How a scholarship helped Damien Oz find his creative path

Each year, scholarship recipients share letters of thanks with the donors who make their education possible. This letter comes from Damien Oz, a graduate student at UW Bothell and recipient of a scholarship supported by foundry10, whose philanthropy centers learning, creativity and exploration. In his words, Damien reflects on his journey and the role donor support has played in shaping his work. 

A letter of gratitude

Dear scholarship donors of foundry10, 

I am writing to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your donation to the University of Washington Bothell. Your generosity and dedication towards advancing the education of students and unlocking doors to further achievement make a profound difference in our day-to-day lives.  

A road that carries us forward must be built brick by brick, each stone rising in time to meet the brave foot that leaps. Likewise, the road to the future of our world is a culmination of these small but critical moments: research, access to tools and information, connections, and the time to sit with the work… 足彩app哪个是正规的se create foundations, stones, ways forward. Your donations are transmuted into opportunities to push forward and build a future with edges refracting light. 

My name is Damien Oz. I am a graduate student enrolled in UW Bothell’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, and I am a grateful recipient of the award you have made possible.

A path unfolding

My personal path to UW Bothell was a strange one, drenched in serendipity. I had recently graduated with my bachelor’s degree in English: Creative Writing at UW Seattle. As it turns out, I was in the process of applying for their MFA in Creative Writing. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt in my entire body that I was to only apply to UW Seattle, and nowhere else. It was a Leap of Faith, so to speak, and one that set many people on edge. 

足彩app哪个是正规的 application process unsettled me. Although I had planned to apply for Novel Writing, my best work was script writing for an audio drama. My portfolio included novel writing to some degree, but as it turns out, my interests in writing were far too varied in medium and format. Admissions were kind regarding my questions, though they advised me against submitting a script, even if the section consisted of prose. 足彩app哪个是正规的re were countless nights I flipped through old work: game designs, found footage videos, scripts, pieces of prose, poetry, collage. My writing would never fit the mold they requested. 

In the end, I ignored the advice and instead followed my instincts. I submitted my scripts and made it to the waitlist. I sat on that waitlist with my feet kicked over the edge for a few months. I had come this far, trusting that guiding light inside me. Was this where the road ended? 足彩app哪个是正规的 future was dark around me. I had taken a leap of faith — the stone I leapt from too far to be returned to. I couldn’t see forward. I couldn’t see backward. Uncertainty gripped me, a cold wind under the shirt. If I fell, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. 

Finally, the admissions team reached out and gently declined my application. 

I was devastated. 

Yet… not defeated. 

A way through the dark

A member of the admissions team asked me if I had applied to any other graduate programs. I replied that I had not. I can’t know for certain what it was. Maybe it was that the UW Seattle admissions team felt somehow responsible for my continuing education. Maybe they knew it would be a better fit for me. Either way, a gift from the Universe was pressed into my hands. I was told to reach out to Dr. Amaranth Borsuk, the director of UW Bothell’s Master’s program for Creative Writing & Poetics, and to apply on recommendation from UW Seattle. 

“For the first time in months, I could see the stars. 足彩app哪个是正规的 light that would guide our way forward.”

Damien Oz

I had never heard of the program. And there before me was a new brick in the Void, adjacent to where I thought I was going. With shaking legs and arms full of gratitude, I took a step in a new direction to discover the program that would become the love of my life. A program that not only permitted me to submit my non-traditional work but encouraged it, required it. 

After a warm correspondence with Dr. Borsuk, I raced to apply to the program. I was late — acceptances had already been sent out. I submitted a personal statement in poetic form, with a slam poetry video performance. I submitted prose, scripts and poetry. My eventual acceptance to the program felt much like running down the dock towards a ship leaving the harbor. I could feel myself leaping, saltwater spray at my ankles, just barely caught by Dr. Borsuk and pulled aboard by my new cohort. Laying on the deck, I stared up and realized for the first time in months, I could see the stars. 足彩app哪个是正规的 light that would guide our way forward. 

A creative practice shaped by the Universe

At present, I am a master’s student in UW Bothell’s MFA program in Creative Writing & Poetics, and it has been one of the greatest gifts the Universe ever gave me. I’ve been given the freedom to explore and break the bounds of language, poetry and writing in all forms, in all mediums. At present, for my thesis, I am currently researching game writing and ergodic literature. My project will include digital arts, both traditional and remixed, video construction, voice acting, music composition, game writing, prose, poetry and script writing. It may include more — ultimately, I will learn anything that the work asks of me. Conceptually, my thesis will explore the Void as both a site of Astrobiological significance and as an experience fostering Enlightenment (a remembrance of our nature as the Universe). At present, its working title is Void Hunter Survival. 

Beyond my thesis alone, my work tends to explore the interconnected nature of the Arts, Science and Magic as the three core areas of Spirituality. In other words, my work explores Spirituality as the pursuit of understanding the Universe. I have a great interest in Witchcraft and Dreamwork, Quantum Mechanics, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Art and Writing as different but compatible modes of exploration, fostering revelation and discovery. 

I am the writer, director and an actor in an LGBTQ+, Analog Horror, Cosmic Horror and Urban Fantasy audio drama called 足彩app哪个是正规的 DREAMWALKER Podcast. I am also working on two additional works built into the Dreamwalker Universe. 足彩app哪个是正规的 first of which is a collection of short stories under the working title, Stories From the Dreambox. 足彩app哪个是正规的 second of which is (tentatively) a novel called Eyes Wide Open. I have also created a small experimental work called 足彩app哪个是正规的 Dream Samples of Dr. Damien Oz that will soon be available in the University of Washington Bothell Library. It consists of a slidebox filled with glass slides and a companion journal filled with research notes.

What your generosity makes possible

Your generosity in the form of this scholarship will impact all of these works for years to come. To create multi-media work with so many moving parts requires resources. Video editing software, music composition software, visual arts software, technology upgrades, research materials, online or in-person classes on all of these skills, trips to conferences, and more are funded by this scholarship. Your kindness has put tools into my hands, so that I may dedicate my full capacity to their creation. 

足彩app哪个是正规的 thesis I am in the process of creating will lay the foundations for my career moving forward. After all the gifts the Universe has given me, I have been given an opportunity to expand my skillset and create the gifts I wish to give back to the world. 

Thank you, endlessly, for your gifts to the University. Your generosity has changed the trajectory for my work. May I give it forward a thousand-fold. 

Sweet Muse, 
Damien Oz 
[He/Him]