What is your role on Grapevine and what classes do you teach?

“I currently teach U.S. humanities for two sections and three sections of composition, the dual credit through Kirkwood Community College. My role is just the advisor on Grapevine, but basically it’s mostly student-run.”

How long have you been in that role? 

“I took over when (the former advisor) left West. I have no idea when that was to be honest. It was a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” 

What do you enjoy most about Grapevine and what made you want to take over that role?

“The former advisor asked me. I think she asked me if I would be willing to take it over because I do a lot of creative writing and I taught creative writing too. She just felt like it was a natural fit and wanted somebody who was going to keep it going. Really, it’s mostly student run. I open my room and I want them to do it. The former advisor had a really strong group of around 25 kids and then they left. I had to rebuild it from scratch and we’ve had our years where it’s hard.”

What’s your favorite memory of Grapevine?

“I think just getting stuff published is the best stuff. Getting that publication out, hopefully in time because it takes a while. There’s a lot of things there.”

How did Grapevine shutting down for COVID affect artists who usually publish their works in the magazine?

“Probably not much because that’s the big challenge with Grapevine, getting people to submit stuff. I know there’s a lot of writers and I know there’s a lot of people with talent here and I know they write a lot of good stuff, but getting them to take that stuff and submit it is the big challenge for Grapevine and always has been. I lost teaching creative writing and that’s how I could get some students to submit this, I would offer them extra credit which we don’t have now. There were ways for me to get them to submit stuff, whereas now I don’t have access to a lot of creative writing.”

Since you’re retiring this year, who do you plan on passing the torch to? 

“It’s off the record, but they really care about writing. They are younger and have more energy to keep the club going. I’m to the point where my bandwidth has gotten smaller because I have kids and other activities. If anything, they’d give the younger people energy and fire.” 

What do you hope to see from Grapevine once it gets published this year? 

“Just getting the publication out. Another thing is raising money to get it published. In the past, they were able to get advertisers and stuff like that. They’re pretty organized though. A lot of them are great at task-mastering and that’s a lot of what you need.”

If you’re interested in joining the club, email Zaira Amad at [email protected].