On Monday, Feb. 23, the English Department’s Cogan Fellow, Fabiola Cineas ’12, spoke with students, faculty, and alumni about her experiences as an English major, teacher, and journalist in the age of Trump.

Every spring, Dickinson’s English department selects an alum to be the Cogan Fellow, allowing students to get a closer look at possible careers and ask questions. According to the English Department website, the Cogan Alumni Fellowship program is named in honor of Eleanor Cogan, for her exemplary dedication to lifelong learning. 

This year’s Cogan Fellow, Cineas, is a staff writer for the news website, Vox, where she works as a race journalist. Cineas covers race, politics, and policy and has previously worked as a senior editor at the Philadelphia magazine. At Dickinson, she studied English and Political Science, then went on to teach seventh-graders through Teach for America, before starting her career in journalism. 

Julia Barone ’22 said, “This year’s Cogan was the best that I’ve been to. Fabiola gave an incredibly clear, captivating presentation that took us through her professional arc and the relevance of the work that she does. It was inspiring!” 

Cineas spoke about her time as an English major, where she often felt as though writing about literature was akin to sitting in a dark room, searching for a source of light. Her metaphor captures the daunting task of trying to make sense of and form an argument about complex subjects. Far from scaring Cineas away from writing, this taught her to get comfortable with not knowing everything at the start and pushing forward anyway. Over the course of her English major and especially while writing her senior thesis, Cineas learned the value of breaking her writing into chunks and taking risks. 

As a race journalist, Cineas writes about issues such as racial justice, white supremacy, and police shootings. This involves a lot of research, interviews, and time spent sitting with heavy content. Sayahn Mudd ’21 said he resonated with her “sincerity, candor, and her ability to seemingly take everything in stride, especially when it comes to the darker sides of her work.” He added, “I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to have to watch hours of police shooting footage and I thank her for her strength.” 

Over the course of Trump’s presidency and particularly in the past year, racism in America has gained a prominent position in politics. Cineas faces hate messages on social media and in her inbox. However, she strives to put that hatred into perspective, valuing the opinions less because they come from people who don’t know her. They also serve as an indication that she has touched upon an important topic to discuss.

Carrying on tradition, Cineas finished her talk by selecting the winner of the 2021 Literary Dessert Contest, Julia Barone ’22, for her Toni Morisson inspired “The Bluest Pie.”

A recording of her lecture will be made available on Dickinson’s Cogan Fellows website, where previous years’ lectures are already available. This event was sponsored by the English department and hosted via Zoom.