From hikes on the Konza to studies with a poet laureate to helping fellow students with research, Mara Aberle’s K-State experience brings together a community
How did you get interested in creative writing?
I have an older cousin who attended K-State. She invited me to come stay with her while she was in college, and she showed me around campus — Beach Museum, the library and Call Hall. At her apartment, we made a picture book together. She drew the pictures and I came up with the words. I had so much fun! I went home and told my mom that I wanted to be an author, and I’ve been interested in writing ever since.
What is it like being taught by Kansas Poet Laureate Traci Brimhall?
Dr. Brimhall is an amazing teacher, and in her classes, I’ve been able to hone my craft. She is a very personable professor. I call her Coach. She is the kind of professor you want, especially in humanities — willing to get to know students and build relationships with them. She introduces us to a lot of different kinds of poetry, and she makes us think very deeply about our writing.
Her workshops are great. We bring our work to class, read it with our class, and they give us critiques and suggestions. We say one positive thing, one suggestion and then a “double dog dare.” Her workshops created really good feedback. There’s a lot of respect in the workshop because it’s hard to open your work to critique. Traci’s workshops create a sense of community.
Tell me about your poem Village Villanelle.
It started out as an exercise in Dr. Brimhall’s class. We went on a field trip to the Beach Museum, and one of their exhibits was about these ladies who make different craft items and mail them to each other.
Then I adapted it for Good for K-State magazine and thought about the theme of community. K-State is like a village. Who is finding the elements? Who’s working together to survive? So it’s that message of community and sharing. And to make it more K-State, I added Kansas imagery: the limestone, the prairie winds, the tall grass. I think of the Konza Prairie, one of my favorite places, and beautiful sunrises. That’s what I was trying to evoke.
How have scholarships contributed to your college experience?
The community I’ve found in academia — enjoying my classes, building relationships with professors, being mentored by professors — that’s so valuable to me. I love being at this stage of life, and I would have missed out on that because of money. Scholarships have been such a gift!
My family has two kids in college, me and my brother, and because of scholarships, I haven’t had to really worry about finances. I think there’s a lot of anxiety that comes with money when you’re in your 20s because you’re figuring out how to function as an adult. Scholarships have helped take away that anxiety about money, and I can just focus on my studies.
What are your post-graduation plans?
I plan to get a master’s in library and information science. When I was in high school, I started the summer volunteering at the library, and that ended up turning into a job. I worked at the small public library every summer in high school and got the idea of going to work at libraries as a career. In my first semester at K-State, I got a job at Hale Library in the Department of Archives and Special Collections and have worked there ever since. I love information, knowing the collection and understanding it and being able to help people with their research. So in the future, I want to be working as a librarian or archivist and getting people the information they need.
Village Villanelle
By Mara Aberle
Amidst the flow of prairie winds
Sits a gray village, fighting for existence,
Beside the hills sprinkled with bluestem.
The fishers take their braided nets
And pull food from rough indigo rivers
While the prairie winds quiver through the reeds.
Farmers of field and flock raise food amidst rocks
Carving a living from out the earth’s womb
Among the hills where sunflowers bloom.
Meanwhile inside, doughs rises and shuttles slide.
Bakers and weavers shelter from the sweltering sun
And the swift prairie winds that whip and run.
The elements are harsh but the villagers stay close
Each can give what another needs most
Surrounded by hills of surviving tallgrass.
From noontime sun to midnight moon
The silvery village refuses to swoon,
Under clouds driven by prairie winds,
Among the overgrowth of prairie plants.
