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.