I’m Jessica Hough, a PhD candidate in Art History and a Mellon Fellow in Gender and Sexuality Studies. My dissertation brings to light the seldom-explored history of early new media art and activism spearheaded by women artists in Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles from the 1970s through the 1990s. Animated by these artists’ commitment to collective creative practice as a community resource, I value The Writing Place’s emphasis on collaboration, peer mentorship, and horizontal pedagogy. As a Graduate Writing Fellow, I have particularly enjoyed getting to work with writers and researchers from a variety of disciplines. I strive to foster a low-stakes, exploratory environment in Writing Place sessions, where we can work together to identify and foreground the strengths in each piece — whether the project is nearly finished or still in the brainstorming stage. Every meeting brings with it a lesson for my own writing, and I am grateful to my graduate peers for constantly reminding me that writing is a creative process best done in conversation with others