On Monday was my first class of 201, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction with Dr. Retief. This happens to be in the same classroom as my fiction class last semester, as well as at the same time, 1:45 to 2:50. It’ll be interesting to see how I end up feeling about nonfiction as a genre. Though I love writing generally, I’m head over heels for fiction, and I don’t suspect that will change.
However, I have been thinking a lot in terms of Hmm, that might be something to write about in nonfiction, especially after we did a free write on the topic, “I want to write about…” The first thing I must decide on is a topic for the subgenre literary journalism, sometimes known as immersive journalism. Rather than looking back at our experiences, this assignment calls us to go out and experience something so we can write about it. I am leaning towards asking one of my best friends if I can attend her Unitarian church with her for a Sunday. It would be interesting because Unitarianism is something I’ve never quite understood so I believe I would learn a lot. Also, faith and religion are topics I’m very interested in and for which I have a lot of passion, so I’m excited that this might be a way to incorporate those in my writing.
My next class was Thought & Civilization, a course for the Honors Program that will focus on Romantic Novels. Dr. Hubbell seems very keen to have us not only participate but direct discussion, which I’ve always appreciated in literature courses. I also feel like this will be great motivation to finish books I might otherwise not have the stamina to complete. For example, I read a lot of Emma by Jane Austen this summer but let other quicker reads stop me from finishing. Now I’ll have to, seeing as it’s our first novel to read!
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I also have two classes. At 10 a.m. I have Applied Biblical Ethics. Our professor actually wasn’t there for that first class, since she had to be out of town, but I’m interested in the subject matter so I’m still feeling pretty good about that course. Then I have a bit of a gap in my schedule (which I should use for homework, though I find it so hard to focus on it in the middle of the day) until Principles of Sociology at 2:25. I took a semester of Sociology my senior year of high school. It was a fairly shallow overview, but I enjoyed it, so I’m excited to see what I think of it at the college level. Also, the professor, adjunct faculty member Anne Hauser, made it seem like the class is going to be fun; that’s always a positive.
Even more so than actually going to class, homework makes me feel like I’ve been back longer than a few days. Already I was up late doing reading, though this can probably be attributed to having a homework party in the lounge that, while fun and possibly my idea, distracted me to no end.
And of course, making this semester seem even more in swing is that my friends and I are back to our normal selves and our normal silliness. That apparently means me having very poor volume control as I laugh and talk excitedly at Benny’s. I suppose some things just don’t change with a new semester.
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