Class of 2010 alumna Sydney Bradley was recently selected as one of five recipients of the Bennington College Undergraduate Writing Fellowship. This fellowship allows a select group of undergraduate writers working in poetry, fiction, or literary nonfiction the opportunity to further their study of craft with a 10-day residency at Bennington’s MFA in Writing program. In addition to the full schedule of readings, lectures, craft sessions, and classes, the Undergraduate Writing Fellows will also participate in the writing workshops taught by the MFA program’s distinguished faculty. Bradley, who was selected for fiction, says she is excited about “the chance to have my work critiqued by a new, more diverse population of writers than by a classroom of 20-something-year-olds who may share similar sensibilities.”

 

Since graduating from Brandeis and then Saint Ignatius College Preparatory, Bradley has immersed herself in a variety of programs, internships, and opportunities. In just a few short weeks she will graduate from Bennington College with a bachelor’s degree with a concentration on fiction literature. While at Bennington, she has been an editor for Bennington’s literary journal, The Bennington Review; helped start the beekeeping club; and interned with several literary nonprofits, including PEN American Center, A Public Space Magazine, McSweeney’s, and the Center for Book Arts. In 2015, Bradley had a short story published in the Harvard Advocate. She also engaged in many visual arts courses and sees her future career path incorporating a number of different interests. “I plan to eventually earn an M.F.A in fiction,” she explains. But before she does that, “It’s important to me,” she says, “to explore other areas of interest such as holistic healing and service-based work. I hope to start equipping myself with the skills necessary to live in an ethically-grounded, intentional way.” She hopes to gain skills in areas including permaculture, spirituality, and farm-stays.

 

Bradley credits her time at Brandeis with developing her sense of spirituality and grounding her in the importance of tikkun olam. She says, “I had an awesome education in tikkun olam at Brandeis. I don’t know if it’s just something about growing up in San Francisco, but an element is added when [tikkun olam] is introduced as a pillar of respecting God and the earth God took the care to make for us.” And she notes that the first time she learned the word sustainable was in Barbara Eisenhauer’s first grade class. Bradley looks back fondly at her years at Brandeis, recalling the triennial Sukkot in Yosemite (“What an other-worldly tradition and experience”), outdoor education trips (“A story about those field trips is included in my thesis, and I submitted the story to my fellowship committee”), and sitting on the carpet and listening to stories from Rabbi Jay Krause z’l (“I’ve carried Jewish mysticism and Old Testament stories with me always”). She is thankful for the foundation she established at Brandeis and what it has taught her and hopes current Brandeis students remember “to feel and express gratitude for growing up and learning in a Jewish community.”