Invasion of Privacy: Finding a creative community with Kat Johnson and Jenna Murray

It is rare to find a student on a college campus willing to wake up excited to contribute something to the day, the world, or a literary community; it is rarer still to find a student who will answer questions about their college experience for a student-run newspaper first thing in the morning. Nevertheless, I was able to speak to two such individuals just earlier today: English creative writing majors and seniors Kat Johnson and Jenna Murray. I met with Johnson and Murray this morning amidst the early antics of Suki, Murray’s cat, and chuckles of Johnson and Murray’s respective caffeine addictions over their first cups of coffee.

For the past four years, Johnson and Murray have made incredible contributions to the creative writing program at Geneseo. Editors for The Lamron, e-board members of Iris Magazine, and participants in various other arts and performance-related groups, Johnson and Murray demonstrate a clear passion for supporting the arts far beyond the bounds of their studies; yet, their studies are where it all began.

To be a writer is often characterized as creative work of value and discipline; to be a writer at Geneseo, indicated Johnson and Murray, is to participate in this growth in an infinitely supportive community—sometimes to a fault.

“There’s a lot of support from professors,” Murray said. “It’s also really scary and weird, because like, you’re gonna write a poem about someone who’s gonna be reading your poem to see if it gets into a literary mag and they’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, this is about me…’ I think it’s all a little too interconnected, but also in a good way because you always have someone to work with.”

The closeness and intimacy of this program create a creative writing community unlike any other. Though there is tension in presenting poems to a group that may be involved in the poem’s content, this proximity makes space for genuine relationships to grow.

“It’s a really cool thing because I think that you end up in [the workshop] space with a bunch of strangers at the beginning of your time here,” Johnson said. “And by the time you leave, you’re all friends, because you are so intertwined [in that] you are trusting each other with your most intimate parts of yourself, which is just a crazy experience.”

Beyond fellow writers, Johnson and Murray credit the many professors that they’ve worked with over the years for the successes and growth they have seen in their writing. Johnson attributed their decision to join the creative writing track to adjunct creative writing lecturer Caroline Beltz-Hosek, and went on to speak highly of the work that they have done with professor of English and creative writing Lytton Smith.

“My favorite [course] will always be Advanced Poetry with Lytton Smith,” Johnson said. “This fall we were able to take it outside in the arboretum, which was just such a beautiful experience.”

Murray had an alternative journey in joining the creative writing community—she chalked up her choice to apply for the track to Johnson themself. Since this seemingly destined beginning, these two writers have grown to be the backbone of each other’s creative support.

When I write a poem, the first person that I show it to is Kat,” Murray said. “A lot of the time, I’ll be like, ‘I don’t what this poem is about,’ and then Kat will be like, ‘Oh, it’s about this.’ And I’ll [respond], ‘Okay, you’re right, yeah.”

Continuing Murray’s sentiment, Johnson added, “We’ve worked together for so long, we’ve seen each other evolve as writers and people at the same time.”

Delving deeper than even the intimacy Johnson and Murray have found in creative writing workshops, these writers have leaned on their companionship in sharing their most vulnerable work. Murray spoke about how her journey as a writer at Geneseo has taught her that the poems one needs to write are not always the poems that one wants to write, and that the openness of that expression is one that is best shared in close, safe spaces.

Murray referenced a quote from Michelangelo, “The best artist has that thought alone which is contained within the marble shell; only the sculptor's hand can break the spell to free the figures,” as a lesson that Johnson has helped her see in her own writing and writing process. The effectiveness of the work these writers have done together has lent itself to rumors of a romantic relationship between the two, a notion that Johnson and Murray denied genuinely and lightheartedly.

Moving out of their time at Geneseo, Johnson and Murray leave a legacy of what it means to be a successful and community-oriented writer at Geneseo; it goes without saying that they have given a great deal to this program and the creative environment here, so, what are they bringing with them in return?

When asked what they are most proud of accomplishing in their time at Geneseo, Johnson and Murray had the same instant reaction: Iris Magazine, Geneseo’s first queer literary magazine that started up in the fall of 2021.

“In creating a space where queer people could go share their creative work, it made me more comfortable in the fact that I was sharing my creative work,” Murray said. “Not only am I becoming more comfortable and excited and confident in this subsection of my life, but I knew I was able to do that for other people.”

As Murray shared her perspective, Johnson nodded along thoughtfully. “Yeah, my immediate response is Iris, too,” they said. “That’s the legacy that I wanted to leave.”

Beyond their successes, Johnson and Murray humbly reflected upon the broader lessons that they’ve learned from the creative writing program at Geneseo.

“I wasn’t a very disciplined person until writing because I was just like, ‘I’m gonna run around the world and destroy everything in my path for fun.’ And that’s what I did, and it was super fun and I recommended it to everyone,” Murray said, giggling to herself. “But I think that writing helped me… the talent, obviously, is important. You do need some sort of talent to be a good writer, I think. And I think that a lot of people have that talent and don’t realize it, but I think that more so than anything else, it’s the discipline I learned [at Geneseo].”

Reflecting on her chaotic beginnings, it is astonishing to see the leaps and bounds forward that Murray has made in her writing. After graduation, Murray is going on to pursue her Master’s in Fine Arts in Poetry at Hunter College, a highly selective program that champions slews of award-winning alumni.

Johnson, too, plans to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing, but intends to take a gap year to work and refine their work before applying. In this space, Johnson hopes to transfer the community and sanctity that they have found at Geneseo into their own daily writing practice.

“I think we’re in a really safe bubble here,” Johnson said. “There [are] a lot of people that really support me, and a lot of people that really know me and understand me in my writing… It will be hard to keep writing in the way that I am writing [here] when that’s not a guarantee anymore. So, I just want to continue to give myself the grace to realize that this is a hard thing to be doing.”

Without a doubt, it is an honor for the Geneseo community to have nurtured and taught two such inspired and innovative individuals. To keep up with the great talent and works of Johnson and Murray, you can attend their senior reading this Friday, May 6 at 2:30 p.m. in Brodie Hall, Room 220. To follow these creatives more long-term, you can listen to Johnson’s music on all streaming platforms and follow Johnson and Murray’s respective social media (@katgracejohnson and @jennaameliaa on Instagram) to keep up with their future work.