The Final Stretch--December!

We’ve reached the month of December! It really is the final stretch of this semester.

  

On Monday, my Sophomore Essay will be wrapped up—the final draft turned in and, after 8:30 p.m., the end of public Sophomore Essay presentations, my PowerPoint given. I need to work on my essay this weekend, but thankfully, most of the edits I’ll be tackling are minor. My PowerPoint also needs some tweaking.

 In Intermediate Fiction, we are on our last portfolio which we will hand in at a reading at our professor’s house.  I am not so confident about where I’m at with this portfolio as I am with my Sophomore Essay.Among other things, I need to do a major rewrite on one of my stories. I am not feeling too enthusiastic about either of my pieces this semester. Hopefully the magic will come back when I sit down to write!

My grammar paper is in need of some serious work too. The rough draft I turned in was admittedly not the best I’ve ever done. It doesn’t help that I’m finding it difficult to really take a side with my paper. I’m examining grammatical differences in two versions of the Bible and I am supposed to be arguing that one version is more rhetorically effective. Initially, I decided the modern version was more rhetorically effective, but examining the King James Version has made me realize some if its rhetorical strengths, as well. This essay is due later than my portfolio, though, so I still have quite some time.

There are also final projects coming up in Thought & the Natural Sciences and a final paper in Hebrew Bible.

Something else I am just finishing up is applying to study away for a semester. I will be turning in my two final forms today—then I will officially be applied at Susquehanna’s Office of Cross-Cultural Programs (the application to the specific study abroad program comes later)! Though filling out the application was a bit tedious, it also renewed my excitement for going abroad. I ended up with Northern Ireland as my first choice. I keep thinking, “This time next year, I’ll be in Europe!”

While these next weeks leading up to Christmas break are bound to be academically stressful, I am hoping there will also be time for fun. I am looking forward to the Christmas Candlelight Service, as well as our university president, President Lemons, reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to us in our pajamas. I’m also going to a young adult Christmas party at the Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene on Saturday. As far as Christmas parties go, though, I am most excited for the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship Christmas party. Last year I received a clown mug as my gift!

All in all, though, I really am looking forward to break. It was nice being home for Thanksgiving, but it feels like such a short period. I am also looking forward to a new semester, new routines, and new classes come January.

Masquerades and Jazz

I spend a lot of time blogging about the weekends, and I’ll admit, I’m going to do it again. Weekends tend to be less monotonous than weekdays.

For example, Friday night was set apart by my Alpha Phi Omega formal, which was very fun. The best part of any formal, I think, is getting dressed up. I was so excited to wear the dress I bought and have my hair straightened. A friend from APO straightened my hair for me. She had an intense, turbo straightener that worked very well—and very quickly! She took about 30 minutes, a lot shorter than expected! I was thrilled that my hair stayed straight throughout the night, rather than puffing up again at the first sign of heat. Hairspray definitely did its trick. Additionally, the formal was masquerade-themed, so I got to have some fun with the mask my brother bought me years ago in Europe. It attracted quite a few compliments.  

Of course, I can’t ignore the formal itself. After gathering on the stairs in Seibert, one of the dorms on campus, for some pictures, our group headed over to the Susquehanna Valley Country Club. We started with dinner. I had chosen the stuffed chicken for my meal—a choice I did not regret. It was so tasty! There were also really good rolls. After some official APO business, like awards, the dancing begun, which was super fun. At the end of the night, our group headed to Denny’s, where I got a strawberry banana smoothie and two sides of fries.

Saturday my friend invited me out to dinner with her parents, and then afterwards, we hung out in the café Charlie’s.  A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was on in the background as we looked through old yearbooks and played games. I also got some great ice cream (I’m sensing a food theme here). Later, after hanging in her dorm for a little, we joined up with other people for card games.

The big event I went to Sunday was Jazz Vespers, part of Susquehanna’s Worship In A New Key Series. Vespers is an evening prayer service. This service was led by the Josh Davis Group who did a fabulous job. I was especially impressed by the singer’s voice! Also, I liked joining in singing the jazzy arrangements. A bit later that night was APO’s initiation. It was, admittedly, less exciting than when I was a pledge, but I was still very happy to see some of my friends become full-fledged brothers. I look forward to next semester since I plan on having a Little—a pledge who I will guide through the pledging proces.

Now that I've gotten past the weekend, I am very close to Thanksgiving break. Some of my friends get to leave today, but I will be here until tomorrow. Time, feel free to fly as quickly as you can!

The Neccesity of Breaks--And Some Fun Before Them!

It’s funny how my attitude towards breaks shifts over time. Many times last year, I felt conflicted about breaks. Wrapped up in my freshman collegiate experience and all of my new friendships, the thought of leaving school for whatever length of time was somewhat saddening. At the same time, there’s an itch to return home. This year, more used to the college life, I’ve, perhaps ironically, been looking forward to breaks more and more.

Thanksgiving Break is very quickly approaching, and that is truly something that fills me with thanks. The more stressful the time leading up to the break, the sweeter having that break is! This week I’ve been dealing with two group projects, one a scientific study and one for my Hebrew Bible class. Perhaps it’s my introverted side or an independent streak (or maybe even a controlling one), but I get drained by group projects quite easily. I also had an 8-page rough draft of my grammar essay due.

However, the break doesn’t necessarily mean an end of work.

I’ve gotten behind on my Scholar’s House project—completing a draft of a Christian YA novel and blogging about the intersection of faith and fiction—so I’d like to get a lot accomplished over break. This shouldn’t be that difficult, though. After all, a lot of college students I know are participating in NaNoWriMo, where you draft a novel in the month of November; I have a lot more time than that.

Fortunately, even if my break means a bit of creative work, it also means relaxation, time with family and friends, and really great Thanksgiving food.

I did get a prequel to that Thanksgiving meal, though, when I attended one of SU's biggest traditions for the first time--Thanksgiving Dinner! I went to the 4:30 p.m. seating with a group from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The cafeteria was packed with people excited for Thanksgiving food. The dinner definitely did not dissapoint. The stuffing was especially good. I wish we could have that dinner more often--though, I suppose, its rarity is what keeps it special. Another facet of this dinner is that faculty serve the students. President Lemons cut turkey for our table himself. Many groups got a picture with him after dinner, including ours. He really is so accessible and friendly. It makes me sad that, if I am abroad next fall, I'll only have one more Thanksgiving Dinner left at SU!

Tonight Alpha Phi Omega is having its formal at a nearby country club. There will be dancing as well as a banquet where I think there might be awards, as well as the results of recent elections. After a bit of stress this week, this formal will be a great relief. I am very excited about the dress I bought and for a friend to straighten my hair. I'm also looking forward to wearing my mask since it's a masquerade.

I'm glad that I haven't only been pining for break but have had--and will have tonight--some fun times before I get there!

Sophomore Essay Draft 2!

Monday I had an advising appointment with Chaplain Radecke to discuss the second draft of my sophomore essay. This draft clocked in at 20 pages, plus a few more for the Works Cited section. I am now transitioning into the tweaking phase which might include adding subheadings for the paper, checking the flow and organization, etc. The most substantial thing I want to do is a bit more work identifying and acknowledging the arguments against my position. My essay argues that the genre of young adult fiction needs to explore religious doubt with more frequency and nuance. It’s been difficult to articulate the arguments against this. I think what I really am opposing is not just poor writing but the commercial concerns that make such poor writing a wise choice, as well as the apathetic stance that it doesn’t matter if such issues are addressed in fiction for teenagers.

I’ve had a really positive experience working on this essay. My passion about the subject hasn’t waned, but has grown. I think it helps that it comes from a very personal place. As a reader of Young Adult fiction, I’ve always been on the lookout for books that talk about spiritual and religious matters in a way that speaks to me, but often I find I can’t relate to the secular Young Adult novels that tackle the issue or those published by Christian publishers.

The intersection of religion and literature has been so interesting to me that I keep thinking about how I want to pursue it in the future. I don’t know if this exploration will mainly focus on my own creative writing and how best to portray spiritual or religious ideas realistically and powerfully or if it may continue in this scholarly direction.

I am excited to complete this essay and be able to more fully share my research with others. One way I’ll be sharing it is through the Sophomore Essay presentations. A few people are giving talks, while the rest of us will be sharing posters and PowerPoints.  Right now, I am trying to figure out how to best share my essay in a PowerPoint.  I think I will focus on making a lot of my points on the overall treatment of religion in the Young Adult genre, what doubt is, the theological and theoretical approaches I reference, etc., on the slides.  Perhaps I will relegate excerpts from Young Adult novels and my analysis of them to print-outs; this seems like it might be easier than trying to cram as much onto my PowerPoint as possible.

Tomorrow, in my Sophomore Essay class, I will be doing a practice presentation, so hopefully I will receive a lot of helpful feedback on how to best translate this topic, which I’m very excited about, to this medium that isn’t exactly captivating me.

A Strange Saturday

My Saturday this past weekend was a bit atypical. It started out strangely, with me waking up around 6:00 a.m., which is much earlier than I wake up on a weekday. It’s practically a scandal for me to wake up this early on a Saturday, since I usually sleep in past noon. I had good reason, though: a service project at 7:00 a.m.  Many of my Alpha Phi Omega brothers were helping with Girls on the Run, a program that trains girls for a 5k while instilling self-confidence and healthy habits. The most bizarre part was looking out the window when I first woke up and seeing it was completely dark!

I was with the group directing traffic on streets where the run was taking place. My partner and I had a huge intersection. Thankfully, the fire police came to direct for us. I mostly tried to encourage the runners and keep them on the sidewalk when those directing traffic did let the cars go. After the events, I stayed around to help with clean-up.

It’s a bit ironic that I was volunteering to help with a 5k when I’ve never ran one and probably would’ve been horrified at the prospect when I was younger!  

A lot of my Saturday was also spent at the mall. My friends Alexis, Lindsey, and I took the free shuttle provided by the Student Government Association. I had to find a dress for my upcoming formal for Alpha Phi Omega, which is this Friday. I was worried I wouldn’t find anything, but I am in love with the dress I found at Maurice’s! It’s black so my Venetian mask will match it; I’m also hoping I’ll be able to find other uses for it, rather than this one-time event. All in all, it was a successful shopping trip.

Saturday became bizarre, again, when I was in my room about to watch a TV show on Netflix. It was about 9:00 p.m., and I was already exhausted. I could only get through the show’s opening! After that, I decided to take a nap—which, of course, being so late in the day, turned into a full 12 hour of sleep. Usually I go to bed much later on Saturday nights, so, despite waking up so early, the day feltl quite short!

Sunday was normal, however, at least in terms of scheduling. It was also very good. I had a great brunch with my friends where we got to have some deep discussion, and I got to have another deeper conversation with a friend later in the day.

College Firsts Aren't Over Yet

Though it's my sophomore year, I feel far from done with college firsts. Recently, I got to have a college first that's not quite so exciting--my first trip to the Health Center. On Wednesday night, I experienced some chest pain. It subsided a lot, instead replaced by a dull ache or tightness. When I still felt a bit off Thursday, I knew it was time to make an appointment at the Health Center. It was a little bit nervewracking, to be honest. As a college student, I'm supposted to start being responsible and doing adult things, but I hate talking on the phone and making appointments. Still, I set up an appointment and woke up a bit too early for my taste to get to the Health Center at 8:45 a.m.

I have to say, the health center looks really nice! It's a fairly new addition to campus, and you can tell that once you're inside. There also wasn't too much paperwork to fill out and hardly any wait before they could see me. The wait between the nurse seeing me and the doctor coming in was also short--much shorter than I've sometimes experienced at the doctor's office at home.

It was really a relief to have this appointment and find out that this issue was relatively minor. Because my heart and lungs seemed fine, and because of details about my symptoms, the doctor determined it was most likely costochondritis--inflammation that'll go away. They sent me away with some Naproxen and encouragement to come back if things get worse.

So far, so good!

Officially A Double Major

After a lot of reflection, I’ve officially decided on and declared a Religion major.  Before I registered for next semester’s classes, I filled out the paper work for a second major. I am now a Creative Writing-Religion double major with an Honors program minor. I went back and forth with this decision many times, but I’m very pleased with it.

My coursework in religion classes so far, Applied Biblical Ethics and Hebrew Bible, has been interesting, and I had a strong desire to take more courses than only a Religion minor requires. I’m also very interested in how this major may play into future career paths. Maybe I could end up working for a religious magazine or theological journal or doing communications work for faith-based non-profits, churches, denominations, etc.  I’m also interested in librarianship, so maybe one day I could end up working for a theological library or archives for a denomination. The interplay of my spiritual life and my creative writing is also something of interest.

My Sophomore Essay has further affirmed this decision. Just on Monday, I turned in the second draft of my essay to my advisor. The draft is about 20 pages, and I’ve enjoyed working on it immensely. My topic, representation of doubt in young adult novels, has allowed me to branch into ideas of youth ministry, theological concepts like “theology of the cross,” and brief examples of doubt in the Bible. These religious components have interested me just as much as the literary component—which I also really enjoy! The essay itself is very much a meld of my dominant interests.

Next semester, if I get into the courses I registered for, my schedule will be evenly split between these two disciplines. For Creative Writing, I hope to take Intro to Poetry and Aesthetics and Interpretation. Intro to Poetry will be my last introductory class for Creative Writing. I’m excited for the change of pace I’ll get from escaping prose for a semester. I am also curious as to how I’ll enjoy the class because lately my interest in poetry has been rising. My two religion classes will probably be Intro to Asian Religions and Luther: Life and Thought. I’m looking forward to how different those topics will be, especially since I don’t feel particularly well-informed on either.

I’ll have to be diligent to fulfill all the requirements for both majors, but I think in the end it will be worth it, if it means studying two things that really interest me.

A Weekend Overview

This weekend was Parents' Weekend at SU, meaning our campus was filled with a bunch of families. I was very happy that my parents came up on Friday evening. They took me to the mall and bought me 2 new pairs of jeans which I love. Then we went to Applebees for a delicious dinner before heading back to campus for an event recognizing University Scholars.

I started out my Saturday with a project for Alpha Phi Omega. Alpha Phi Omega was having a huge clothing drive for Haven Ministries in nearby Sunbury. Previously, APO membrs had distributed flyers around Selinsgrove neighborhoods instructing anybody who wants to donate to leave the bags outside their door that morning. Saturday we went off, mostly in pairs, to drive around different zones and collect bags of clothing. People were really generous! And some of the bags of clothes--really heavy!

When I got back, I grabbed lunch with one of my friends, then spent a lot of the day in her dorm room for a Movie Party. We watched 10 Things I Hate About You and The Lizzie McGuire Movie before I had to grab dinner with another friend and get ready for ushering for SU's current theater production, Funny Girl. This was my first time ushering so I was actually a little nervous! Ushers don't only pass out flyers. They're also responsible for watching the audience to make sure people aren't using cell phones, blocking the aisles, eating, etc., so I couldn't focus all of my attention on the show. I was able to focus enough, though, to get a grasp on how good it was! Afterwards I went back to my friend's dorm where Movie Night was still continuing.

Sunday was less eventful. After chapel and brunch, I spent some time hanging out in my room and then some time in the library, working on my sophomore essay.

Today I need to do more work on my sophomore essay so I can send out a draft to my advisor, though I don't know if the revisions will be as complete as I will have liked. I am also meeting with my group for a project in my Hebrew Bible course, going to an APO project, and attending an InterVarsity-related meeting, if I get the time. I'm hoping the rest of the week stays relatively unbusy!
  

Islamophobia

I think lectures are one of the most underrated college experiences. Many times, students, myself included, will groan about a professor requiring them to attend a lecture. Even if we are interested, squeezing something else into our schedules--especially whatever sliver of blissful free time the lecture inevitably interrupts--seems like a major pain. However, I think lectures can be really valuable. Sure, sometimes it's hit-or-miss, whether that lecture really captures my interest, but when it does, I am glad I went.

Yesterday's Islamophobia lecture by American Muslim journalist Stephen Schwartz certainly caught my interest.

Lectures about religion are really interesting to me--especially ones about how people of different religions interact. Interfaith relationships and communication are very important to me. I really appreciated Schwartz's take on what this interfaith interaction should be. He said that he expects people of other faiths to hold to and defend their religions. He also said most Muslims are fine, and expect, people to be critical towards Islam. The problem comes not in criticisms of Islam or religious defense; rather, the problem is when someone slams Islam based on false, fear-based propoganda.

Schwartz described the different facets of Islamopobia as well as its role as an industry. Islamophobes are people who think Islam is neccesarily hateful, evil, and extremist and discount the existence of a moderate Muslim majority. These people tend to think that Islam is a force that must be defeated. He believes Islamophobia is an industry--a shameful one, but one that's almost sensible, in the way that it utilizes the fear that is so abundant, especially during this time of financial crisis. In terms of media coverage, for instance, Muslim extremists are much more grabbing than Muslim moderates.

A quick Google search on Islamophobia shows what a problem it really is. The first four links seem to explain what Islamopobia is. The fifth result promotes Islamophobe as a term of pride for people who  think they're actually in the know about the religion!

Personally, I have to wonder what these Islamophobes think they are accomplishing. There seems to be something to Schwartz's point that Islamophobes thrive off conflict. Particularly interesting was his point that Islamophobes and radical Muslims fuel each other. They're in a relationship where both needs the other to exist--radicals need Islamophobes to point out the evil stance others take toward their religion and encourage action against them, Islamophobes need radicals' extreme actions to justify their fear or vitrol.

I would really have liked people who consider themsleves Islamophobes to hear this lecture. I wonder how they would respond to Schwartz's challenging words--if maybe it would sow a seed of doubt. This makes me ponder an even bigger question then--what would we all be like if we sought out lectures, or more generally, the points of view, that challenge us and oppose us?

This Week's Highlights

It's finally Friday! Actually, this week has gone rather quickly. I'm excited about that and ready for the weekend, which is going to include a hang-out session with my lovely Big from APO, a Halloween party at TRAX, and maybe, possibly snow. 

Here are some highlights of this week:

• Monday I had a service project with Alpha Phi Omega at a community center where I got to play with kids. I hadn't been in the best mood all day, but I really enjoyed myself when I was there. I am signed up to go back soon.
• Tuesday I had my short story workshopped in Intermediate Fiction, which is always fairly interesting--and, you know, nervewracking.
• I did another service project Tuesday as well. Alpha Phi Omega is organizing a clothing drive as its big project for this semester, and I was helping distribute flyers. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to do more flyer distribution on Sunday. Also--the houses we were delivering flyers to were absolutely gorgeous! They were so fancy, I really wonder how expensive they were.  
• Wednesday, in Thought & the Natural Sciences, we went on a field trip. Our class trekked up the side of a hill--I'd call it a mountain--on the side of a highway to look at rocks from the Duvonian era. I'll admit, I didn't know too much about the rocks but it was kind of fun breaking them apart. Also, I was very glad that I had decided to wear rain boots. Some girls were wearing flats and skirts, and they looked absolutely miserable.
• Thursday one of SU's visiting writers, James Galvin, spoke to my Intermediate Fiction class. Galvin identifies as a poet but his prose book, The Meadow, is well-known. It's always interesting to see the person behind a book you've been reading. The formation of The Meadow was especially intriguing. Galvin was writing about the real people and lifestyle he knew to capture it for his then 4-year-old daughter, who would not really ever get to know those people, that way of life, or the land as it had been for Galvin growing up. I've heard this kind of idea before--writing for a very particular person--and it's still one I'd like to really try.
• In Hebrew Bible on Thursday, I got my group and topic for the final project. I am very excited that my group will be presenting on the sages. Sages are basically wisemen, responsible for books in the Bible like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 
• InterVaristy's large group meeting--this week, about friendship--made my Thursday night awesome, as always!
• I've decided on my topic for my final, 12 page grammar paper. I'll be looking at the grammatical differences between the King James Version of the Bible and newer versions using more modern language, such as the New International Version, and I'll be arguing about which is more effective rhetorically. It was very hard to choose between this idea and analyzing the grammar in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, which I love!
• I wrote a short-short last night. I have some little tweaks to do before I send it out. I'm not actually sure how good it is, but I had fun writing it.
• Registration is approaching for next semester. Actually, classes and times come out today. I am still majorly flip-flopping on whether or not I want to double major in Creative Writing and Religion. I would really like to make the decision before next semester, though.  

It's been a busy week. Hopefully another highlight of my weekend will be lots of sleep.

Fall Conference!

Friday afternoon, I headed out to InterVarsity Fall Conference. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is not merely an organization on this campus but is represented on campuses across the country. Fall Conferences provide a chance for students from different campuses to get together. At our conference, 10 colleges were represented, with decent numbers of students from schools like Albright, Alvernia, Bloomsburg, Bucknell, and Lehigh. The conference, which took place in the Poconos, provided plenty of free time for hanging out with friends as well as speakers, worship, and quiet time.

While I love the Susquehanna campus, I really do love these times when I can break from my usual routine and escape off-campus. It's a great opportunity to be away from stressors at school. In fact, I brought no homework at all with me on this trip, since I knew I wouldn't get to it. Of course, reality comes crashing back in very quickly--like finding out you've overslept Monday morning, for instance.

I wish it could've gone on longer, but I hope that it has ramifications on my semester as it continues. One thing I hope to do, particularly, is to deepen my friendships and fellowship with people from IV.

I am so grateful that I began attending this group first semester. It's been so formative to my college life and has given me so many memorable experiences that I would not have had otherwise. I advise all college students to join an organization they're passionate about as early as they can! I'm excited for the rest of the time I'll be having with IV throughout the year and through my next years here at SU, and though I may not get to go on Fall Conference next year, due to study abroad, I definitely want to go my senior year!

Fall Break and the Mini-Week

Number 3--my Venetian mask!

It's been a short but active week since I've returned from Fall Break!

Fall Break itself wasn't particularly interesting (it was also way too short), so I thought a fun way to share about it would be looking at a list of all the things I brought back from home after Fall Break that I hadn't had at school before.

1     A bag of clothing
2.   Bags of stuffed animals
3.   A Venetian mask
4.   My Halloween costume
5.   Rainboots
6.   Umbrella
7.   A fan
8.   Cookies

The clothing and stuffed animals are for Alpha Phi Omega, my service fraternity. APO is running a clothing drive as its major project, so I brought some of my clothes to donate. I am asking my parents to bring any clothes they have lying around when they come up for Family Weekend. APO has also made me aware of a stuffed animal drive. I’m pretty okay with parting with all of these stuffed animals—as long as I have my Pillow Pet that I got at APO initiation last year, a hippo I named Hagrid. The stuffed turtle, though, is probably the coolest of the stuffed animals I’m donating. The Venetian mask is also for Alpha Phi Omega. APO has a formal once a year. This year’s formal is masquerade themed. Many people are making masks, but I thought I’d take advantage of the one I had in my room! It’s a souvenier my brother bought me when he went on a trip to Europe in college.

I also brought my Halloween costume—or the key piece of it, which I bought at Salvation Army for 3 dollars over break. My Halloween costume is obscure, and nobody may get it, but I’m still very excited about it. I am being Lindsay Weir from the cult classic television show Freaks and Geeks. This costume basically consists of jeans and a green, oversized Army jacket.

Earlier in the year, I threw out my rainboots because they had a hole in them. This was a decision I came to regret since, for a while there, it was nonstop rain. It was such a relief to get rainboots over break! My former umbrella also had some difficulties—though I haven’t yet thrown it out. A new one is very helpful, though I’ve already used it and struggled with closing it before I go into buildings.

A small fan is one of the best things I’ve brought back from break! My room can get pretty hot. It’s super nice to feel that air.

There is no real reason for cookies, except that they’re Golden Oreos and they’re yummy.

All in all, I was pretty prepared for the short, but active week that was ahead of me! Yesterday was probably the most hectic, as I scrambled to complete a short story for Intermediate Fiction. It was due around midnight, but everyone else with the same due date had sent their stories in prior to mine—which came in around 9:45.

Nevertheless, I headed over to the Christian group I’m involved in, InterVarsity, even though it was only for the final 15 minutes. After InterVarsity was formally finished, a group of us stayed after to make a scarecrow for an event happening at SU called Scarecrows for a Cause.  Scarecrows for a Cause is a competition among different organizations. Each organization submits a decorated scarecrow, and members of the campus community will “vote” for different scarecrows by donating money. The scarecrow that accrues the most money will earn its groups’ charity of choice all of the money made through Scarecrows for a Cause. I didn’t go back until my room late last night, but it was worth it because it was a lot of fun—especially after all that story stress!

Skipping to Summer: Thinking about Internships

Though it's midterm week of fall semester, my friends and I have already discussed plans for the summer. This past summer I worked at Salvation Army hanging up clothing. The  location was nearby, the hours were good, and the work was easy, so no major complaints there. I am even thinking that I'll be return to this position over winter break so I can make some money for study abroad next year. However, I am hoping to do something different next summer. I would really like an internship. Creative Writing majors, like most majors, don't all end up in the same field, and it's not always as obvious how to make this study into a career. I think it's especially important for me, then, to get experience in possible career paths. 

One advantage I have in the internship search is that I live near Harrisburg. Being by the capital gives me more opportunities than I might have elsewhere. Already I've found two really interesting internship opportunities.

One company is looking for a Communications Intern. The position would involve with marketing and media relations. Though I am not a Communications major, the writing skills I'm cultivating through my major can definitely be helpful in that field. I also work for Susquehanna's University Communications office, so I have some experience. Completing this internship may give me some more insight on whether or not I am interested in pursuing communications professionally.

The second internship I found was at an archive. Archival work and library science are fields that are often associated with each other. Because of my interest in librarianship, I have stumbled upon, and been intrigued by, information on archival careers. One job I find interesting is that of a digital archivist. The only way to know if I'd really like archival work, though, is to do it. This internship could provide a great opportunity to explore a career path that I might not get to really consider otherwise.

I'm only at the beginning of my search, though. I'm sure if I found these two great opportunities, I can find a lot more! Once I have my list, I'll begin working on resumes, cover letters, and applications. I think I will take advantage of the Center for Career Services before I send any materials to companies. I have yet to use this resource on campus, but this would be the perfect time; I want to give myself the best chance possible for success!

Being Studied

Though I have not been a brother of Alpha Phi Omega for very long, it has provided me quite a few opportunities that I wouldn't have had--or been aware of having--otherwise. For instance, last year I spent some time plucking weeds at a muddy campus garden and knocking on dorm room doors, asking students for their unneeded shirts. I'm a bit behind on my service hours for APO this semester (I need 20 by the semester's end, meaning I should be around 10 hours right now; unfortunately, I'm only a bit over 5) but I have still engaged in some new opportunities through APO this year. For example, I got to attend a kindergarten through third grade dance at the YMCA and represent Alpha Phi Omega at one of Susquehanna's activity fairs. 

Most recently, APO has asked brothers to sign up for some of the research studies SU students conduct.

Yesterday I participated in a Psychology study. It was a very simple way to help out my fellow students. All I had to do was report to a classroom at 7 p.m., fill out a consent form, and take a test, mostly about myself and my personality. The only downside, for me, is filling out test bubbles. I spend so long on each bubble! That definitely contributed to me being the second to last person to finish the test. Still, it was only a painless hour of time that helped out the pursuit of academics at Susquehanna.

Taking that study helped me appreciate the work that is done in other, more research-oriented majors, like psychology. It seems like a whole other way of life, when I think about what my Creative Writing major requires of me, and it strikes me how much our areas of study impact our college experiences. However, there are ample opportunities for students of different disciplines to support each other--that is, if we take them.

It's funny that these research studies come up now. My group in my science course for the Honors program, Thought & the Natural Sciences, is in the preliminary stage of our own research study. Since this research is coming from a science class that is more general and meant to fulfill Central Curriculum requirements, obviously our research won't be as in-depth. Still, we will follow a similar process on a smaller scale.

I suppose college gives not only the chance to study, but do studies and be studied in return.

Part of Your World



Bev and I over the summer

My friend Beverly, who goes to the University of Pittsburgh, commented on how Susquehanna is very much a different world from her big, urban university. We concluded that basically every college is its own world, with its own culture, and how her visit was taking her into mine.

When Bev arrived Saturday afternoon, I gave her a campus tour with her other friend she was visiting. It was fun to be able to show her all the places on campus, including my beloved freshman dormitory (though we didn't get the chance to go inside). One place we explored with her was the library. Then we ate lunch with her at my favorite place to eat on campus, Benny's. During this tour, I was able to introduce her to many people, like my roommate from last year Sarah who I called to meet us outside of Smith, where she RAs, my Big from Alpha Phi Omega, and one of my friends from my residence hall last year, Kathleen.

Saturday she went to stay with her other friend, but on Sunday we spent the day together. A cool aspect of the day was that it differed from the norm but I also was able to include her in many of my Sunday routines. We met at chapel, then had Sunday brunch in the cafeteria, one of my favorite SU meals. We decided to spend a lot of our day outside. We walked into downtown Selinsgrove which Bev found adorable; of course I agreed. There wasn't much open in Selinsgrove on a Sunday afternoon so we walked over by the river and found a gazebo where we could chat. I had never actually been to that spot before, but it was nice and I want to go back. Following our outdoors adventure, we returned to my dorm, where we spent time with my friends, and then went to Benny's for dinner. This Sunday happened to be a week when the Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene was having its young adult service. I was able to take her to that, and she got to see many of my friends from InterVarsity who also attend Plugged In. Afterwards, we ordered Domino's at my dorm.

We ended the night chilling in my room and staying up talking way too late.

It's so awesome that she has been here and experienced some parts of my Susquehanna world. Now I can talk to her about my college life and the people in it, and she will have at least some idea about what I'm saying! It makes me want to visit here even more at Pitt--though I know that world will be extremely different from Susquehanna.

Gathering More Study Abroad Information

Yesterday, after Hebrew Bible class, I went to an information session on study abroad. A representative from IFSA-Butler, an organization that has many study abroad programs, was visiting. It was a very small information session—only me and one other student, but that meant receiving a lot of personalized information about the program I was interested in at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The University of Ulster has four different campuses, and I like the one in Coleraine. It has a strong English program so I should be able to find classes to meet my requirements here.

The representative was able to describe the campus so I have a better picture than my research had given me. He said the campus itself wasn’t the prettiest campus, but it was surrounded by a scenic area. Also, there are busses that take students into the nearby town. The college is also larger than Susquehanna, but I think I’m willing to take bigger class sizes for a semester in order to have my study abroad experience. The academic approach in Northern Ireland will be different as well. There is less week-to-week work; students are expected to be more independent, and much of your grade comes down to a long, final exam. There will definitely be an international population, but it won’t be a huge one, like in some other countries. The program comes with an orientation before the semester--I believe in Belfast, though my memory isn't 100% clear--as well as excursions. For students in Northern Ireland, he said there is usually a weekend in Dublin. He was also able to give me more information on how signing up for classes and applying work. Something else I like is that there will probably be a group flight to Northern Ireland leaving from JFK airport. This is a comfort to me because I’ve never flown before.

Right now, I definitely think this is what I want to do in terms of study abroad. The application process for studying abroad next school year opens up in November, so around then this blog will probably be filled with more updates as I go through paperwork, try to obtain a faculty recommendation, etc.  My main concern, at the moment, is just making sure things will check out financially.

Despite the fact that I’m in the very beginning of this process—practically before the beginning—the more I think about study abroad the more excited I become. In high school, this is an opportunity I hadn’t really considered taking, but now I’m very much attached to the idea.  

Group Projects

In my Intermediate Fiction class, I just completed something I haven't done in any of my other writing courses--a group project. Like the rest of my writing courses, Intermediate Fiction is divided between workshopping people in the class and reading published works. Each group in our class is leading the discussion on two authors. Today, my group had to lead conversation and activity around two David Foster Wallace short stories. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't contribute enough, because I wasn't leading a section on my own, but I think I was able to ask some interesting questions as well as respond to some of the questions my other group members raised. What I liked about this group project was that it was not nearly as stressful as many I've done!

My Thought & The Natural Sciences course also relies on group projects. For tomorrow, we need to turni n the next stage of our end-of-unit group project. Our professor gave us a lot of freedom as to the topic and medium of our projects. My team ended up choosing to do vlogs, or video blogs, of different scientists involved in aviation, in order to convey biographical information about these scientists as well as scientific concepts. I am playing Daniel Bernoulli. Aviation was before his time, but the Bernoulli principle became very important in flight. Our last due date we all turned in outlines of our research. Tonight I need to write my video script so I can hand that in. The next stage will be actually filming my video, which will be interesting--I feel like I need to find a good costume!

For Friday we also have to come up with an idea for an experiment we could conduct as a team. We're still in the brainstorming stage, but we are leaning towards something to do with psychology.

Usually, I'm very wary of group projects, but for both these classes, I've had good group members. I have yet to really feel my normal group project stress. I hope that I can continue warding that off as our group begins a new project in science.

Religious Life Council's Fall Retreat

On Friday, I left for this year's Religious Life Council Christian Fellowship Retreat. This was my third RLC  retreat so far, and I hope to go to one each semester, besides my semester abroad. Our group, I think around 25 of us, gathered at the chapel with blankets, pillows, and bags. After approximately 45 minutes in a school bus, we reached Mountain Dale Farms. It's a great location, though it was too rainy for us to enjoy nature as much as most of us would've liked. Last year, all of the girls stayed in one cabin, but because so many people went this year, a group of us girls slept in a different cabin. This cabin had a really cool loft, where many of the girls slept, but I stuck to one of the bunk beds on the ground. Unfortunately, I've had a cold, and I didn't want it spread by sleeping in such close quarters!

In fact, I got so sick that I practically lost my voice over the weekend. This was a major pain but I didn't let it ruin my retreat experience.

Friday night was mostly spent hanging out and playing games in "The Room of Death," the meeting area with comfy couches and chairs and many mounted animal heads. As groups, we played the knot game, which is when people stand in a circle and grab hands so everyone is tangled; then, the group has to work to free itself from the knot. My group was very unsuccessful--we didn't unknot ourselves once! I also played a game of Pictionary Down the Lane that night, which is pictionary mixed with the game Telephone. To begin, someone writes a sentence. The person that gets the sentence has to do a drawing of it. The next person then, without looking at the previous sentence, has to compose a sentence about the drawing. Everything gets wonderfully convuluted! On Saturday, I also had plenty of time to sit and talk with people, as well as play card games and 20 questions.

Of course, the retreat also had a spiritual focus. Susquehanna's Deacon of Spiritual Nurture, a senior religion major, led our group in sessions about heaven and the concept of heaven on earth. These sessions incorporated Bible study and discussion. For some, we listened to and reflected on songs about heaven. During one session, all of us got a chance to bust out our artistic skills and draw our childhood picture of heaven--it was very hard for me to decide on God's clothing and hairstyle! Saturday night, our structured activities ended with worship and prayer. I was a bit sad that, because of my cold, I couldn't sing along to the worship songs. My favorite part of worship was seeing the skits our different groups made about the Scripture readings. My group updated a parable about a servant inviting guests to his master's great feast to a butler inviting guests to his master's luau! The skits, in all, were very creative.

It was very nice to step away from campus and my routines; I wish I could've been gone longer! Luckily, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Fall Conference is coming up this month as well, giving me plenty of chances to get away.

In the Sophomore Essay Trenches

A week from today the first draft of my sophomore essay, a 15 to 20 page paper required by the Honors Program, is due to my adviser. I'll admit that I am not as far into my work as I want to be. The fact that I'm going off-campus this weekend for the religious life retreat (which I am really excited about) means I may be even more behind than I'd hoped. 

Still, I've actually been enjoying working on this essay--much more than most of my homework, anyway! Recently I've been gathering all of my research. I've found some fascinating articles. For my topic, representation of religious doubt in contemporary Young Adult fiction, I've not only been researching religion's role in YA literature but, more generally, conceptions of doubt by religious communities, methods of dealing with doubt, and the role of religion in the lives of teenagers. These articles, coming from the religious rather than literary angle, have been especially interesting to me. A few of them have been about how youth ministry should deal with teenagers questioning their faith. It may be a slight challenge to make the application of these articles clear when talking about YA, but with some effort, I think they can work well.

At the start of the sophomore essay program, students are always encouraged to pick a topic, outside their major or not, that is of interest to them. That's the difference between having a fun, or at least satisfying, experience and the whole thing being a drudgery. I'm really glad that I followed that advice and think that it's true.

Working on this project has made me consider bumping up my religion minor to a major; I would be a double major in Creative Writing and Religion. I don't think I'm going to decide that any time soon, but I'm definitely not ruling out the possibility. College is busy enough as it is, and I'm not so sure I could handle trying to complete the requirements for two programs. However, it is very, very enticing.

Robert Putnam Lecture--Learning About Religion in America

As a religion minor and a religious person, yesterday's lecture by Robert Putnam was definitely of interest to me. Robert Putnam, Harvard professor and author of many books including American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unite Us, was brought to Susquehanna for the annual Alice Pope Shade Lecture. These Shade lectures typically cover the intersection of religion and public life. Putnam's lecture did just this, outline the ways in which religion impacts American social life as well as the changing religious landscape.

Putnam talked a lot about younger people and their views towards the religion. More and more, young people are falling under the category of "nones." This does not mean they are atheist. Many "nones" believe in God and pray regularly. They just do not affiliate themselves with a religion. To put this drastic change in perspective, historical levels of "nones" in America have been 5%. 31% of people under 30 are now classified as "nones."

Putnam looked at some recent history to explain the events. Basically, religion was at an all-time high at the 1950s. Then the 60s came along and there was tremendous social shifting, especially regarding sexual norms. Another group in the 70s and 80s didn't find this liberating but appalling and swung towards evangelical Protestantism. This conservative group became increasing politicized so that, now, religion often becomes identified with conservative Republican politics. A backlash against this began in 1990, with "nones" steadily increasing.

According to Putnam, this dramatic shift by younger people away from organized religion will certainly impact American public life.

I think it's always interesting to realize that you, in the present, are inside a time of history and change. This current trend away from organized religion didn't start long before I was born--it's so recent, really--but I've been living in it my entire life. It's become defining to my generation. Where we go from here is unknown, but it will alter America, maybe forever.

During the Q&A, Putnam brought up that he didn't think young people were going to change but religious offerings would. He believes that there is a large pool of people who would go to church if they didn't think that mean being Republican or homophobic; I have witnessed these conceptions and think this is true. Putnam predicts that a church may adapt to attract them--a contemporary one that is not necessarily liberal but at least apolitical, one that focuses less on issues of sex.

If Putnam is right, that means the future I'll inhabit will have a very different religious landscape than the one I've seen growing up. Or maybe the religious offerings won't adapt and "nones" will continue their rise. We simply don't know. I may have certain hopes about what might happen, but whatever does happen, Putnam suggests that America will be changed for it--as well as American democracy. This lecture made me mull over those hopes and the ramifications my generation, and the decades to come, may have.

Short Shorts--Being Challenged As A Writer

When it comes to writing, I would identify myself as a novelist. I love to write longer pieces and can find the idea of writing fewer pages to be stifling. I tend to turn in lengthier pieces than many of my classmates--and those pieces still often beg for more pages. This has been a challenge since both Intro to Fiction and Intermediate Fiction courses are focused on short stories.

In Intermediate Fiction, my tendencies are challenged even more by "short short" assignments. Short shorts can be no more than four, double-spaced pages long. And yet they have to contain so much--or at least, contain very little done very well. Rather than having full-scale workshops, where the entire classes discusses the piece, we break into groups of four people and go over each person's work more informally.

I used my first short short as a chance to experiment. The experiment failed--at least judging by the feedback I received.

Today I have to e-mail out my newest short short to a different small group of students. This piece is a bit more conventional--also, I'm hoping, a bit better. I am both excited and nervous about hearing their feedback. I feel as if I understood short shorts more when writing this one. In my previous short short, I crammed in a lot of different scenes but this piece is more focused on a particular moment.

While I don't see myself abandoning my novelist aspirations to crank out short short anthologies, I definitely see that I'm being stretched as a writer by these activities--and surprisingly enough, I've actually enjoyed writing these short shorts, even if they may not be my best work.

A Future Alumna

For my work in University Communications, I am writing an article on the 15th anniversary  of the Creative Writing major. A significant portion of the research for this article was looking at alumni and their successes in Creative Writing, as well as their uses of the study in unrelated fields. As a Creative Writing major, I can't stop myself from wondering where I might fall among Creative Writing graduates in the future. Of course, I hope I'd be one of those better-known alumni in the program who is getting published and being invited back to read, but even those alumni have other jobs--other significant portions of their lives. I have the feeling for that many Creative Writing major alumni, their paths aren't always the most planned out, but I'm thinking that's probably common among college graduates.

Perhaps, by the time I'm graduating, I'll want to pursue an M.F.A., though I don't find that thought appealing now.

I've talked about my interest in a library career here before, and that interest is still there, though I don't want to go straight into a graduate program for library science. Grad school is a big commitment, and don't even get me started on issues of affordability! Maybe after graduation I'll have a chance to work in libraries to see if that's really what I want to pursue. Right now I keep kicking around the idea of being an academic librarian and working in a university setting. Even within the "academic librarian" field, there are many routes to take.

Maybe I will work in a communications-oriented job after I graduate. Or maybe I'll be in something that would seem totally out-there and irrelevant now. The main thing, however, is that I want to be writing, no matter what my job title may be. I hope that a few years out from graduation I'm beginning to accomplish what I want as a writer--particularly, that I'm publishing a YA novel--but even if I haven't been met with quick success, I hope Megan the alumna is still working towards it. I believe she will be.

Homecoming: Sophomore Version

My thrift store Homecoming dress

This year's Homecoming weekend was much earlier than last year's. Like last year, I didn't become too involved in the Homecoming festivities. I had a busy Saturday and missed the parade, and I will admit to having zero interest in the football game. I did, however, attend the Homecoming semi-formal. I came later, just missing the announcement of the Homecoming court. The semi-formal was a far cry from the rave I had attended the weekend before. Besides the apparel being much different, it also became far less crowded as the night progressed. The vibe was a lot less crazy and a lot more chill. I hadn't been too enthusiastic about going out that Friday evening, but once I was there and got into dancing, I had a great time.

Earlier on Friday, I went to a service project with Alpha Phi Omega. This was a YMCA dance for kindergarten through third graders. It was interesting to hear some of the same songs played both there and at TRAX! The children were very cute (and deeply divided on the issue of Justin Bieber), and I'll admit it made me a bit wistful for childhood.

On Saturday, I attended an alumni reading located in the campus's art gallery, in the midst of the ceramic exhibit. All the writers were very talented. I particularly enjoyed the essay shared by Jay Varner, who has published a memoir, and a novel prologue by another one of the writers.

Sunday, the chapel service was larger than usual because of alumni being around for Homecoming weekend. For this reason, they needed extra ushers. I served as one for the first time. This mainly involved handing out programs, passing around the collection plate, and dismissing people for communion. I was a bit nervous about messing something up, but it all went pretty smoothly!

Though Homecoming was definitely a much bigger deal for others than it was for me--particularly alumni, who this weekend is really about--it clearly contributed my weekend in many ways. Perhaps next year will be the year when I fully immerse myself in that Crusader spirit.

Class Overview

Since I’m now about three weeks through this first semester, I figure I’ve had enough time in my classes to give an overview of them and my thoughts on them so far. 

Sophomore Essay does not meet every week, though we’ll start getting together frequently later in the semester to do practice presentations. Right now, everyone is working on their sophomore essays independently and meeting with their advisers as needed. As a part of the Sophomore Essay class, each student has a meeting with university librarian Kathleen Dalton. Mine was this Monday. She definitely helped me find databases and some articles to use in my essay. I desperately need to carve out a chunk of time this weekend to dive into my research and map out my first draft which is due in the beginning of October.

English Writing & Grammar is a course I have on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So far it seems to be a lot that I know already. We have a paper coming up soon, and we have some freedom to choose our focus. In mine, I want to analyze a Skype chatroom I have with some of my friends at Susquehanna.

My other Monday/Wednesday/Friday course is Thought & the Natural Sciences, which includes a lab. I’ll admit that this course makes me the most nervous. I am not the best at hands-on learning or even understanding scientific concepts. Thankfully, this course fulfills the scientific requirement in the Central Curriculum once and for all. A lab we just completed was designing and shooting off a rocket. My lab team, the Chinchillas, had two successful launches. Unfortunately, this success was accompanied with sunburn. 

Tuesday and Thursday mornings I have Intermediate Fiction. I’ve already had my first short story workshopped, and yesterday in class we got into small groups to discuss each other’s short-short (4 pages or less) fiction. This is one of my favorite courses, and it’s got me back to that mindset where I just want to write all the time—rather than do other, more unpleasant homework.

In the afternoons I have The Hebrew Bible, which is very interesting and will go towards my Religion and  Honors Program minors. So far we’ve learned about the geography, storyline, translation issues, and reading methods of the Hebrew Bible, and we’ve started a unit on identity, looking at the ambiguity of Moses and the makeup of the biblical family. As someone who is involved in religious life, it is interesting and enriching to look at religion and a part of the Bible from an academic perspective. I had Dr. Bohmbach, the professor of this course, for another class last year, Applied Biblical Ethics, which I really enjoyed. 

Mostly these courses just mean a lot of reading. Some of it is very interesting. Some of it...not so much. But I suppose that's college!   

Back to What?

Coming back to Susquehanna was very exciting, but I think I need to make it clear, to both my readers and myself, that coming back to Susquehanna is exactly that: coming back to Susquehanna. I didn’t come back to my freshman year, to Hassinger Hall, or to a top bunk. I didn’t come back to pick things up as they left off—not exactly. This year is new.

My room this year--before it got messy!

Not as new as coming into Susquehanna as a nervous freshman wondering what college will entail.

But still new. New enough that I am curious to see where this year takes me. New enough , even though I’m familiar with my friends, this campus, and the routine of work and classes,  that it’s taking a bit of adjustment to get back into the swing of things.

Or more accurately, to start a new swing of things.

Something I have to tackle this year is how to maintain and balance friendships with people who I used to live with but now don’t get to see on that same, day-to-day basis.  Only a certain set of my friends have that same right-down-the-hall status. Also, I’m still acclimating  to living alone. I definitely need to work out a cleaning routine because, without a roommate to consider, I’ve let things get a bit disheveled. Clearly, this isn’t the biggest issue with living alone, but it’s something I should probably work on!   

In another entry, I talked about how being a sophomore was good because I had a comfort zone from which to start. That’s still true. However, that comfort zone has had to shift and budge a little. It’s been altered—it’s been pinched by some discomforts, forces of change. Discomfort isn’t a negative, though.  No year can be the same as the one before. And next year I may, all over again, be contemplating on how to adapt to the changes of a different academic year.

 I’ll admit that, right now, I have a bit of nostalgic longing for my freshman year. I see people enter Hassinger—people that aren’t me—and go a bit gooey on the inside. Facebook shows me status updates from “this day in 2010,” and I relive that fresh, exciting period of time where I was just really discovering and getting to know the friends I have now.

I’m hoping that next year my time as a sophomore will elicit the same feelings.

Flood Clean-Up

There has been some horrible rain in Selinsgrove since I’ve returned to campus—and some terrible flooding.  The Isle of Que, an area of Selinsgrove that is right by the river, was one of many affected areas in Pennsylvania. Some students live there in off-campus housing and had to evacuate along with the Isle’s other residents. This weekend the Isle of Que became open again to its residents, and clean-up began.

Susquehanna students have definitely been involved in helping out with the flooding. The Center for Civic Engagement banded volunteers together. I heard a lot from Alpha Phi Omega about ways to help with the flooding, and I know a lot of my APO brothers were involved in clean-up and deputy duty down at the Isle.

I ended up going down on Sunday with the Selinsgrove Church of Nazarene. Every other Sunday, they have a worship service for young adults, but we used some of that time to help clean up and dispose of debris for a few families.

College is supposed to be a time for new experiences, and this certainly provided new experiences, like slogging through the mud to grab trash or planks of wood or feeling mud splatter into my hair as I helped heave something into a dumpster. I’ve found out something interesting about myself through all these new experiences at college: I’m not too afraid of getting dirty. I always think I’ll be more nervous, but as with my pledge class’s service project at the Campus Gardens, I found that I didn’t really mind—though I really did enjoy taking a shower afterward.

I knew there had been flooding, but it had been much worse than I had anticipated. It made my own problems seem tiny in comparison and my life seem very fortunate. 

The Comfort Zone

During my first week back, I discovered that starting freshman year and starting sophomore year are two very different beasts.

One of the main differences is workload. During the beginning of my first semester last year, I remember not having that much work to do; intentional or not, it felt as if I was being eased into the academic experience of college. This gave me a lot of free time in the evenings to spend with friends.  So far I’ve managed to spend a lot of time with my friends, but to do so, at least on week nights, I’m usually putting off homework.

It’s also quite different to come in already involved. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was a constant of my freshman year. Our first large-group meeting was on Thursday. Last year, I probably had some trepidation as I attended the first meeting of the year—being somewhat socially awkward and nervous about finding my place in that group of people, or more likely, just surviving the night.  As a sophomore I returned to something familiar and was able to catch up with friends.

My attitude in general is very different this year. As a freshman, things are completely new. The start of the year is very much about making friends and meeting new people. In a way, everything is in flux—to be determined. As a sophomore I may have power to change my course, but I also have established friendships. Making new friends is still a goal, but it’s certainly not as desperate of one as it was last year. Therefore, things don’t seem as high stakes, and I’m free from those freshman year jitters.

Another difference: one of my friends has a car this year, and we can finally go off-campus without limiting ourselves to the free shuttle schedule. We’ve already made a few trips. Last Sunday we went to Target, Saturday we went to the mall, and this Sunday we headed to Wal-Mart and Weis.  The chance to get off-campus is always helpful. Last year, campus could feel a bit suffocating after long stretches without leaving. However, chances to get off campus also equal chances to lighten the wallet.

All in all, there’s been some more work and some big changes, but I also have a nice comfort zone. “Comfort zone” usually has a negative connotation. Throughout the year I’ll definitely need to go beyond this zone, breaking its boundaries, but I also think a comfort zone can be a nice haven and a good starting point.

Why I'm Here In The First Place

Already I have a feeling that this year is going to be a busy one.

After completing my Grammar and Science homework last night, I really felt the urge to begin writing my short story for Intermediate Fiction before I went to bed. I have to send out my story Friday so it was important to start on it. I was adapting an idea from something I had written a few pages of over the summer, but I didn’t use any of those pages. Instead I took inspiration from there, but started fresh. Though perhaps it was the looming deadline that motivated me initially, I think it was the writing that kept me staying up. The words were just flowing; whether or not they are any good, I will leave to be determined later.

Finally, homework complete and story started, I was ready to go to bed.

Once I was wrapped up in my blanket, my mind started racing. I had so many ideas for how I wanted the story to play out, and I could’ve cranked out many pages more—even finished a rough, rough draft of the story, if I had the time. Unfortunately I had reached my tired, loopy stage, and I had to wake up fairly early today. Some of those wispy ideas are surely lost, but I did manage to turn on the light, stumble over to my desk, and scribble out some prose. In the end, I didn’t get to bed until 2, which was later than I had anticipated.

Moments like those are a good reminder of why I’m studying at Susquehanna in the first place. While my schedule is going to be kept full with all of my classes, with my Sophomore Essay, with organizations and chapel services and friends, I came to college as writer. I came to college to study my passion. I came to college to hone my skills so I can better write stories that I love, stories that are in me, stories that I think should be told. It’s easy to forget about that when I’m caught up in other stresses.

Obviously I can’t neglect everything else to sit around my dorm room and pound the keys on my laptop all day. Nightly writing sessions at such a late hour, for the sake of my health and sanity, have to be a no-go.  Even if I don’t have all the time in the world, though, I do have to make the time, sometime—not only because my classes require it, but because I love it.

Starting Sophomore Year

After a summer of watching Doctor Who on Netflix, messaging college friends on Skype, and hanging up clothing for minimum wage at my local Salvation Army, I am back in Selinsgrove for my sophomore year.

And believe me, I’m excited about it.

I will definitely miss my family and friends from home, but while at home, I definitely missed Susquehanna.

Today marks my second day of classes. So far I’ve gone to Intermediate Fiction and a little later in the day will have Hebrew Bible. I’m very excited about Intermediate Fiction—so excited that I may have, a bit foolishly, chosen the first date for workshops. I need to have a 6 to 25 page story read to send out to my classmates by September 2^nd! Thankfully, I have a lot of ideas for it, and I have some things already written that I could use.

Yesterday I attended English Grammar and the Writing Process, Thought & The Natural Sciences, and Sophomore Essay. My sophomore essay is going to be something about the portrayal of faith and religion in YA novels. Over the summer I read about six books to give me some background on it. I think I am going to focus my idea by specifically examining how YA novels represent religious doubt and its consequences and analyzing the accuracy or the helpfulness of such representations. This essay needs to be 15-20 pages long, and the first draft is, I believe, due in October. I definitely need to get to work on it. 

Probably one of the biggest differences so far is living in a different dorm. My dorm this year is smaller and a bit quieter. I have a single, a room to myself, instead of sharing a double. It’s nice to have my own space, but it’s also a bit strange since, so far, I’ve associated college with having a roommate. Some of my friends from my freshman dorm, Hassinger, are living with me in this new dorm, the Scholar’s House, so that definitely helps with the transition.

I am excited about what this year has in store! I hope to grow as a person and a writer, form new friendships, and just have a lot of fun along the way. It’s strange no longer being a freshman and seeing all these new faces on campus that are—gasp—actually younger than me, but it’s also nice to return to a familiar place.

Even if I have to get used to walking everywhere from a whole different side of campus.  

Evaluating My Goals

For what may be my last post of the year, I wanted to take a look at some of the goals I set for myself this semester. After all the last day of a college class usually includes an evaluation of the course and the professor. This will just be a self-evaluation.

Here are those original goals.

1. Keep up with my New Year's resolution.
2.  Write more often, and not just for my Intro to Nonfiction class
3.  Read more often, and again, not just for class.

4.  Enlarge my social circle at Susquehanna.  Meet new people!  Make new friendships!
5.  Get involved in new activities, like Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity, or a reading board for a literary magazine.
6.  Procrastinate less.
7.  Study more.
8.  Cut down on my addition--fries!  

It’s kind of frightening to see how poorly I’ve executed these.   My New Year’s resolution was to follow a read-the-Bible in the year plan, but then I got behind and behind and more behind and now I’m super behind, so I’m deeming that a failure. I will try to catch up this summer. I’ve written in little spurts things unrelated to class, but not anything substantial.  I haven’t devoted enough time to reading for pleasure as I should have.  In fact, I’ve devoted, basically, no time. 

The social goal is one where I’ve made a bit more progress.  I’m not exactly overwhelmed with new friends, but I think I know more people now and know some people from first semester a bit better than I had.  I’m happy to say that number five has been completely achieved. I pledged Alpha Phi Omega—much of that experience came up in previous entries—and was on a reading board for RiverCraft.

My level of procrastination is probably quite similar to first semester, and I may actually have studied less.  Fries—well, I certainly don’t think I’ve increased my fry intake. Then again, I can barely think of that as a possibility!

Perhaps the top goal for next year should be to achieve more of my goals!

Wrapping Up

Including today, I have 11 days left on campus. I have often pontificated on this blog about how fast everything seems and how the year is practically over already, probably in an exaggerated fashion. Now it’s a reality. The year is almost over, and these next 11 days are a matter of wrapping things up.

Tonight I’ll be completing my last paper assignments for two of my courses, Sociology and Applied Biblical Ethics. For Sociology, I am writing an ethnography, basically a study on a society, based off the movie Shawshank Redemption. For Applied Biblical Ethics, I have to write a reflection on our final action assignment, which was to take a 24-hour period to live more deliberately—to live “unplugged” from media technology. I failed pretty miserably at it.  After these are turned in, I’ll only have exams left for these two classes.

I have one 5 page paper left for my Romantic Novels course which I have until May 7^th to write.  The biggest thing left to do is my portfolio for Intro to Nonfiction. Last semester I was very intense about my fiction portfolio. I did lengthy rewrites in a very short span of time (gah procrastination!).  Basically, by the end of it, I was a creatively drained portfolio zombie. I hope that prepping my nonfiction portfolio is not as huge of an undertaking.

One way I want to wrap up the year is with a final excursion to the used bookstore downtown. Yesterday, during my attempted 24-hour sans media, friends and I took a walk downtown. 3 of us were wearing jeans. A mistake since it was really, really hot during our walk. Unfortunately the bookstore was closed by that time, but we were able to stop in at The Kind Café and pick up drinks. I got a delicious strawberry-banana smoothie which I enjoyed as we sat outside. Friday the bookstore is opened later, so we’ll probably go then.

I’m looking forward to this upcoming weekend.  It’s basically our final weekend and is Spring Weekend here at SU. There are going to be different events, like a carnival and a circus party at TRAX. I’m not sure which events I’ll actually be attending, but I do know that I want to have a fun weekend with my friends before summer, even if we just end up staying inside and watching movies!

Speaking of summer, a part of wrapping up the school year is prepping for break.  For me and a lot of people, one aspect of prepping is finding a job.  I filled out lots of applications over Easter Break.  I haven’t been hired yet, but I am hoping something will pop up.  I also plan to do lots of writing this summer—finally, not for class!—as well as reading. And of course, hanging out a ton with my friends from home.

Oh yeah, and missing SU.     

Yesterday vs. Today vs. Tomorrow

Yesterday was a day of group presentations.I presented in Applied Biblical Ethics and Sociology, on female genital cutting and underage drinking respectively. It was very stressful leading up to Tuesday, but it’s a relief to have both group projects out of the way. The rest of the work left for this year is all individual. Of course, there’s still stress involved with that (Yes, I’m talking about you, nonfiction portfolio) but none of the chaos of trying to coordinate with others. Anyway, I thought the presentations went fairly well. Both involved PowerPoint and incorporated class involvement and video clips.

The work didn’t stop once my classes were done yesterday. I still had to finish my 8 page essay for Romantic Novels. Fortunately, I was able to finish it much sooner than I finished my first paper. It’s due today at 4 p.m., and I get out of class at 2:50 p.m. I will probably look it over at least one more time and do some minor edits before sending it in.

Yesterday was also a big day for a lot of my friends—the doubles housing lottery! This is students’ last chance to choose housing. I was fortunate enough to already know where I’m living next year. Having that knowledge certainly was a huge weight off my shoulders, so I hope everybody else is relieved now that everything is settled.

Today, in comparison, is decidedly less stressful. Romantic Novels is cancelled so my academic day ends sooner. I only have one class tomorrow and barely any homework. Even our chapter meeting for Alpha Phi Omega and the weekly Hippo Family dinner is cancelled! Hopefully my InterVarsity Life Group isn’t cancelled as well because I haven’t had as many chances to go this past semester and my schedule is completely free tonight.

Because of this freeness, I should probably spend some time getting ahead on my portfolio or ethnography for Sociology but it will probably just mean a lot of relaxing, watching TV and talking too much and spending lots of time on the internet. My roommate and I have definitely been indulging in more television this semester. A recent guilty pleasure was the Prince William and Kate Middleton Lifetime movie, complete with atrocious British accents.

Though today is great, especially compared to yesterday, I’m eagerly anticipating tomorrow because tomorrow means going home!

Almost at Easter Break

Friday I had a workshop for my literary journalism piece in Intro to Creative Nonfiction, which was about me going to a dog expo where they had Dog Olympic Games and pet contests. I wasn’t feeling too great about the piece, but the workshop went a lot better than I thought; in the grand scheme of things, this piece might be the one that needs the least amount of revision, in comparison to my personal essay and memoir. Like Intro to Fiction, Intro to Creative Nonfiction ends with the turning in of a final portfolio. Whenever I try to think of all the assignments left before the year's end, I keep forgetting about it. Hopefully this doesn't continue. 

Relay Team in our super cool tent

Also on Friday, a group of friends from my floor in Hass headed off to Relay for Life, an event that lasted from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. the next morning; it raises money for cancer research. It was held in the Field House part of the fitness center. They had activities and tables selling things to raise more money. The most touching aspect was the Luminara Lap, during which the lights went off and attendees lit bags around the track in remembrance of those who fought against cancer.  It was impacting to see just how many people have lost love ones due to cancer, and I felt very blessed and privileged that I have not yet undergone such a loss. I did a lot of walking. Seriously, that was probably more exercise than I’ve done all year. By the end of the night (or morning, I suppose), my feet were in terrible pain, and of course I was exhausted. I climbed into my bed and woke up around 2 p.m. that day. Basically, it threw off my sleeping schedule for the entire weekend. (Can I still blame it for my late start this morning?)

The rain and wind were very intense Saturday. My friend Lindsey and I ventured outside, in hopes of making it to Deg for dinner, but made it about five steps before retreating back indoors. We ended up ordering Domino’s. Sunday was a day for getting work done. I also went to the Bible Study at Dr. Martin and Dr. Bohmbach’s house, which was awesome as usual. Also exciting was my roommate coming back, who'd been home sick for a few days.

This weekend I was slightly stressed out because I have a lot of work coming up in these few days before Easter Break. I have two group presentations tomorrow, one for Applied Biblical Ethics on Female Genital Mutilation and one in Sociology on Underage Drinking, and an 8 page paper on the influence of narrative technique in Daisy Miller and The French Lieutenant’s Woman for Romantic Novels. I really am looking forward to break, though it would be smart for me to spend it working on other upcoming assignments. I have two final exams, a final portfolio, and two more papers due before the end of the year. Another source of stress is finding a job for the summer!  I've felt so busy and haven't set aside enough time to apply to jobs.  I really need to get on it this week, especially over break.

If only break could actually mean a break!

Officially A Brother!

I’ve finally been initiated into Alpha Phi Omega, which is, if you haven’t been keeping up, a national, coed service fraternity.  Our initiation was late Wednesday night, and it marked me, officially, as a “brother.” 

Me and some other newly initiated brothers

One of the most exciting things was being able to exchange gifts with my Big Sarah afterwards.  I got my Big a shirt with APO letters on it—I actually made those letters and liked them, surprisingly enough, considering my usual crafty failure—and a paddle with my name and hers, APO, my pledge class, etc.  I also got her a little stuffed hippo because we’re members of the Hippo Family (APO has many animal-themed families, including penguins, frogs, lions, etc.) and wrote her a poem.  She gave me my first set of letters which I was so pumped to wear yesterday.  She also got me a really awesome Hippo Pillow Pet which I named Hagrid.  I used it as a pillow last night.  So soft and comfortable!  Her paddle for me is very cute, and I’m still trying to decide where it should stay in my room.

Of course, things aren’t the most important part of being initiated.  I’m very excited to be fully part of a group that is filled with such cool, admirable people and that does so many great things on campus and in the community.  I hope a lot of friendships stem and flourish from APO, as well as characteristics in myself, like leadership and positivity and service.

Speaking of organizations that mean a lot to me, last night, Thursday, I went to the second to last InterVarsity large group meeting of the year, which is pretty sad. It’s been such a blessing and such a big, shaping influence on my freshman year.  I think I even attended the first IV meeting of the  year, so it’s been a pretty significant constant.  I will miss this fellowship so much over the summer!  It’ll be so strange to come back next year, with the seniors gone and a group of unfamiliar freshmen.  No longer being the youngest just seems freaky. I'm sure, though, that IV has a great year in store next year.  

I Get Down

“I get down.
He lifts me up.
I get down.
He lifts me up.
I get down.
He lifts me up.
I get down."

I sang these words loudly and enthusiastically from the auditorium aisle, dancing without reservation.  All the small group leaders had rushed out of their seats to pump up the kids at Lutheran Youth Day during this high-energy worship song.

Though some got up as early as 4 in the morning so they could start assembling a balloon arch at 5 (which looked fabulous!), and almost all of us got up a little bit earlier than on a usual Saturday, we all seemed able to retain our excitement throughout the day.  This was vital, since the kids at Lutheran Youth Day, who ranged from 6^th to 12^th grade, were sometimes shy and quiet and needed a bit of coaxing.   

During the first morning session, the small group leaders got to make a dramatic entrance that I think really set the tone.   When the kids cheered, we rushed out from the back of Stretansky Concert Hall and from the stage.  Then we threw candy into the audience. The kids got a ton of candy.  We did this again when starting another large group session.  I only hope I didn’t hit too many people in the head!

When we weren’t in great large group sessions, led by either musician Rachel Kurtz or a praise band of SU students, we were in small groups.  I was co-leading a group of sophomores, juniors, and seniors (some of whom were probably as old as me).   Our sessions included some icebreaker games, looking at Bible passages and discussing them, and viewing and discussing this great video about the woman at the well.  They were a bit reluctant to talk at times, but I hope they all got something out of our sessions. Personally, I had a blast and fully intend on participating next year.

Later I went to Air Band, where fraternities and sororities dance to a mix of songs. It was really fun, and I cheered my loudest for all the Alpha Phi Omega girls who were performing (they did great, of course). I was in a section with a bunch of people from APO, and we were all wearing white T-shirts with gold, spray painted Greek letters. I really felt like part of the organization. I’m so excited that Wednesday I will finally be initiated! Anyway, Air Band was really entertaining. The frats, especially, had very funny performances.  There were Justin Bieber impersonations. And spears. All sorts of craziness.  It felt so college.

And that blasting music really made me want to get down, in another sense of those words.