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When I was accepted to the University of Dayton and mentioned Erma Bombeck as one of its famous students, my grandmother piped up that she loved Erma and used to read her columns in the paper weekly. I myself didn't get a proper introduction to Erma Bombeck until I was perusing a garage sale a year ago and picked up a dusty, vintage collection of four of her books. I read all four of them that summer and could see why my grandmother appreciated her wit and vivacity.

However, I found other reasons to appreciate Erma in my education at UD. I recognized in her writing and in her biography an early brand of Intersectional feminism. When advocating for the Equal Rights act, she was irritated that so many feminists rejected suburban housewives like herself as adversaries to the movement because of the traditional way they performed femininity. Erma believed that feminism should be for everyone and fought for that.

In addition to this, Erma Bombeck helped pave the way for future writers like me in her portrayal of female characters. Her refusal to allow her female characters to be perfect and infallible is something that I aspire to match in my own writing. Female characters should be as complex and interesting as females in real life and should not succumb to tired stereotypes of "the perfect housewife." To me, Erma Bombeck represents the unwillingness to submit to societal gender norms and taboos. She was an honest and compassionate person.

Perhaps how I relate to Erma Bombeck the most, though, is in her love of traveling. When studying abroad I found that the place that amazed me the most was the one that I never planned to visit: Morocco. Marrakech was astonishing and welcoming. The same way that Erma found her favorite places to be the small, less tourist-ed spots, like New Guinea, I found that the real adventure was in the trips you didn't think you would make. I think that this attitude most encapsulates Erma's writing. Whether or not we are housewives or mothers, we can all relate to Erma's ability to see adventure and humor in the unexpected and the disastrous. That willingness to be brave and explore in both her life and her writing is something I will always admire and emulate.

I am an English major with a creative writing concentration and currently am taking two creative writing classes. I am proud of the work that I have produced for my classes so far, including the beginning of a novel. With these recent successes, I want to use the workshop to build connections and network to start submitting the pieces that I think are ready. I believe that I can avail of the services that this conference has to offer now that I have some polished stories to workshop. I am especially excited to work on my humorous pieces from Creative Non-Fiction.

I am also getting ready to graduate, and as such, I am facing many life decisions, including how I am going to use my degree. This workshop and the introduction it can give me to the world of professional creative writing is invaluable. I am critically evaluating if I am able to write full-time for a living, and the sessions at the workshop, specifically ones like "Profitable Authorship- Quit Your Day Job," could help me determine my motivations and abilities to pursue a career in writing. When I was in high school, I always said that I wanted to be an English major because I wanted to be an author and write books for a living. As I am approaching graduation, I want to know if that is still a feasible dream. Can I do this for a living?

-Cassady Calder

Cassady is a Senior English major at the University of Dayton. She is from the small town of Ostrander, Ohio where she lives with a dog and a collection of chickens. Her hobbies include reading, playing guitar, and trying to eradicate the mice from her university housing. As she is approaching graduation Cassady is hoping the EBWW 2020 will help her continue to explore creative writing as a career path.