills, and I put one foot in front of the other along a path I was carving for myself.
As an undergraduate, I worked at La Piazza between classes, at AVtek as much as I could, and did some freelance writing as the opportunities arose. I also wrote for The Silhouette and Mills Memorial Library. I was a member of the ACA, the African-Caribbean Association at McMaster and the Vice-President of the West Indian Students United. I found that the more I did — double-majoring, working three jobs and volunteering — the more I could do. I knew that university was a hub of opportunity, and that I was unearthing what energized me, discovering my impact. In my fourth year, I had the pleasure of writing a thesis and the sincere honour of having it supervised by Susan Searls Giroux. I got top marks for my work, and was also awarded First Prize in the essay competition for my year. I didn’t know what career my skills and critical eye would lead to, but I knew I was doing something right.
I was awarded a scholarship and accepted into the Master’s program. I kept up my fervent love for being involved and finding my niche. I was elected to the Graduate Student Association as a Humanities Representative, hand-selected to do research for McMaster’s Office of the President, and I was challenged by the brightest minds I had ever met. I made lifelong friends, comrades in the trenches working toward nurturing the ideologies that could combat neoliberalism, learning the tools of colonialism to use language as a mode of decolonization, and being disoriented by class struggle and then struggling to find our places in the world.
I graduated with my M.A. when I was 23 years old, and by 24 I became a communications professor at Durham College. At 25 I developed and delivered courses at OnTechU called Persuasion and Communities, Communication, and Social Change. At 28 my research on Black socialism was accepted for presentation at Harvard University’s Black Portraitures conference. Then, I founded the Black Student Success Network at Durham College, the same year I was nominated and selected as one of DC’s “Leading Women.” I’m 29 now and just finished writing a manuscript for my work with the Centre for Community Engaged Narrative Arts. This work focuses on urbanism, the critique of borders and the necessary work that imagination, subaltern knowledge, and humanism are performing to bring issues such as land usage and rights to the fore.
I credit my “success” (love of learning, belief in my power) to experiences gleaned at McMaster University and its amazing faculty in the Humanities. There I learned how to think critically, how to challenge the academy to be a change-agent toward peace, how to be a smart Black woman who used hip-hop and everyday experiences as necessary examples of theoretical concepts, and my professors were not intimidated by me. I unapologetically represented Jamaica and my teachers were not distracted by my identity. My teaching philosophy’s origins are from Tupac Shakur: “I’m not saying I’m gonna rule the world or I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee you that I will spark the brain that will change the world.” At McMaster I ate dinner with Angela Davis, got my text autographed by Robin D.G. Kelley, and had the mentorship of Henry Giroux. I was already used to having a seat at the table. I was already comfortable with asking critical questions about how to develop a transformative pedagogy, always on the side of the oppressed.
I say all of this because the heuristic nature of art is powerful and in need of defense. Not knowing what life after Mac has in store is a common experience, and a stress-inducing thought spiral. Believe in your work, believe in your choices, and realize that the academy is not the answer: you are. You are the life after Mac, and the future that we need. I am most proud to be a McMaster alumna, and I am humbled by the opportunity to inspire the next generation of thinkers who will push institutions to renew themselves.
Ashley Marshall ‘13
MA English
The McMaster Alumni Association will be featuring recent grad’s career stories to show career paths are anything but linear. If you graduated in the last 10 years and are interested in sharing yours, submit your story by clicking here.
If you are looking to get started on your own journey, take advantage of the resources available to recent graduates through our partnership with the Student Success Centre.
