By MATTHEW GUMPORT
Student contributor
Charity Hume, ninth-grade dean and new member of the English Department, comes to Poly with an impressive resume. Before becoming a teacher, she graduated from Yale University as an undergraduate and later attended NYU for her Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing.
Before her move to Southern California, she spent the majority of her career in New York City, with experience teaching at Riverdale Country School and as director of the NYU Creative Writing Program.
Hume wants her students to leave her class with a newfound confidence and sense of relaxation and excitement in their writing. She explains, “I enjoy the way creative writing and analytical techniques can work together to create something new. I like to help people overcome their inner censor and gain access to the wealth of unique imaginative responses they have within their memory.”
Hume also has plenty of personal motivation to inspire her to teach wholeheartedly, commenting that, “I think the unique nature of every student is the source of inspiration for me…. In many ways the beauty of being a teacher is that you can remain a student in your professional life.”
Beyond teaching, Hume enjoys classical literature, especially Sophocles, Shakespeare, Gabriel García Márquez, Nabokov, and Tolstoy. Hume elaborates, “To me the greatest works of literature are those that you can read again and again, rediscovering their hidden themes and insights, and rediscovering yourself through the way you respond to different parts of the story.” In addition to her clear passions of reading and teaching, jazz, particularly that of Art Tatum, comes highly recommended.
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