{"id":20976,"date":"2025-05-06T15:11:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T19:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=20976"},"modified":"2025-05-15T11:33:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T15:33:05","slug":"one-short-experience-can-be-absolutely-life-shaping","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/06\/one-short-experience-can-be-absolutely-life-shaping\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018One short experience can be absolutely life-shaping\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Drawn to literature and volunteering, Nick Brunelle \u201925 focuses on advocacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nick Brunelle \u201925 gives a detailed, philosophical answer to any question he\u2019s asked. It should come as no surprise \u2014 the English<\/a> and philosophy<\/a> major is constantly poring through deep and complex texts. These volumes, as well as a passion for community work, have come to define his Clark experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunelle was drawn to Clark because of the thesis program offered by many departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Nick Brunelle \u201925<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was given a sense that I would be able to work independently in how I went about writing my thesis, which played to my strengths,\u201d Brunelle says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He eventually settled on writing his English honors thesis on the concept of migration in Salman Rushdie\u2019s 1988 novel \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI found this novel interesting on my first reading of it, but was surprised by the lack of analysis with regard to immigration and migration, as these are fairly common discussions in Rushdie\u2019s other works,\u201d says Brunelle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conducting a literary analysis with a focus on post-colonialism and psychoanalysis is the best approach to Rushdie\u2019s novel, says Brunelle, who describes his project as almost \u201cmonastic\u201d because of the solitary nature of the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt made me think hard about why I was doing this, about my love for literary work, and about the necessity of this work in particular,\u201d Brunelle says. \u201cConsidering what is happening in our current political landscape, I believe that it\u2019s very important to be having discussions about migrants and immigrants as political subjects, and about how migrants and immigrants are depicted in media, especially by people who write from experience, like Rushdie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Nick Brunelle \u201925 volunteers at The Mustard Seed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His emphasis on advocacy extends to his involvement with local Catholic-run charities such as The Mustard Seed, a nearby soup kitchen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClark has really allowed me to become involved with organizations helping lower-income communities in Worcester,\u201d says Brunelle, noting that giving back is an essential piece of his Catholic faith. \u201cAcademia is a very privileged thing, and stepping beyond the academy, to me, is so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting involved with charitable organizations is crucial to the survival of communities in a city like Worcester, where there aren\u2019t necessarily many public services. I\u2019ve really been able to get involved, help people, and meet people in the community who are saving lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through a course taught by Professor Siobhan McGrath, Brunelle is working with the United Automobile Workers on southern labor drives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat college has made me realize is that there is such a gap between academia and working-class communities,\u201d Brunelle says. \u201cI knew that in order to become truly involved in a community, I needed to be helping the actual people of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunelle sees plenty of options for life after commencement. He\u2019s considering a career in teaching, either at the collegiate or high school level, and has also investigated the field of psychoanalysis thanks to his thesis work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy future is always such a difficult question, because one short experience can be absolutely life-shaping and completely change your trajectory,\u201d he says, adding with a laugh, \u201cIf all else fails, the priesthood and monasteries always exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brunelle says he\u2019s been encouraged and guided in his writing pursuits by his Clark professors, particularly thesis advisor and English Professor Stephen Levin<\/a> and academic advisor and philosophy Professor Wes DeMarco<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve come to be fueled by a great love of academic work while I\u2019ve been here,\u201d he says. \u201cClark gave me the space to be an academic while simultaneously maturing as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drawn to literature and volunteering, Nick Brunelle \u201925 focuses on advocacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":20978,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"#525250","story_headerImg":20979,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[225,223,239],"displayed_author":[228],"featured":[494],"topic":[117,307,273,171,121],"class_list":["post-20976","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-humanities","category-clark-community","category-worcester-world","displayed_author-abbie-hart-25","featured-secondary","topic-english","topic-philosophy","topic-social-change","topic-social-justice","topic-undergraduate-students"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018One short experience can be absolutely life-shaping\u2019 | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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