Spotlight On... Jarrett Dury-Agri ’12

Literary Studies and Philosophy double major Jarrett Dury-Agri has decided to give his analytic faculties a rest and focus on his creativity by using his Old Stone Mill space to create a book filled with his own poetry and photography. Dury-Agri works for the literary magazine Sweatervest, consistently takes five classes a semester and divulged that he will have enough credits for a third major in German. It is truly a wonder that this sophomore has any time for creative thought at all. The Campus’ Joanna Rothkopf got the scoop on his ambitious project.

Middlebury Campus: Can you briefly describe your work?

Dury-Agri: I’m creating a book of poetry and photography that I’ve collected or written over the course of the last, I don’t know, while. I’ve taken the photos and the poetry is handwritten . . . now I need to transcribe it and make it worth reading, as it needs a lot of editing.

MC: What prompted you to take on this task?

JDA: First of all, I haven’t done many creative projects, or anything really creative for a while, so I wanted to get into the groove of doing something with art or writing because authorship is something I’ve always dreamt­ of. So I thought this would be a great combination of the two. It would allow me to have something tangible that synthesized the different aspects of creative work that I do.

MC: Can you talk about the book’s subject matter?

JDA: The photography is just a selection of what I’ve taken when I’ve been traveling in places like Alaska, Hawaii, Ecuador and various parks. There are also some from around my house. That aspect might also have to be refined because I’ve spoken with an art teacher before and it needs to have a little more focus.

The inspiration, I think, at least for the whole book, is both personal in the sense that I think it’ll be really good for me to see what I’ve done, where I’ve come, what I think, and at the same time, I feel it’s communal in a way. I’d really like a lot of feedback and I am certain that the result that I have after this semester will most definitely be a rough draft more than anything else, for which I’d like to have a lot of criticism and put it through a lot of editing. You know, I’ve seen much better writing than what I do, and I haven’t had the time to fine-tune my writing to that extent.

MC: What are the poems about?

JDA: My poems are generally inspired by a random thought that I have, usually when I’m outside. I like to be able to record them whenever I have a chance — it tends to be scraps of paper beside my bed or my cell phone, or some other random place. I hope this book will bring together these random occurrences into something more cohesive.

MC: What are your publication and distribution plans?

JDA: I mean, I guess that Sweatervest is a reality check for my work, because my writing especially is so much less polished and just not necessarily as advanced as what other people write. So, mainly, the book will be for my family and me. I’d like to give back to my grandmother who really loved it when I would show her my poetry. At the same time it will give me a starting point, something physical that I can show other people whose literary opinions I respect. I’d really like to receive criticism about and really improve both the writing and the photography. Specifically, I’ll probably in the end use an informal publishing method where you can input the work you’ve made and have it turned it into a book. Just a few copies though, not something mass-produced.

MC: What are your literary influences and experience?

JDA: I really like the period between 1850 and 1950. It seems paradoxical, but I find that seeing the evolution in that period from 19th century to the 20th in both art and writing is really astounding and inspiring. That’s where the work with which I’m most enamored comes. In terms of poetry, I’m not sure that I have a specific, relatable influence.

MC: This sounds great. Any last comments?

JDA: I really want this to be a humbling experience and, of course, a creative experience, because I’ve been unable to access the more imaginative side of artwork and writing while at Middlebury so far. At the same time, I understand that my time away from art and creativity has put a damper on my literary and artistic and aesthetic abilities, so I just hope that it leads to more expanding — I want it to make me more conscious of myself and my abilities or inabilities, especially in the context of the amazing number of other artists and writers on campus with whom I interact as a student.