Senior Scholars Day

This Tuesday I participated in a Susquehanna tradition called Senior Scholars Day. During the day, students give oral presentations and poster presentations about their senior research. Music students have recitals, while students' graphic design work is also put on display. In some ways, this event is a sort of academic culmination for seniors. It’s a chance to show off all the work  you’ve been doing to members of your community, including friends and faculty. I was able to present as well as see some of the other presentations.

What I liked about seeing other students’ presentations was that I could get a better sense of their passions and what they spent their time working on this semester (or this whole year). Though I’m aware that many other seniors are also tackling extensive research projects, I still rarely think in detail about all the work other people are putting in at the library or at the lab. I stopped by two posters by friends of mine who did scientific projects. It was nice to be able to hear about their projects—even if I felt like I didn’t have a very sophisticated understanding of the scientific terms they were using! One of my housemates did a poster presentation about her project as well, though hers was in a humanities field. I felt like I learned more about her research when I stopped by to support her, which was cool since we'd already been talking about it frequently throughout the semester. 

I ended up going to quite a few interesting oral presentations as well. Oral presentations on Senior Scholars Day last about 10 minutes and then leave a few minutes for questions. I got to hear about similarities between early Islam and Christianity, the racial integration of a college football team, a comparison of Holocaust museums, and the ways Confucian thought can be beneficial to Roman Catholics’ participation in rituals. My friends really are doing compelling research!

At 2:20 p.m. was my presentation on my capstone for the Religious Studies major, called “Recovering a ‘Heart of Flesh’: Challenging the Devaluing of Emotion in Evangelical Christian Approaches to Dating and Rhetoric.” Preparing for this presentation was a challenge. The paper I’m working on about this subject is at 40 pages right now. Reducing that information to 10 minutes seemed almost impossible. After a very late night on Monday, however, I was able to narrow down my scope and figure out what I wanted to present. I shared with my audience some information on how evangelical Christian books on dating and purity talk about emotion, as well as some quotes from female medieval mystics that I think challenge that attitude towards emotion. I felt as if I sharing such a tiny sliver of my research, but perhaps that is really all that needed to be done. A ten minute presentation isn't really enough to allow someone else to dive into your subject, but it is enough to introduce it to them. Some of my friends came to support me, which I really appreciated.

All in all, though, I must admit that it felt a bit anti-climactic. I had this presentation at the back of my mind all year (to be honest, I had probably been assuming I’d participate in the day even longer than that), and then, well, it ended so quickly. Perhaps I was envisioning something more. Maybe I had been wanting people to leave the room as fired up about my topic as I was. Even if that wasn’t quite the case, I did receive some good feedback. Maybe it mostly felt strange because it was another major senior year milestone crossed off my list. Though I have exciting opportunities awaiting me after graduation, I’m still pretty uncomfortable with the fact that there are very few milestones left to go. 

Breakfast with the President

One of the great things about going to a small school like Susquehanna is the accessibility of our professors. We are lucky to have a very accessible president as well. President Lemons is notorious on campus for his friendliness towards students and stunning ability to remember students’ names, as well as his annual Twas the Night Before Christmas reading before winter break. 

Over the course of their senior year, all students are invited by President Lemons to a breakfast or a lunch. In a way, these meals serve as a focus group for students to share their experiences with Susquehanna—good and bad—with someone who has the power to make change. I went to this breakfast with a group of students last Friday. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the reflections that breakfast prompted.

The first question we were asked was how and why we chose Susquehanna. I was initially drawn to Susquehanna by its creative writing program. As a high school student, I attended two of the summer writing workshops held at SU, which helped contribute to my love of the place as well as my confidence that a Creative Writing major, not some English major with a creative writing concentration, was what I wanted. Of course, I could’ve studied Creative Writing somewhere else. Though I may want to say that the particulars of SU’s Creative Writing program is what sold me, that isn’t true. It was the Susquehanna atmosphere. The other school I was considering just didn’t compare in terms of the feeling it gave me. Thankfully, Susquehanna offered me an assistantship scholarship where I would get work experience in the University Communications office that helped make the school the sound choice as well.

Though the Creative Writing program is what drew me here, it’s amazing to think of all the great things I’ve experienced outside the department—things I didn’t even consider when I enrolled! In particular, I think about how enriching my Religious Studies major is and how I might not have ended up adding a second major in the field at another school, where I wouldn’t have encountered the same, wonderful faculty or may not have been encouraged to enroll in a religion class for Central Curriculum credits.

The second question we were asked was our favorite part of Susquehanna. Though it felt very cliché to say so, I had to be honest. My favorite part is the people. I was blessed to meet really great people my freshman year of college in Hassinger Hall. Every year since, I’ve lived with some combination of these people, and still, all my closest friends lived with me on the third floor. Our friendships, however, have blossomed since then, and we have lived so much of our college lives together. The faculty figure into that favorite people answer as well.

During our breakfast, I specifically mentioned how great I’ve found all the Religion faculty members. I’ve enjoyed every one of the professors I’ve had through the department and have gotten into great conversations with many of them. I’ve taken three courses with one of the professors who has really helped shape the way I approach Scripture, particularly in terms of feminist issues. She is currently advising me on my capstone, and I love getting to meet with her to discuss the ideas I’m exploring. She has also been happy to talk to me about careers and graduate school. Another one of the professors has talked with me various times about vocation and my future when he served as our interim chaplain. He also took a friend and I out to lunch to discuss how to give rebuttals to sexist ideas about female leadership in the church. When I had class with Rabbi Palley on Intro to Judaism, she gave a friend and I encouraging words about being progressive women within a faith community.

The third question asked what I would change about Susquehanna. Though Susquehanna isn’t perfect, and I did have an answer ready for that, it felt notable that I wasn’t able to choose from a long string of complaints. Susquehanna is and has been the right school for me; that's something I will be able to say with confidence as I graduate.

I know a lot of people don't have a college experience like this. Their college might be a school, but it never feels like a home. Some people I know don't like their colleges at all and are counting down until they can get out of there. I know other people who don't get the right school on the first try and eventually transfer to some place that makes them happier.

I am quite privileged to have had this warm, positive experience of college life ever since I walked on campus in August 2010.

Such a Senior

It’s been quite a while since I last posted on this blog! Sorry about that, senior year has been pretty busy. The second semester is now in full swing, and at the end of next week, I'll be heading home for Spring Break. How quickly this semester is going is a bit nauseating, to be honest.The last time I posted, I referenced that I hoped to be in graduate school next year. Things have changed a little since then. I decided that I wanted to take a step back and give graduate school more consideration before plunging right into it, especially because I wasn't sure if I wanted to get an M.A. in Religious Studies, a Master of Theological Studies, or a Master of Divinity degree. I had applied to some international graduate school opportunities, however, but I didn't end up receiving those fellowships.

Nevertheless, I’m still quite excited about what life after graduation has to bring! I will be serving in a program called the Episcopal Service Corps. The Episcopal Service Corps is a ten-month program, organized by the Episcopal Church, where volunteers are placed with internships in non-profit organizations and live together in intentional community. I will be in a program in Milwaukee called Creating for a Cause that brings together volunteers trained in writing, graphic design, photography, etc. to use their creative skills for worthwhile causes. That program will start in August and run until May, much like an academic year. I am very passionate about working with or for the church, and I am hoping the Episcopal Service Corps will help me discern how I want to be doing that in the future.

Besides figuring out some post-graduation plans, this semester has been filled with plenty of other activities that scream SENIOR! Just last week, I had my senior reading. All creative writing majors read about ten minutes of the work they've completed during their time at SU in a senior reading. These readings are spread across the whole year, with five to six majors reading at each event. I shared six poems. I was really satisfied with how the night went. It was especially fun that I was able to get some laughs from the crowd.

I’ve been up to some senior shenanigans for my other major as well. This semester, I am completing a 4-credit capstone project for my Religious Studies major. “Capstone” is what we call our final or culminating undergraduate projects in our fields. I’m endeavoring to write a 40-plus page paper that challenges some of the underlying notions about emotion in popular Christian advice books on dating and relationships. I love working on this project, even if the prospect of getting it all finished is overwhelming. The other day I was poring over feminist theology books in the library before meeting my friends for dinner. I was so passionate about what I was doing, I was practically bouncing in the cafeteria with capstone excitement.

Of course, there is much more to senior year than these academic components. As graduation draws nearer, I’m getting more sentimental about no longer being able to live with my great friends. A while ago, we had our Senior Convocation, which was a dinner event marking 100 days until graduation. That certainly made everything feel more real. Though I'm looking forward to meeting new people and diving into new opportunities, I'm also not at all ready for my Susquehanna experience to end.

Winding Down

Classes are winding down now. I had my last Travel Writing course yesterday. Today is the last meeting of Tuesday/Thursday courses, and on Monday and Tuesday of next week, there will be two more days of Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. After that, there’s a reading day on Wednesday, which is a day between classes and finals for studying, then finals.

I’ve been fortunate to have some really great courses this semester. I’m really happy creatively with the work I’ve been doing in Intermediate Poetry. I’ve absolutely loved my Women in Biblical Tradition class, which has been consistently engaging and has challenged my own views. My Fiction of C.S. Lewis class has also been filled with interesting conversations, and I’m so glad I’ve finally read these books that I kept meaning to read. Music in Christian Rituals has been good as well, and, again, gave me a lot to mull over.  What’s neat for me about my religion classes is that they’re not simply subjects I pick up in the classroom and forget about later. They bleed into the rest of my life. Often our conversations in classes intersect with things I’m working through in my own head or the conversations I’m having with friends and people in my community.

Despite having a nice schedule this semester, I have to admit that I’m excited for it to end. I’ve been pretty stressed the past few weeks. While I’ve been doing well in my classes, I have felt overwhelmed a lot this semester. Thankfully, a blissful, homework-free state is visible in the horizon, though I have to tackle end-of-the-year assignments before I can get there.

Tomorrow my friend Karen and I are presenting a hymn that we wrote for our Music in Christian Rituals class. It was an overwhelming assignment to receive, but I’m excited about what we’ve accomplished. She composed it, and I wrote the lyrics. After the presentation is out of the way, we have to write a joint paper on the project.

I also have to write a final paper for Women in Biblical Tradition, revise my Travel Writing essay and do a self-critique on it, take a final for Fiction of C.S. Lewis, and turn in a chapbook of poetry for Intermediate Poetry.

Once these are done, I’ll be spending a relaxing week on campus before heading to a week of camp in New York with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chapters from around Pennsylvania. Those weeks will be a great break between my schoolwork this semester and my 40-hour work week here in Selinsgrove this summer.

Before I close out what is probably final blog entry for the school year, I should probably reflect on the year as a whole, but right now, the task seems too difficult. This year has been strange, with ups and downs, split between two continents.  One semester was filled with exciting firsts and the challenges of adjusting to a new place, but also happened at a more relaxed pace.  This semester has been cozier and homier but also much more stressful.  Perhaps it will be easier to look back at this year after I’ve gotten a little more distance from it.

For now, I’m excited for this academic year to draw to a close—even if it brings me closer to the terrifying reality of being a college senior.

Rivercraft, Grouplove, and Bongo Bongo Dip--An Overview of the Past Few Days

The past few days have been quite busy, but some fun and exciting things happened that I feel like sharing!

Last night was the launch of one of the main on-campus literary magazines, Rivercraft, which was exciting since I had my poem, “Wings,” published in it. I submitted to the magazine both my freshman and sophomore years, but this was my first year getting into the magazine. I was one of the students who read at the launch. I don’t know why I find it so nerve-wracking to read my poetry in front of other people, but it was—even though I had already read this poem previously at an open mic of a university poetry society while I was abroad. I now have a copy of the magazine, and I’m excited to be able to look through the work of my peers when I have the time.

The night before, Sunday, I joined the honor society for Religion students, Theta Alpha Kappa. Because the Religion major is small, the society itself is also very small, so we didn’t have a big initiation like some other honor societies have. Instead, we had something that I think was preferable. The new members, as well as the one previously inducted member, went to dinner with two members of the religion faculty.

We went to BJs, which is probably the most popular restaurant in downtown Selinsgrove. Students go there a lot, but I had actually never been there before. Everyone was astounded that it was my first time and made sure that we ordered Bongo Bongo dip, one of BJ’s signature foods, as an appetizer. It was delicious, as was the Club Chicken Sandwich I ordered. During the dinner, we were given certificates of membership for Theta Alpha Kappa. While we there, the university’s president, President Lemons, also happened to be at BJs for a dinner. He stopped by and congratulated us. All in all, it was really nice to be able to have this dinner (which was free—always a big plus for a college student) with some of my fellow Religion majors and two of my professors whose classes I really enjoy.

After the dinner, a friend and I headed over to Susquehanna’s spring concert at TRAX, the campus night club. The band performing was Grouplove, who is most known for their song “Tongue-Tied.” We missed the opening act, but I’m very glad that we went anyway. I didn’t know most of Grouplove’s songs, but I was very impressed with them and enjoyed myself a lot. It was also a free show for Susquehanna students, which made it even better.

On Saturday I was a small group leader in Lutheran Youth Day, an annual event where Lutheran middle and high school students visit campus to study the Bible, worship, etc. This was my third year volunteering at Lutheran Youth Day and it was a fun experience, just like the two previous years. It was also exhausting since the day runs from about 10 a.m. to past 5 p.m. In addition to leading a small group of high school students, I was also a part of a skit with a religious life group called Acts 29 that does drama and children’s ministry.

Other than some fun events here and there, it’s that time of semester where there’s just a ton of work! Hopefully that won’t get too heavy and I’ll be able to enjoy the last few weeks as a college junior.

Approaching Senior Year

I recently completed registration for Fall 2013, the first semester of my last year at Susquehanna. Though facing senior year is terrifying and I am not at all ready for my college experience to end, I’m also excited for next year as well.

In the fall, I’ll be taking my Senior Writing Portfolio course, which is a course all Creative Writing majors must take. It’ll be interesting to have the opportunity to look at how I’ve changed as a writer and what I’ve accomplished writing-wise over my college career.  I’ll also be taking an advanced writing course. I was torn between Advanced Poetry in the fall and Advanced Fiction: Novel in the spring, but I’ve ultimately decided on Advanced Poetry. I feel like my poetry has grown much more while at Susquehanna than my fiction and that taking another poetry course will be more fruitful in developing my skills as a writer.

I will also be finishing up my requirements for the Religion major in the fall semester. It’s so strange to think about how this major is not something I had ever intended on pursuing when I entered college, considering how much I’ve enjoyed it and gained from it. My two classes left to take are actually 100-level courses. Because I didn’t plan on taking the major initially, I ended up taking a lot of upper-level classes that interested me before taking introductory courses. The two courses will be Intro to Judaism and Faiths and Values.

Beyond these courses for my majors, I still have some Central Curriculum requirements to complete. The Central Curriculum requires certain classes in different areas to ensure a well-rounded liberal arts education. One of the requirements is “Analytical Thought,” which typically means some sort of math course. I’ll admit that has been something I’ve been delaying purely because I don’t really enjoy math.  I couldn’t run away from it forever, though, so I’ll finally be taking Intro to Statistics.

During the Spring, I’ll be doing a Capstone project (a final project) for my Religion major. Because I’m a double major this isn’t technically required, but I’m really interested in undertaking a Religion project. I’ve already talked to my Religion major advisor who’s agreed to advise my independent project as well. Right now I’m considering doing something on attitudes towards and alternatives to dating in some subsets of Christian culture—specifically the idea of “courtship”—and analyzing how people apply the Bible, which was written in a culture so far off from any of our romantic norms, to present-day relationships. I’m really excited about this project. Over break I already started compiling a reading list for it, even though I have much more immediate work that needs to be done.

I’ll also be finishing off my final Central Curriculum requirement, an “Oral Intensive” course. I thought I was going to have to take Public Speaking, but I found out that Modern Philosophy also counts towards this requirement. I think that should be really interesting since I haven’t taken a philosophy course yet at SU, even though I’m really intrigued by the subject.  

I’ll also be completing some of the requirements for the Honors program, taking an English class called Forms of Writing to fulfill my final Creative Writing requirement, and taking the Religion department’s New Testament class for fun.

Next year is definitely bound to be busy, but I think there will be some interesting academic highlights within all that work!

Another thing I’ve had to arrange for senior year is housing. As I’m writing this, two friends and I are still awaiting word on our application for a a 3-person townhouse in 18^th Street Commons, Susquehanna’s newest housing development. It’s technically on-campus housing but is designed to have a more off-campus feel.  I really hope we get a space at one of these townhouses.

Both my freshman and sophomore years, it felt strange planning for the next year because time had gone so fast. It has definitely felt that way again this year, but now it’s even stranger since I’m entering my final year as a Susquehanna student.  It’s easy to jump ahead of myself and start wailing about how I don’t want to graduate, this is too soon, etc., that I sometimes forget I do have a whole year left here. Maybe it’ll be the best one yet.

Schoolwork, Summer, and Seder

After what felt like a cruelly short Easter Break, I am back at Susquehanna for the last stretch of the school year. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work coming my way during this final month or so of school. Later today, I have a dramatic group presentation in my Women in Biblical Tradition course about the story of Rachel and Leah. I will be playing the role of Rachel and Leah’s father, Laban. Tomorrow I have a term paper on C.S. Lewis due, as well as a draft of an essay due to my whole Travel Writing class. I’ll be relieved once these few assignments are out of the way, though there will definitely be more to replace them soon.

After the academic year finishes, I am looking forward to spending the summer in Selinsgrove. I will be living on campus and working in the University Communications office, which I think will be a great professional experience. I also am excited to spend time with friends here in the summer and enjoy the campus and town as much as I can. I’ve already started thinking about going on walks by the river and taking lots of photographs, neither of which I manage to do during the school year.

Of course, thinking so much of summer is getting a little ahead of myself. I still hope there’s plenty of time for interesting and fun events during the school year. Before Easter Break, I was able to experience  one such event for the first time—Susquehanna’s Passover Seder.

I was somewhat familiar with the Jewish holiday of Passover but I had never experienced the celebration before. Many people attended the event, which was held in the university’s cafeteria. There were almost 30 tables set up. A table with Rabbi Palley, Susquehanna’s Director of Jewish Life, and students from Hillel was elevated so we could follow their lead throughout the Seder.  Rabbi Palley explained that our tables would be our “Passover families” for the night and said that she especially enjoyed the celebration of Passover because it was something celebrated in the home.  Throughout the Seder, we were encouraged to talk to our tables about issues relevant to Passover. For example, we talked about oppression because the Passover celebration is about God taking the Jewish people out of slavery and into freedom.  

The Seder was filled with prayers and singing, much of which was in Hebrew. We read from our yellow Haggadahs, the texts for the Passover Seder, and tried to keep up as much as possible. The most striking aspect of the Seder was how almost every aspect was rich in symbolism. For instance, there was a bowl with a pitcher of water in it. We used that pitcher and bowl to clean each other’s hands and were told to talk about any cleansing going on in our lives. Almost of the food on the table initially had some sort of meaning, which made it important to eat and drink at certain times and in certain ways. Mostly, we followed along pretty well, though there were a couple of times our table got lost during the ceremony. At one point, I realized I drank my second cup of “wine”—for the purposes of Susquehanna's Seder, it was grape juice—way too early, but after that, I managed to avoid making the same faux paus.  

Though the Seder started around 7:30 p.m., we didn’t get to the main meal until past 9 p.m. The delicious food was worth the wait! It also gave me a chance to try foods I hadn’t before, like matzo ball soup. After dinner, the Seder continued with a bit more singing and prayer before letting out around 10 p.m.

I’m very glad I took the opportunity to go to the Seder this year. As someone who studies religion academically, I’m interested in understanding different religions and their celebrations. As a Christian, I think learning about Passover and the Passover Seder gives important context to my beliefs; it also cultivates better interfaith dialogue and understanding.

Events like the Seder bring together the learning and fun, social aspects of my college life, and I hope to experience some more events like that before the school year is over.

Experiencing an Activist-in-Residence

For all three years I’ve been here, Susquehanna University’s Center for Diversity and Social Justice has brought an Activist in Residence to campus. The Activist in Residence visits Susquehanna for a period of a few days and gives talks or presentations on issues relating to social justice. In the past, I haven’t taken advantage of these opportunities, but this year I was able to attend two of the Activist in Residence’s events.

The activist was Reverend Irene Monroe, who is a prominent  queer religion columnist and has previously served as pastor. An African-American lesbian theologian, she regularly writes and speaks on the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and religion, particularly the way religion is used in discrimination against LGBTQ people.

I was very excited to hear her speak. I heard about her visit a few weeks beforehand from my friend who is a student deacon. As a religious life leader on campus who has recently also become a member of Susquehanna’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, Irene Monroe’s first presentation, “The Role of Religion in Discrimination,” was really right up my alley.

While the students attending ate the free lunch the school provided, Reverend Monroe engaged us on issues of the Bible and how it’s been interpreted in regards to LGBTQ issues. She pointed out that the dominant religious thinking is that the Bible clearly condemns same-sex relationships and that even people who have never picked up a Bible in their lives proclaim that confidently. Instead of accepting this at face value, she encouraged us to give the Bible a closer look.

She talked a lot about how we interpret the Bible. Much of the time people feel like they’re not allowed to look at these texts with a critical eye—they become untouchable—but Monroe brought up a different way of approaching texts: a hermeneutic of suspicion. This approach requires an examining of questions like:  What interpretation do I want as a reader? Who is normalizing a certain reading of this text? Who is in power? What is the intent behind putting forward a certain interpretation?  There were various examples that Monroe used. In popular discourse, the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is associated with homosexuality, though the text is more about violence and inhospitality than sex. The real victims in that text, Monroe pointed out, are women, since Lot offers his daughters to the violent gang rather than the angels. Something else she discussed briefly was translation. The word “homosexuality” wasn’t in the lexicon until 1895, and because sexual orientation wasn’t understood in the same way in Biblical culture, there’s reason to look critically anytime the word “homosexual” appears up in a Biblical translation.  She encouraged students, no matter their faith, to explore these “texts of terror” and said that not knowing what these stories really say is a way of participating in your own oppression.

It was really great to hear from Monroe about these issues, particularly of Biblical interpretation, which I’ve been contemplating and discussing with friends recently. After the lunch, two friends and I were able to talk to her briefly about the talk, which I really enjoyed. It made me look forward to attending another event even more.

Yesterday, I attended her talk “Justice Begins in the Bedroom.” Reverend Monroe talked about how she knows many people who are able to speak eloquently about social justice issues, though it doesn’t translate into their personal lives or sex lives. The focus was mainly on sexual violence and the culture that supports it. I had heard statistics before, but it’s still distressing to hear that about 1 in 4 college women are victims of rape. Typically, women aren’t encouraged to speak up about sexual violence. Instead, they may be blamed by some for the violence inflicted on them because they were drinking, wearing a certain outfit, etc. Many people will actually look to protect, or side with, the perpetrators of sexual violence. She brought up how this often happens on college campuses, where faculty and administration might side with, or be lenient towards, a star athlete or a male student from an esteemed family.  CNN coverage of the sentencing in a Steubenville, Ohio rape case emphasized the emotional duress of the teenage rapists and talked about how they’d now be labeled sex offenders for the rest of their lives; that incident powerfully attests to the concept of “rape culture.”

Reverend Monroe also brought up that a lot of times women don’t even know how to process a violation of their bodies. She shared the story of a young woman who was gang-raped by guys she had been friends with in college. She didn’t label it with the word “rape” or think about herself as gang-raped until she received more education from a woman’s center. She suggested that women are not told what is considered a violation of our bodies. The message women aren’t getting, according to Monroe, is that you have a right to possess your own body.

Like she did in her other talk I attended, Reverend Monroe heavily engaged her audience. During both events, she encouraged students to think about ways to change that culture, particularly on our own campuses.  It is, after all, our college. We pay to go here, and it is up to us to help shape it. I definitely hope that I don’t let these talks slip easily from my mind and that I become more involved in activism on campus.

"Mystical Music of the Middle East"

Last week, I was able to attend a really awesome event on campus. Every year, Susquehanna has a lecture or presentation on campus concerning religion, called the Alice Pope Shade lecture. This year was the presentation “Mystical Music of the Middle East,” a performance by the Yuval Ron Ensemble. The ensemble performed music from Jewish, Christian and Muslim (particularly Sufi) traditions and included performers of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths. The Yuval Ron Ensemble was very passionate about bridging divides through music. They applied this to their audience, as well, as they encouraged us to sing or dance along to certain songs.

It was very interesting to hear spiritual music from another part of the world. This semester I am taking a course called Music in Christian Rituals, so the idea of worship music has been on my mind a lot. It was really fascinating to hear Yuval Ron talk about how, in the Hasidic Jewish tradition, they will sometimes just sing songs on a certain syllable, instead of any meaningful words, to connect with God. This is so counter-intuitive to me because I’m used to thinking very seriously about the words of a worship song. Often times, I think the lyrics are the point.

Watching the ensemble then sing in that manner, though, I definitely came to see how that could be a way of connecting with God. There are some situations where words just fail to capture the immensity or complexity of something, and worship certainly seems like a situation that fits the bill.

The best part of the performance was definitely the whirling dervish. “Whirling dervish” is a term I had heard about before, but it's a completely different experience to see one. Basically, a whirling dervish is a Sufi mystic who does a spinning dance that is meant to bring the mystic into a religious state. This description or any description cannot really capture how enchanting that whirling is. The dervish spun with such speed, ease, and grace that it almost seemed physically impossible. While I am not about to become a dervish myself anytime soon, I can definitely see how that would be a transcendent, spiritual experience for the whirling dervish--especially since I think even those watching get a little taste of that.

In addition to promoting cross-cultural experiences through it GO program and study abroad opportunity, Susquehanna is delivering those breathtaking encounters with other cultures right on campus. I was a bit tired the night of this event, and I easily could not have gone. In retrospect, I am very glad that I did. 

What I've Learned My Sophomore Year

College is supposed to be a time for learning, self discovery, etc. Though it will always sound cliche to talk about what you learned about yourself and life at college, I think there's a lot of truth to that. I tried to reflect on some of the things that I have learned this year. This is by no means an extensive list but is, at least, a little glimpse of what I've been discovering this year.

• Having a single is not the worst thing ever. It’s actually kind of nice. At the beginning of the year, I struggled a lot with not having a roommate, but there really are some advantages to having a single.  You don’t have to worry about keeping someone up, for instance, when you want to stay up late. I’ll be having a single again next year. I’ll be switching single rooms with someone else when I come back from being abroad. I'm hoping to have a roommate senior year, but it may be a bit of an adjustment after living so long by myself!
  

• Academically, I have more interests than just creative writing! Coming into college, I assumed I was going to be an editor when I grew up, that I'd be an editing and publishing minor, that I would be deeply immersed in this department, that I'd be involved in editorial boards all the time, etc. After all, I'd always been the "writing girl" at school, and being well-rounded isn't really my strong suit. While Creative Writing is still very important to me, my involvement is not looking the way I had imagined it would at the beginning of freshman year, and it's not my only pursuit at this school.  My religion minor turned into a religion major this year, and I am so glad it did. I’ve really enjoyed studying Luther and the Reformation this semester, and I am looking forward to continuing my religious studies during the next two years.

• It’s actually true—you don’t have to live with people in order to maintain your friendships! This is something I believed all along, of course, but there was a certain level of nervousness and adjustment that came from living in the same dorm with all of my friends to having some of them live elsewhere. I’m happy to say that I feel like some of those friendships with people in my freshman residence hall  have even strengthened this year, without us living together! And I'm excited that I'll get to be living with them again next year (though that means not living with some other friends I've been with the past two years).

•  I like poetry. Writing it and reading it. I’ve always known that I liked poetry in a vague, I’ll-do-this-sometimes-for-fun-but-not-seriously way, but now I know that I like it in the way that I’d like to dedicate some time to writing it and actually becoming good. As for reading it, I have found that I love the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sara Teasdale. I also like some poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I have a lot more reading to do on this front, though.

• Reflecting on the past two years, I think this year I've been a lot more comfortable with being outspoken. I’ve been a lot more willing to speak my mind in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship activities for instance, like Bible studies or large group discussions. I’ve also taken risks with talking to people I don’t know, through our spiritual survey questions called Soularium and an activity where we give out free cookies and iced tea or lemonade to people on Friday nights. I’ve also made some new friendships this year or bolstered ones that weren’t so strong last year. 

• To get a bit deeper, I’ve learned that progress does not always come in a straight, upward line. And that’s okay. Progress, in anything, will still involve bouts of struggle, backtracking, etc.