Will Chris Ullery Make It Off The Island?

Christopher Ullery was born in Cumberland, Maryland. A year after he was born, his family moved to North Carolina and eventually moved back to Cumberland when he was three years old. Though Chris has spent a majority of his life in Cumberland, he cannot wait to move away. Chris explains a joke that he shares with his friends, “We were all into the show Lost. Like my friend asked me ‘Why are you going to college?’ and I said ‘I’m getting off the island, Jack.’” Chris also explained that he and his friends have this running gag where “Nobody gets out of Cumberland alive. Everybody who leaves eventually comes back or they die somewhere.” Growing up in Cumberland exposed Chris to many extreme situations, such as his close friend trying heroin for the first time, but Chris saw through the peer pressures and decided to go to college. Chris credits that same friend for being his motivation for going to school as well.

Though he is majoring in English with a core in literature and minor in journalism, Chris was not always so adamant about writing. In the years that he was out of college, he was in a band. He had people who were interested in his music, such as Sony music, but they all wanted him to travel to perform and in order to do that he needed money. He describes the situation he was in as a catch 22 because he needed to make more money to be able to travel, and in order to do that he would have to play more shows, which he wasn’t accomplishing in the Cumberland/Frostburg area.

His dream job is constantly changing. He wants to go into journalism but he worries that the demand for proper journalism is decreasing rapidly because of the growing amount of blogs on the internet today. Chris believes that, in reference to journalism, “Anybody can do it, which is okay, until you consider that some things should be done by people that are trained.” If journalism does not work out for him, he wants to teach American literature to college students. One of the many heroes for Chris is Hunter S. Thompson, whom he describes as “insane and awesome.”

Before attending Frostburg State University, Chris was a student at Allegany College of Maryland. While attending school there he received the “Outstanding English Major” award. He recently gave a reading at the Allegany College of Maryland’s presidential inauguration (here is a link to the reading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S92Rf6GNzw). Over the summer Chris was a part of the Nightsun Writers Conference. With this program, Chris got to do a lot of writing on the spot and he did some readings, which he greatly enjoyed. For more information about the Nightsun Writers Conference, visit: http://www.frostburg.edu/cwcenter/workshops/nightsun-writers-conference/. Chris’s favorite quote is by Winston Churchill, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.” With a quote like this as his inspiration, Chris will surely make it to the top!