Daniel Alarcón

"In the spring of 1996, during my first year at Columbia University, a group of students demanding the creation of a department of ethnic studies went on strike. The tension and urgency had been building since October, as the leaders behind the idea were about to graduate. There were meetings and rumors, and then it was announced to a small group of us that a few students would be going on hunger strike. This was in March."

Daniel Alarcón and Bret Anthony Johnston, both Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni, recount their undergraduate experiences in this New York Times Magazine. Read about their baccalaureate memories in this feature on emerging writers: Back in the Day (Just a Few Years Ago).