By J. Faith Malicdem // Dec. 17, 2019
PieFaces! There is a new PieFaif! Faith Bugenhagen is a renowned writer in all the news + media ecosystems she partakes in-- whether they be magazines or newspapers or online columns (oh my!), you just know she's on top of it. I'm honored to be introducing her as a regular writer for the Oven!
What drew you to writing?
Something clicked junior year, I am not quite sure, I don’t remember the specifics, but I went to a summer program that year for journalism and I met a journalist who did humanitarian journalism. I cried/teared up during his panel because I saw someone who was doing what I wanted to do, helping people, and I saw he was proud of it. From that moment being a writer just stuck, there were no more phases, just journalism.
What do you typically write about? Do you have a specific style of writing? A specific format?
Back home in Texas I wrote more about the socio-political climate in my hometown because there was a lot of suppression to those who were not conservative. Once coming to Emerson, I do not feel the need to necessarily right about this anymore because it’s not really necessary to do that, so I have been lucky enough to pursue more arts and culture writing. I have recently been writing about intimacy, style, personal experiences, and breaking news.
Do you have any authors/journalists/poets/writers of any kind who you look up to? Have they heavily influenced your work? In what way?
I wouldn’t say I look up to anyone, more so I am inspired by, and there are lots. Ben Taub (the journalist who’s panel I cried at), Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, and Emma Cline. Honestly, a lot of people here at Emerson and people I went to high school with, I am constantly surrounded my amazingly talented people. I also like to collect literature pieces and view random pieces of work, so I am sure there are some writers I love out there and I don’t even know their names.
Do you see a future for yourself in writing? If so, in what way(s)? If not, what are your general life aspirations?
I think the only future I see for myself is writing, any way, for any publication, with any or no compensation. I believe that words hold such a magnitude of power; they have the capability to hurt, help, break, and entertain people. I wouldn’t have any other purpose in life if I didn’t have writing. '
Which tends to take reign in your writing: your brain or your heart?
I feel like it depends on what I am working on, I have this really strange fear around emotional writing. The amount of journals I have tried to start, but instead I want to throw up from reading my words back so I throw the journal away. Yeah we are working on that...
How is your writing set apart from others?
I think everyone’s writing reflects their own voice, I really don’t know how it couldn’t, but at the same time I wouldn’t really know what sets me apart from others, I constantly aim to be as talented as the work around me, but I don’t think my work is anything special (I think Faith will hate this heheheh)
What do you hope to contribute to Pie Face?
Accounts of events in my life, political views, and emotional brain dumps, honestly anything really
Please write a little blurb about yourself and who you are as a writer. This will show up on the cover of your introduction on “the PieFaces” page!
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