Mimi Chubb '06 has been enamored with the aura of the Old West ever since she discovered traces of it influencing daily life in the unlikeliest of places: suburban Orange County, Calif.
As an 11-year-old moving from New Jersey to the vastly different west coast, Chubb brought her love of riding horses with her and not only discovered, but embraced, the "old-time Western veneer hidden away" within the cookie-cutter suburban nature of her new town, she said.
When she arrived at the University, Chubb combined her passion for the Western way of life and her innate talent for vivid literary description in a way that impressed her English and creative writing professors and has led to her selection as this year's recipient of the University's Martin Dale Fellowship.
As a Dale fellow, Chubb will receive $27,500 to pursue a yearlong project "researching and writing an interlocking collection of essays centered around the idea of imagining the American West ... explor[ing] the ways that constructions of a mythic or an 'authentic' West form certain people's identities and dictate their obsessions," as she described in her proposal.
"It's such a cool opportunity that Princeton has, devoting a year to do whatever you want," Chubb said. "I'm hoping to really spend time doing a mix of journalism and fiction ... [and] to see what it's like to be committed to writing all the time."
Chubb — an English major pursuing a certificate in creative writing — intends to focus on several specific aspects of the modern Western experience, including the Miss Rodeo America pageant, an Old West reenactment group, wild mustang adopters in California and cowboy poetry.
Though she has planned out a basic framework for her year, Chubb has left room for serendipitous discovery. "Specific aspects of these broader categories will [hopefully] pop out ... and shift and lead me in directions I don't think I'm going in right now," she said.
The idea for the project was influenced by Chubb's experiences with varied styles of writing through two years at The Daily Princetonian and two summer internships at the New Yorker.
"There's so much continuity across fiction and nonfiction boundaries," Chubb said, adding that she is eager to explore "how to write personal nonfiction and how to mix the fiction aesthetic with reporting and journalism."
Chubb's coursework at the University also influenced her writing, resulting in the publication of some of her work in a literary magazine.
"She made teaching a pleasure," said author and editor Wendy Lesser, who taught a course on criticism and autobiography at the University last year. "Every assignment resulted in a publishable piece of writing."
Lesser, the editor of The Threepenny Review, published two of Chubb's essays, one of which centered around her last summer before college, when she was training horses, riding around Southern California and reading Anna Karenina.
"Of all the students I've ever had, she is the one who is the most likely to become a professional author," Lesser said. "She has an innate talent and a willingness to work hard, but not a sense of careerism or wanting to be noticed."
English and creative writing professor James Richardson also interacted with Chubb academically and literarily, and described her in an email as "brilliant, a complete original, and a really lovely person."
During her time at the University, Chubb also received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence and the English department's Class of 1870 Junior Prize and A. Scott Berg award.
"She's incredibly intelligent, funny and caring as a person," said Chubb's roommate Maggie Dillon '06, who has known her since their freshman year. "She sees things in very interesting ways that I otherwise wouldn't."
When the two first met and discovered their mutual interest for creative writing, Chubb showed Dillon a story she had just written. "It struck me as so mature for a college freshman," Dillon said.
"She shows such remarkable restraint in her writing, it's admirable. It's easy to go over the top, but she doesn't," Dillon added. "You can see she has a gift."
Another roommate, Katie McCulloch '06, said that "because she's so modest, the scope of her talent and drive was not apparent to me until [long after we first met]."
"All of her friends feel fortunate to know her, and we certainly are very proud — though not surprised — that she won the Dale," McCulloch added.
After her fellowship expires, Chubb plans on either attending graduate school or further honing her writing in other capacities. "Ideally, I would be able to support myself writing or teaching somewhere. [Right now] it's nice to have the fellowship, where I don't have to plan ahead for more than a year."
Read More
Científicos de Princeton, investigadores luchan para preservar conjuntos de datos en medio de eliminación federal de los datos
Sena Chang and Luke GrippoEl 3 de febrero, miles de páginas web federales que contenían directrices sanitarias, informes del censo y datos climáticos fueron retiradas de línea, lo que generó preocupación en la comunidad de investigación de Princeton.
El 3 de febrero, miles de páginas web federales que contenían directrices sanitarias, informes del censo y datos climáticos fueron retiradas de línea, lo que generó preocupación en la comunidad de investigación de Princeton.
Preguntas Frecuentes Nuevas avisan a la comunidad sobre interacciones con Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas
Nico David-Fox and Caitlyn TabladaEn medio de la ofensiva del presidente Trump contra la inmigración, la Oficina de Equidad Institucional y Diversidad agregó nuevas preguntas frecuentes para asesorar a la comunidad universitaria sobre las interacciones con los oficiales del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés).
En medio de la ofensiva del presidente Trump contra la inmigración, la Oficina de Equidad Institucional y Diversidad agregó nuevas preguntas frecuentes para asesorar a la comunidad universitaria sobre las interacciones con los oficiales del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés).
‘Devastadora’ e ‘impactante’: Qué Princeton puede perder con la congelación de ciencia de Trump
Sena ChangMientras la administración Trump continúa cambiando las pautas federales de investigación y financiación, el “Príncipe” habló con profesores y estudiantes para comprender los posibles impactos.
Mientras la administración Trump continúa cambiando las pautas federales de investigación y financiación, el “Príncipe” habló con profesores y estudiantes para comprender los posibles impactos.