Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Wunsch. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matthew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

It’s 2022 and I am an EMT amidst the chaos of Covid. My wife, Kate, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. My son is only 2 years old. The stress was getting to be too much. One night after a long day of chemo Kate says while curled up on the, what I would call overly blanketed, couch “You need to do something for yourself. You’re stuck.”

Serendipitously, while scrolling, I came across a post for a low residency MFA program. Kate says “That! That’s what you have to do. Give it a shot.” I had all but given up on the idea of writing anything more than a sappy lyric or two. But “what’s the worst that happens?” I got in and had the chance to hang with Ann Hood, Charles Coe, Edgar Kunz, Katie Moulton, Bill Roorbach… the list goes on. I made connections, I made friends, I absorbed…everything. I took that chance and it truly did change my life.

My son is almost 5 now. My wife is a thriving cancer survivor embarking on her own journey of activism, yoga, and, as always, being a damn good mom. I am no longer an EMT. I teach at a high school in Fall River, Massachusetts, these days. I write everyday… poems, essays, short stories… it doesn’t matter as long as I am pushing.

All of that to say, life has many defining moments, so many it’s often hard to pick just one. Thinking back over everything, I know what comes next will always and most certainly boil down to that one fateful moment sitting in a recliner watching mindless television, trying to keep it all together… Kate says “take a chance” and I do …I am a husband, a father, and a son. I am a writer, an educator, and an aging scene kid going for gold.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

What do I want you to know about me? I love punk rock, hardcore, emo… music is a certain fuel for me always (though I can’t stop reading Kevah Akbar and Franny Choi right now). I believe the most important thing we can do as a civilization is breathe hope into one another. There is so much hate and darkness flooding our society, we need to be the light. I strive, in my writing, to not shy away from that darkness, but rather to penetrate it… maybe even laugh a little.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Aside from general perseverance, knowledge, and training, we need to find ourselves open to the right situations, whether professionally ,creatively, whatever… we need to be present. As cliche as that is we need to do that “thing” that gets our heart pumping a little too quickly, gives us butterflies, excites us, or rather, we need to do the “thing” that makes us care enough to feel the feelings. I understand this to mean “write.” As a writer I go through dry spells, self doubt, imposter syndrome… the list goes on, but I have to write. There is no other way to fully be myself in this world. So, yeah, push yourself. Get out there. Keep doing the thing. Trust that when you get there you’ll be ready for it.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I said earlier how I all but gave up the writing game. And there are some months I really get down on it. As writers, as artists, we put ourselves out there in a big way. It gets hard! But with every rejection I know I get a step closer to “accepted” and, man, when they come it’s such a rush…

But, rambling aside, for me resilience has to be the willingness to keep pushing, to keep going, to stay true.