Rebecca Gross Los Angeles, CA Loyola Marymount University rgross3@lion.lmu.edu
EDUCATION: M.A. Candidate & Teaching Fellow in English Literature 2021 Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles B.A. in English, Honors in English, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa University of Washington, Seattle
Intended: May
June 2018
THESES & CAPSTONE: M.A. Capstone in progress
Spring 2021
My capstone will focus on literary representation of embodied trauma of diasporic subjects. I have completed work on semi-autobiographical novels written by Afro-Caribbean women (Kincaid, Danticat), and am working on expanding an essay I wrote exploring the rhetoric of embodied memory in superhero television shows about third-generation survivors of the trauma, such as the Holocaust and the Tulsa Massacre. My capstone will pull extensively from trauma, memory, and embodiment theory, and will apply these theories to literature and other media. Advisor: TBD Reader: TBD Undergraduate Independent study project A re-understanding of Capécia’s ‘White Mask’ Mentor: Laura Chrisman
Spring 2018
Undergraduate Honors thesis Spring 2017 Reversing a Mimetic Discourse: Re-claiming Identity through 20th Century Caribbean Literature Mentor: Louis Chude-Sokei
HONORS AND AWARDS: English Graduate Spring Research and Writing Grant ($3,000) Graduate Library Research Award - Honorable Mention ($450) Sigma Tau Delta - English Honor Society Teaching Fellowship ($9,000/semester; four semesters)
Spring 2020 Spring 2020 Inducted Spring 2020 2019-2021
English Department Grant ($3,000/semester; four semesters) Jewish Studies Travel Scholarship ($1,000) Magna Cum Laude Honors in English 2017 Phi Beta Kappa “Husky Experience” Scholarship ($4,000/academic year; four years) Barnes “Wings to London” Travel Scholarship ($1000) Dean’s List (all quarters enrolled as full-time undergraduate student)
2019-2021 Awarded Dec. 2019 Awarded June 2018 Awarded Spring 2017- Present Sept. 2014-June 2018 Winter 2016 Sept. 2014-June 2018
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS: MMLA 2020 in Milwaukee - “Cultures of Collectivity” November 2020 ● Title: “Fantasy, Embodied Trauma, and Intuition: How Third-Generation Survivors are Creating Alternative Worlds to Project the Past Forward” ● Panel: “Fabricating the Body” MELUS 2020 in New Orleans ●
April 2020 Postponed due to COVID-19 Title: “‘Everything remains the same and yet nothing is the same’: (Re)Archiving Trauma in Lucy, Annie John, and Breath, Eyes, Memory”
Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL) Spring 2018 ● Title: "The Romantic Picturesque in Caribbean Postcolonial Poetry: A Mimetic Movement Reclaiming a Literary Tradition" Mentor: Raimonda Modiano Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL) Spring 2017 ● Title: “Wide Sargasso Sea: Problematizing Religion and Feminism in Jane Eyre” Mentor: Charles LaPorte University of Washington Undergraduate Research Symposium ● “Race, Colonialism, and Identity in 20th Century Caribbean Literature” Mentor: Louis Chude-Sokei
Spring 2017
PUBLICATIONS: Rhetoric Society Quarterly - Peer Reviewed Scholarly Journal of Rhetoric ● Co-Authored Article: “Rhetorics and Viruses” ○ Contributed mainly to first section, “Physical Viruses and Actual Bodies” ○ I was proactive in organizing the collaborative effort with 7 other co-authors Creating Under Covid
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Book published by the Arnold and Leona Finkler Institute of Holocaust Research, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Ed. Judy Baumel-Schwawrtz Co-Authored essay, “On (Not) Being There: Reflections on the Study Abroad Course ‘The Holocaust in Poland’ in the era of Covid-19” with Dr. Holli Levitsky.
Los Angeles Review of Books ● Abridged academic essay: “La Femme Noir”: Untranslated and Unread Variant Literature - S econd Chance Anthology ● Creative Nonfiction Essay: “Swallowing: Notes on Female Pain” Los Angeles Progressive ● Article: “Jim Carrey’s IndigNATION Ignites Progressive Politics” ● Article: “Striking in the Rain: Picket lines across LA County persevere despite the rain, for student and teacher rights” ● Article: “Striking, Negotiating, and What’s Next for Public Education in LA” ● Op-Ed: “Voting Loraine Lundquist for City Council in District 12 is our Only Option” Entropy Magazine ● Article: “Ho & Neimetz: Women of a Modern Artistic Era, or How Two Women Brought Technology into Their Crafts”
Teaching Experience: Loyola Marymount University (Teaching Fellowship) Writing Instructor – Shared responsibility with Content Instructor for syllabus design, text selection, lesson plans, designing learning outcomes, assignment development, and grading. ●
Classes taught: ○ “First Year Seminar: History of Race and Gender” (2 sections, Fall 2019) ○ “First Year Seminar: Gender and Pop Culture” (1 section, Spring 2020) ○ “First Year Seminar: Passing and Slumming” (1 section, Spring 2020) ○ “Rhetorical Arts” (1 section, Fall 2020) ○ “Rhetorical Arts (1 section, Spring 2021)
Both “Gender & Pop Culture” and “Passing and Slumming,” were affected by the COVID-19 crisis, and were promptly moved to online instruction upon returning from LMU’s spring break. In both courses, I worked with the content instructors to adapt our pedagogical plans designed for the classroom to an online environment. These adaptations included: synchronous Zoom sessions to check in with students as a group and individually; synchronous Zoom “writing workshops”; asynchronous lectures posted on Brightspace, recorded using VoiceThread; and student discussion board posts on Brightspace.
Digitized instruction: I want to expand on the work done with students in synchronous Zoom writing workshops. These workshops included 1) Analyzing primary and secondary sources as a class of 15 students, using Beyoncé’s Lemonade and bell hooks’ response to it; 2) Working in ‘breakout room’ groups to develop research questions and thesis statements; 3) putting students in ‘breakout rooms’ to conduct peer review on papers, among others.
Literary/Editing Experience: All Female Menu LLC - Small Press Print and Online Zine June 2018 - Present Founder, Editor-in-Chief | Los Angeles ● I created this zine to amplify female millennial & gen-z experiences just after graduating from the University of Washington with my B.A. in English Literature. ● The first print issue came out in early October 2018; the content focussed on harassment and assault. The second issue focused on “female pain” and the third issue was themed “female utopia.” ● I contact all contributors, work with them to commission art and writing for the zine, and edit the written content. ● In July of 2020, I registered All Female Menu as an LLC and began working with freelancers to begin making the transition from print-only to online & print publication. The Black Scholar Literary Journal March 2018 Present Editorial Assistant to owner, Laura Chrisman | Seattle & Remotely ● Currently working on major archival project: Archiving all poetry published in the journal between 1969 and the present ● Research marketing, advertising, and fundraising opportunities for the journal Byron Randall Art March 2018 Present Research Assistant | Seattle & Remotely ● Built a digital humanities website complete with a timeline of Byron Randall’s life’s work ● Organized spreadsheets with contact information of hospitals, nursing homes, school districts, and public libraries; contacted these organizations to inquire about donating Byron Randall’s art. Kanstellation Literary Magazine Founding Editor, Prose Editor, & Commissioned Writer | Worked remotely ● Manage magazine’s Submittable account ● Correspond and collaborate with other readers & copyeditors ● Write commissioned pieces for magazine’s themed editions
Oct. 2019-June 2020
New York Times Bestselling Author, David Shields Aug. 2018 -Oct. 2019 Research assistant | Seattle & Remotely ● Worked with team of research assistants to proofread and fact-check book, Nobody Hates Trump More Than Trump, out now ○ Lead Quote/Fact-Checker on Chapters 4 and 5; point person for questions ● Proofread and fact-checked M cSweeney’s article written by Shields ● Assisted with research on his recent film release Lynch: A History ● First-reader on screenplay adaptation of his book, That Thing You Do With Your Mouth ● I continue to assist with various research and editing projects The Daily of the University of Washington | Seattle Jan. 2015-June 2018 ● Writer/reporter for every section of the newspaper (News, Arts, Science, Wellness, Sports, Opinion) over the course of four years ● Opinion Editor for the newspaper for the 2018-19 school year ● Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper for the 2017-18 school year ○ Managed daily, 127-year-old, entirely student-run newspaper ○ Employed over 300 students ○ Advised and oversaw a team of 18 section editors, including print and multimedia Seattle Channel June 2017-June 2018 Social Media and Communications Intern | Seattle ● Worked with an award-winning Municipal TV station ● Managed all social media channels for TV Program, Art Zone, for 8/12 months ● Wrote and distributed a weekly email viewer guide with Mailchimp ● Drafted copy for the web and social media with Tweetdeck ● Assisted with writing scripts for TV program, Seattle News Now Cordelia Donovan Inc. June 2015- Sept. 2016 Public Relations Intern, Assistant to Firm’s Owner | Harlem, New York ● Informed news outlets of upcoming TV, Film, and Music releases ● Worked as a Production Assistant on TV and Music Video shoots ● Created email campaigns using Mailchimp to promote a nationally syndicated TV program ● Managed social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram) for the firm ● Copy-edited full-length play, which was performed at a Lower East Side theater
PROJECTS: Valleyland Podcast Summer 2018 - Present Upon moving back to Los Angeles post-college, I created a podcast with a co-producer, Aden Frank. Together, we set out to explore why one part of Los Angeles –– The San Fernando Valley –– gets a certain reputation compared to other parts of LA. We, as children of The Valley ourselves, talked to Valley experts about their experience with the region, and what makes it a unique place.
REFERENCES:​ Upon Request