josh knowles presents

"The 'This American Life' Internship Application"

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Cover Letter

Starlee,

Hello! My name's Josh Knowles and I am a student at the University of Texas at Austin. I will be completing my undergraduate thesis for the Plan II (Liberal Arts) Honors program in May. Plan II is a highly selective degree program geared towards literature and philosophy, featuring several special-topic seminars intended to teach students how to research and dissect issues from multiple angles. I chose to supplement this with additional literature, creative writing, philosophy, and music classes. My only schoolwork this semester is my thesis. Finishing that before the internship begins on May 1st will be no problem.

For as long as I can remember I've enjoyed writing. I wrote little stories and scripts in junior high, which evolved into essay-writing, of a sort, during high school. At that time, friends and I would write out discussions and arguments via a computer BBS (bulletin board system -- a sort of precursor to discussion forums on the web today) I ran from my bedroom. And between my junior and senior year of high school I had the opportunity to spend the summer at Harvard University, taking a couple of their regular summer school classes. One of these was Tom Bailey's "Beginning Fiction" class, for which I wrote a forty-page short story about high school students coming to grips with homosexuality and their own mortality, loosely based on my high school social experience. As my first satisfyingly complete fictional writing project, it remains my favorite. It taught me to draw elements from the world right around and reformulate them in different ways, something that I still enjoy doing with my writing.

Writing gives me an excuse to travel and go out of my way to meet people and try new things I might not otherwise have a good reason to try. The thesis that I'm working on this Spring is a novella concentrating on life in a co-op house. It draws on some of the experiences I had living for three years in a vegan/activist/clothing-optional student co-op.

Two summers ago my friend Michael Cote' recommended I check out This American Life. "Americans in Paris," the first episode I listened to, got me hooked. Since then, I haven't stopped listening. You all put together incredibly tight shows and I love that you have detailed so much of the process on your website. I've already learned quite a bit about how to write effective fiction by listening to your show, and I think actually working with This American Life -- producing fictional pieces or documentary pieces -- would be a great way to both refine my writing technique and write in different ways.

I'd like to note, as well, that I produce electronic music and am, because of that, familiar with ProTools and the digital editing process. And I'm a fast learner.

Thank you for this opportunity!

Josh Knowles
chasing@mail.utexas.edu