New England Review

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NER Interns: Where are they now?

Farid Noori

March 26, 2021

NER intern Maia Sauer ’22 chats with Farid Noori ‘19.5 about his past experience with NER and his two-wheeled journey since Middlebury.

Maia Sauer: When were you an intern with NER, and what were some memorable aspects of your experience?

Farid Noori: I did my internship with NER during the 2017 winter term. Every hour was memorable and exciting, because the experience of being immersed in a professional literary environment was very new to me. I particularly enjoyed the editorial meetings with Jennifer Bates, which was definitely outside my comfort zone as the intern with the least literary experience (I majored in Economics). But, it pushed me to learn, and to learn quickly. The discomfort that came from the challenge of learning something new and getting my brain used to a new way of thinking is what made my time the most riveting. 

MS: Since Middlebury, you’ve followed your love of cycling and entrepreneurship to form the organization Mountain Bike Afghanistan. You’re also pursuing an MBA program. Could you share a few steps on your path to how you arrived here?

FN: Actually, I started Mountain Bike Afghanistan while still a student at Middlebury College in 2018. What followed after my graduation in February of 2019 was a year on the road, coast to coast, chasing mountain bike races and promoting my nonprofit to interested audiences. The decision to start grad school came from the need to extend my student visa. I applied to several universities, all of which had to meet the one condition of being located in exceptionally good places for mountain biking. I was fortunate that I was admitted to the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, home to the fastest growing network of mountain bike trails and cycling communities in the United States, and arguably the world. I am very lucky to be here.

MS: What does a typical day in your life look like right now?

FN: My days are nearly all the same, with no distinction between weekdays and weekends. I am an early riser, usually up by 6AM, sometimes earlier. I make French Press coffee and dive into reading the New Yorker for an hour. This is my sacred part of the day. I can attest to any recent college graduate and aspiring writer out there that subscribing to your favorite magazine is the first adult thing you must do. At some point in the day, depending on the weather, is a bike ride ranging from 1.5 to 5 hours. In between, I attend classes, which are entirely online these days. I also work a twenty hour-per-week Graduate Assistant (GA) position for a small private company, mainly doing business analysis (also online). Only after all of these must-do commitments are fulfilled do I get to work on Mountain Bike Afghanistan; planning new projects, fundraising, supporting our team of cyclists back home, etc. It’s a busy life, but I enjoy doing it all. 

MS: Could you point to one skill that you developed during your undergraduate years—in school or internships—that has been beneficial to your current work?

FN: Asking and sharing! Just good communication skills—I cannot stress this enough. I have found that people in positions of leadership and influence really like and value the passion and potential of younger, more inexperienced people. And they want to help. One just has to be comfortable enough to be vulnerable and reach out, be it cold-calling on LinkedIn or a tag on Twitter. There are a myriad of ways to connect these days. Some of these attempts may go unanswered, but most often they do not. Whatever your dreams and goals may be, you cannot get closer to achieving them by relying on your own skills alone. Having allies and mentors is really important, not just to guide you along the way, but to challenge you to continue to grow.

MS: Have you read any good books recently?

FN: I enjoyed every word in The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. The grit of the individuals is inspiring, but so is the language that Brown skillfully employs in the book. As an aspiring writer in the nonfiction genre, I didn’t just read the book. I studied it. 

MS: What makes a perfect story?

FN: Stories that tap into the depth of lived experiences and attempt to answer the why? Too often we confront stories that answer the how of things, but when stories attempt to address the why, they enter another dimension, seeing past the obvious and the mundane. 

Speaking of stories, I am delighted to share that I published two feature articles last year (as proof that you can still write even if you are doing something as technical as an MBA—I think Carolyn Kuebler will be proud): one which was on the front page of Bicycling Magazine, https://bit.ly/35JoSVs; and another in CyclingTips: https://bit.ly/2Nf5E3w.

MS: Thank you, Farid! It was great speaking with you. I look forward to keeping up with your adventures through writing and cycling.

Farid Noori, pictured at his graduation in front of Mead Chapel, with his brother.

Filed Under: Featured, Interns, News & Notes, Where Are They Now Tagged With: Farid Noori, Maia Sauer

NER Interns: Where are they now?

Elana Schrager

February 25, 2021

Elana Schrager ’17 talks to Maia Sauer ’22 about her path from NER intern to campaign manager.

Elana (right) during a recent campaign.

Maia Sauer: When did you intern at NER and what were some memorable aspects of your experience?

Elana Schrager: I interned with NER in the summer of 2016, between my junior and senior years. I had just arrived back in the US from my semester abroad in Dublin and was grateful to spend a whole summer in Vermont.

Interning with NER gave me the opportunity to think about writing, and short fiction in particular, in ways I hadn’t had time before. Reading from the general submission pile every week was different from reading the literature of the classroom. I was able to peer into the process of writing and the labor that goes into shaping stories, as they become greater than themselves when read.

Outside the work itself, I most enjoyed getting to meet and work with Carolyn, Marcy, and my co-intern, Natalie. As interns, we got invited to be part of their little on-campus haven, and it was a pleasure to get to know them and learn from them. 

Elana (left) during her time at Middlebury College.

MS: Your career path has gone in a political direction, if I’m not mistaken. How did you arrive where you are today, geographically and professionally?

ES: That’s a story without much of a defined narrative thread, but I’ll give it my best shot. When I was at NER, I remember talking with Marcy about maybe wanting to go work for a lit mag after graduation, and then maybe going on to grad school.

I led backpacking trips the summer after I graduated and drove around the country. When September came, I started driving east and applying to jobs—I wanted to write. While en-route from Sacramento to Maryland, I got a communications and research internship with End Citizens United, a campaign finance reform group. It turns out that political communications and research is very different from the academic writing and research I’d loved at school, but my internship ended the winter before the 2018 midterms, campaigns were hiring, and I wanted to leave DC. So, I decided to look for a campaign job.

While I was visiting Midd for Feb graduation, I got an email about a finance and communications job on a congressional race in Southern Illinois, and I moved out there nine days later. After it ended, I decided that I wanted to manage a campaign, which I’ve now done twice, in Virginia and Minnesota, moving to a new city every year for a new race.

MS: What was a skill that you developed during your undergraduate years that has been beneficial to your current work?

ES: I couldn’t have dreamed up a job more different from the work I did in school. Still, there are so many skills I learned there that I use every day. School rewarded me for being detail oriented and able to produce work efficiently and without error—both of which are important for managing campaigns. But the skill I truly learned at school, and the skill that’s the most valuable to me now, is how to build and maintain relationships. I learned how to talk with professors as people, not just authority figures, and built friendships with classmates that have lasted for years. That simple skill has helped me as I’ve worked with different people all over the country.

Also, learning Photoshop by messing around with it in the Axinn basement is always worthwhile.

MS: I could imagine that working within our current political climate is, at times, incredibly frustrating. How do you stay motivated, inspired, and committed?

ES: Working in electoral politics—and House politics in particular, which is where I’ve spent most of my time—is very humbling. Each campaign takes millions of dollars, massive amounts of resources and effort, and when it’s done, the chess board is reset and it’s done all again. It’s also easy to get burned out, because campaigns demand your all. You’re playing a kind of zero sum game: you win or you lose. It’s the worst thing in the world to be on the losing side on election day, wondering if you could have given just a little bit more, and whether that little bit more could have gotten you over the finish line. It’s also, critically, not a game—the people we elect result in policies that affect the lives of millions of people.

So, I try to pay attention and give importance to the tiniest things that I tend to overlook: drinking a whole cup of coffee on a bright morning without receiving an email or a phone call; going for a walk with a friend; reading a long-form article or a book. There are moments when I can’t see the delight and importance of those small things, and that’s when I know I need to take a breath and get some sleep.

MS: What have you been reading recently? Do you find yourself gravitating toward certain genres or themes right now?

ES: Last year, I basically read Twitter, newsletters, article headlines, and ad copy. In the weeks since election day, I’ve tried to ease myself back into more pleasurable reading. I started by rereading old young adult novels while I was at my parents’ house for the holidays, letting myself slip back into stories that required no thought or effort on my part. Now, I’m gravitating toward gentle books outside of the here and now, and the struggles of today and tomorrow. I’m currently reading Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson. I let it pour over me as I take a breath and figure out what my next year will be, and what job I’ll decide to do next. 

MS: Thanks very much for your time, Elana. It was wonderful to connect with you.

Filed Under: Featured, Interns, News & Notes, Where Are They Now Tagged With: Elana Schrager, Maia Sauer


Vol. 43, No. 2

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Rosalie Moffett

Writer’s Notebook—Hysterosalpingography

Rosalie Moffett

Many of the poems I’ve been writing lately are trying to figure out how to think about the future, how to reasonably hope, and what we must be resigned to. How can you imagine the future when the present is so slippery, so ready to dissolve?

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