AN INCREDIBLE LIFE'S JOURNEY
WITH MARY WALLE
CURRENT POSITION: Master's Student in Global History, Freie und Humboldt Universitat
LOCATION: Berlin, Germany
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEGREE: History
GRADUATION YEAR: 2013
ACTIVITIES AT MICHIGAN: Michigan Pops Orchestra, Prison Creative Arts Project, St. Mary's Student Parish, Alternative Spring Break, LSA Honors Program Office
MICHIGAN POPS ORCHESTRA INSTRUMENT: Violin
Listen to one of Mary's favorite Pops pieces while you read about her Pops Life!
A CONVERSATION WITH MARY
KELLY COMPTON, our Post Life correspondent, interviews the beloved Mary Walle and traces her journey from Michigan to Germany. Find out how lightsabers and Kevin McDonough have helped Mary reach her goals today!
KC: Mary, tell us a bit about your musical background before coming to Michigan!
MW: I was a pretty intense classically trained violinist before I got to Michigan. Throughout high school and during my first year of college, I intended to go to music school. I studied with a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and was involved with a lot of festivals and summer music programs. However, I did not get into any music schools, or at least the ones that I wanted, and so “poor me” had to go to Michigan (just kidding!).
KC: What drew you to the Michigan Pops Orchestra initially?
MW: Although I did not go to music school, I had played in orchestras since 6th grade and always loved it. When I got to U of M, I wanted to keep playing, and I was planning on auditioning again for the music school. I happened upon the Pops table during FestiFall, so I signed up for an audition. Once I was in the orchestra, I realized that Pops was a group of people playing high-quality music but having a ton of fun – that added a different twist on my traditional classical music background.
KC: Tell us about your experience with Pops, and share some favorite memories!
MW: I joined Pops as a freshman and was in it for all 4 years. I never missed a concert! I joined the Board my junior year and was Executive Director (ED) my senior year.
As for favorite memories… there are so many!! I have a vivid memory of the very first Pops party I went to. There used to be a “Pops House” of only Pops members - they passed this house down for many years to more Pops members. Eventually I think that discontinued… but anyway, that’s where all of the parties used to be! I remember being there as a freshman and feeling like a baby because everyone was older than me. But people were so fun and welcoming I remember thinking, “This is the most fun I’ve had at a party so far in college!”
Another fond memory: a number of years before I was ED, the orchestra rented lightsabers. The orchestra members were so intense in using them that the lightsabers got a little nicked up. The rental company wouldn’t take them back, so Pops had to buy them. Each ED since then has been the “Keeper of the Lightsabers” – I assume that tradition continues until this day? I remember being entrusted with the lightsabers and then passing them on to the next ED, which was really special.
We used those lightsabers for everything…we had a lightsaber battle one time while rehearsing Star Wars, and we somehow always found a way to work the lightsabers into our concert filming. Because why not? We had them. They were HIGH quality lightsabers, too – they made noise when you hit them. I also have so many memories from Board meetings and just being ridiculous as a team!
KC: What was it like being Executive Director?
MW: Being ED was a lot of fun – I mean, I feel like my job was made easy by a pretty fabulous team. I also think that the organization was set up well and didn’t have to be reimagined every year. Pops does have to constantly change and improve and react to the students from year to year, but there is also a very clear way to run things. I enjoyed trying to create a space where everyone felt welcomed and involved. The orchestra was so special to me, so I wanted to make sure that continued for the new members as well.
KC: What have you been up to since graduating from Michigan?
MW: I’ve been working in the non-profit sector since graduation - challenging and important work. I decided at the end of my senior year to accept an opportunity to move to New York City as a Jesuit Volunteer through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. Sidenote: I never wanted to live in New York. Yet I stayed there for four wonderful hard-as-hell years.
But anyway, the experience in JVC… I worked in tenant organizing and immigration advocacy and did a fellowship the following year as a Public Ally in New York – that began my non-prof career. The bulk of that time I worked at the Center for Court Innovation, a criminal justice reform non-profit.
I worked to create opportunities to amplify teenagers’ voices in research and policy reform. Basically, I got to create a really special learning space for staff and students to engage with each other and think about how to make super practice changes to really complicated social justice issues. Outside of my day job, I also worked with young adults at Rikers, facilitating arts/human rights workshops with a fabulous non-profit ARTE (Art & Resistance Through Education) and some other side projects. I recently made a move abroad and am returning to my love for history and pursuing my Master’s in Global History in Berlin. Hoping to join an orchestra again!
KC: How do you feel that your career, relationships, and general mindset have been shaped by your experience with Pops?
MW: Career-wise, I think the biggest influence has been that it helped me to get a job. Having the “Executive Director” title was very helpful on my resume (though I did not think about that at all when I took on the role!). During interviews I was able to say “I was responsible for things, please hire me.”
In general, Pops has influenced me in that I continue to seek out people who are passionate about what they do, but who also don’t take themselves too seriously. There was definitely a point in my life when I was too serious (and I still can be sometimes), but being in Pops and meeting people like Kevin McDonough changed that for me.
KC: What advice would you give to students interested in a similar career path?
MW: For a non-profit career path, good luck! Haha… no, it is a worthy yet challenging endeavor. I think that like with any field, non-profits are a lot about networking, especially to get your first job out of college. I would encourage students to reach out to their networks, whether that’s their Pops network, or their degree network, etc. Personal relationships are how I’ve seen most people get jobs.
I also think there is a balance between the ability/decision to take risks and being practical. Sometimes you have to take a job that you don’t like, but bills have to be paid. That doesn’t mean you have to stay in something you don’t like. It’s important to not get complacent, because that’s very easy to do. Finally, allow yourself to rely on community - that’s really important. Find your people and value them, and keep people who value you back in your life.
KC: What does the Pops mean to you personally?
MW: That is a hard question… I think for me, Pops means family, love, community, and light. When I was in undergrad and particularly towards the end of undergrad when I was ED, I was deeply involved with the Prison Creative Arts project. That was both wonderful and VERY challenging. So Pops was a safe haven for me, filled with wonderful, supportive people, and it was a place for me to heal. It was also where I started to figure out how my artistic expression and political expression were related. And finally, I met some very awesome people who I wouldn’t have met otherwise, and they ended up becoming lifelong friends.
MARY'S FAVORITES
- MAGAZINE/BLOG/PODCAST: Everyday Feminism, The New Yorker, Black Girl Dangerous, On Being, and Call Your Girlfriend
- RESTAURANT IN A2 AND BERLIN: Ann Arbor - currently, for real for real, it's Jimmy Johns. Berlin - so far my favorite food is döner anywhere (sliced meats from a vertical rotisserie placed with salad into a pita bread), and specifically at a famous spot called Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap
- GERMAN DELICACY: Döner! Which I believe is pretty particular to Berlin and the Turkish Migration here.
- PLACE IN BERLIN TO VISIT SO FAR: This is hard already! One of the most moving is the Hall of Peace & Reconciliation which is the remains of a great cathedral that was bombed during the War.
- GERMAN QUIRK YOU HAVE NOTICED AROUND YOU: Knocking on the table to signal the end of classes AND that everyone leaves bottles next to trash cans rather than inside so people can pick them up without digging through the trash. Oh, and of course, that you can drink in public ;)
- POPS PIECE YOU'VE EVER PLAYED: "Wendy's Suite" aka a Lady Gaga remix...also loved the last song of the Once Upon a Time concert. I believe it was with a tenor from the music school. I cannot recall the piece but it’s a very famous solo...
- THINGS YOU MISS ABOUT AMERICA: Water fountains and peanut butter!
11/1/2017