Margarita Cruz has a long history with NAU. An alumna who worked as a student with Campus Living, the Department of English and the University Writing Program, she is now a full-time administrative assistant for the Department of Sociology and an adjunct instructor in Creative Writing. From organizing book fairs to hosting open mic nights, she has a hand in multiple events throughout NAU and Flagstaff. Read about how an assignment in third grade set the course for her future.
What brought you to NAU?
I grew up in Youngtown just outside of Phoenix, and like most young people, wanted to escape the large city of Phoenix with all the heat and find myself in the forests and trails of northern Arizona. I was also really excited to study with fantastic educators in the English Secondary Education program and the Department of English at NAU.
What is your favorite part of the job?
I love working with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and its amazing faculty. Some of my favorite moments during the week are getting to hear about the exciting work that the students and faculty produce or are researching. As a writer, I think it’s so important to be in spaces that discuss and observe the wide world we inhabit with all its complexities.
As an instructor in the Department of Creative Writing, I love watching students begin to discover the work they want to write and become part of the larger writing community. It makes me so excited when I hear or see their work appear in public or watch them come out to open mic nights and poetry slams and share their work with the community.
Tell me about some of the projects you are part of.
I have a lot of passion for writing and reading and typically take on too much but love every minute of it. I have served in a leadership role with the Northern Arizona Book Festival since 2018 and help coordinate local/regional/national authors in coming to the Flagstaff community to share their work and engage in free workshops, panels and readings to the Flagstaff community. I also run a weekly open mic for writers at Flagstaff Brewing Company on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. called Poet Brews—this began as a way to honor another open mic for writers that ceased during the pandemic shutdowns, and it’s still going strong two and a half years later, averaging just more than two hours of poetry/fiction/nonfiction every week from poets and writers across Flagstaff, Williams, Prescott and Sedona. Poet Brews also began a writing workshop that was held on the lawn of the Flagstaff Public Library downtown location on Sundays this past summer called “Poetry on the Lawn” where local and regional poets came out to teach free poetry workshops for the Flagstaff community.
I’m sure there’s a few projects that I am forgetting, but when I am not hosting or coordinating literary events, I am trying to focus on a poetry manuscript and novel.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was younger, I really could not pin down one career. I wanted to do everything and see the world for what it’s worth. I think being a writer allows me to slip into many different universes in which I can be an astronaut or scientist or radio host or wanderer or writer or teacher.
What is your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory is a bit of a cliché. I vividly remember getting my first library card and think fondly of that memory—riding in the back of my dad’s truck on the way to the Peoria Public Library on the cusp of the end of the school year and the beginning of summer with a bright green print-out from my third-grade teacher with instructions on how to get a library card. She would let me go to the library during recess, and I think she was afraid I wouldn’t have regular access to books at home. That was the first summer I realized I wanted to write and read voraciously.
What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
An ideal day off would involve a sweet breakfast downtown (likely from the Sunday farmer’s market or Macy’s) followed by a hike near the aspens or with a view of the San Francisco Peaks and many stops to hammock and write or read with friends.
What are three items on your bucket list?
I would say I currently have these still left on my bucket list: hike through the Pacific Crest Trail, publish a novel and backpack through Europe.