McKenna Schillinger is a senior at Western Illinois University (WIU), working to obtain her bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Language with a minor in Social Media. Schillinger transferred to WIU after graduating from Black Hawk College with her Associate of Arts in English Creative Writing. She spent her first year at WIU involved with IDEAS (Interdisciplinary English & Arts Society), and published her first piece of writing in Elements this past spring. Schillinger can be found working at her local library, and she looks forward to a career in social media marketing/professional writing.

M&L: What is your weekday routine like as an English major/minor?

MS: My weekday routine consists of waking up and having some reading-and-coffee time before my shift at the Moline Public Library, where I work as a page. After work, I like to come home and have lunch before getting some schoolwork done. Three days a week, I have class, and then I do more schoolwork until it is time for the two-mile walk I take every day with my dad. I spend my evenings doing homework, or, in the rare event I get free time, either reading or working on my writing. 

M&L: What book are all your English peers reading that lies beyond assigned texts for class?

MS: Beyond assigned texts for class, I have heard a lot of my English peers this semester mention reading Throne of Glass, a series that is currently very popular on bookish social media as well.  I have also seen literature enthusiasts recently discussing books like Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab, Katabasis by R.F. Kuang, Beartown by Frederick Backman, and Immortal Consequences by I. V. Marie. 

M&L: What are your weekends like?

MS: My weekends are when I do the vast majority of my reading and writing. I like to get as much of my school work done during the week as possible so that I can dedicate my weekends to resting, spending time with my family, and working on my creative endeavors. I also like to clean on the weekends to reset and prepare for the next week. I especially enjoy spending time with my grandma on the weekends, who is one of my best friends and the person I share all of my favorite book recommendations with. 

M&L: What book has changed your life as an undergraduate?

MS: A book that changed my life as an undergraduate would be I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue. I read this book for a Professional Development course I took last semester, and we put it into a coursewide discussion about the divide between the professional self and the personal, bringing in other media such as the Apple TV series Severance. This book blew me away with its all-too-accurate anxiety representation, as well as the humor and heart that it contained. The novel contains complex characters and a didactic element that teaches readers that you must truly get to know someone before making judgments about their motives and character. It is my favorite contemporary novel I have read in my life as an undergraduate, and it was a special honor to be able to talk to the author, Natalie Sue, as a class at the end of the semester. 

Another piece of literature important to me in my undergrad would be Oscar Wilde’s widely known play/comedic commentary on the absurdities of Victorian society, The Importance of Being Ernest. This is my favorite play of all time, and I first read it my senior year of high school, but I got to revisit it in a Survey of British Literature course my Junior year of my undergrad. The humor and wit in that play is so sharp and requires such close reading and knowledge of Victorian society that I notice something new in it every time I read it; I am always wildly entertained. 

M&L: Where do you hang out on campus?

MS: This semester, I am fully online, but when I was on campus there was an alcove on the upper floor of Riverfront that my friends and I liked to hang out and get work done in. I also liked hanging out in the atriums of both Riverfront and Building C.

M&L: Where do you hang out off campus?

MS: Off campus, I like to hang out at the Moline Public Library, where I work, as well as at various bookstores and cafes around the Quad Cities. These include the Atlas Collective, Milltown Coffee, Vibrant Coffeehouse, East Moline Coffee Company, and Books-A-Million, to name a few.

M&L: What has been or will be your biggest adventure as an undergraduate English major/minor?

MS: My biggest adventure as an undergraduate English major is contributing to WIU literary magazines such as M&L and Elements! I have never shared my writing like that before, and so it has been both a great challenge and a cool opportunity to practice my craft and build the confidence to share it with others. Working on improving as a writer has been and continues to be a huge adventure for me overall, and I am really enjoying being able to connect with other writers here at WIU and share in our love and appreciation for literature.