One Sign (Or Many) Can Lead You to the Road Less Traveled
By: Sarah Ahmed
Amina Selimaj felt lightheaded as she walked to the podium in CSI’s Williamson Theatre. The dim lights flashed, revealing more audience members than Selimaj expected for the May 2024 Undergraduate Conference, let alone her first-ever public reading. She gripped her script tightly, took a deep breath, and read the first line of her poem, “Don’t Let The Old Prostitute Story Go Untold.”
“Writing lets me step into an alter ego where I can voice what I think is important,” said Selimaj. “Years ago, I would’ve laughed at the idea of focusing my future on English.”
As an editor for Lost in Thought, CSI’s literary publication, Selimaj helps publish students’ creative writing and organizes events with well-known authors, including an upcoming poetry reading with Gabriel Fried on April 1st. Selimaj earned her English BA and is now pursuing a master’s in literature, a path that once felt completely out of reach.
“Amina is not only a talented writer, but a humble one,” said Writing Center Director, Melanie McNulty. “She is always willing to put her own work aside to collaborate and hear others’ ideas.”
Selimaj’s parents immigrated to Brooklyn Heights in 2001 after the Eastern European economic collapse, but they sent Selimaj between the U.S and Montenegro for months to preserve her connection to Albanian culture. At eight years old, Selimaj couldn’t read or write in English and was placed in speech therapy in second grade at P.S 102.
After being mocked for her accent by her classmates who were mainly native-born speakers, Selimaj decided that she hated English. According to the NYC Department of City Planning’s 2023 survey, nearly half of New Yorkers speak a language other than English at home, and almost 25%, or 1.8 million, are not English proficient.
When Selimaj entered the CSI nursing program in 2021, she still felt disconnected from her peers. Rather than the diverse student body she had hoped for, she often found herself educating classmates that were unaware of ethnic inequality within and beyond the medical field. That December, she ran into her former elementary English teacher on 73rd Street in Brooklyn, who encouraged her to get involved with after-school ELA programs.
“I didn’t want to tell him I was studying nursing,” Selimaj said. “I couldn’t stop questioning why I didn’t feel any pride in what I was pursuing.”
After consistently receiving C’s, Selimaj came across an assignment she was eager to apply herself to: an essay on how nursing practices could respect different cultural backgrounds. Just before finals season in her sophomore year, she saw the first A she’d ever earned, dropped the program, and switched her major. Selimaj realized that if she truly wanted to address issues of cultural identity and discrimination, she needed a field that encouraged critical dialogue and chose to enter the literary field.
“Writing can bridge the gap between those who understand and those willing to learn,” said Selimaj. “Pursuing a PhD will allow me to constantly build my knowledge while expanding my perspective.”
