I hate the end of the semester because nearly every professor seems to get it into his or her head that his/her class is the only class every student is taking and it's the student's responsibility to make up all the work that the professor failed to assign the rest of the semester. It would be great if these professors would keep things in perspective; it'd make both their lives and the lives of their students a lot easier. We wouldn't have as much work to do and they wouldn't have as much half-baked work to grade.
On a semi-related note, grad school is really scaring me. I don't apply for another two years, but this next fall I have to take my GRE, which means I'll be studying for it all summer (as well as taking Cognitive Psychology while I'm in Germany, visiting parents, and studying Lifespan Development when I get back). I took a practice one a few weeks ago and got an 1100 altogether, which isn't bad at all for someone who just walked into it without studying. It wasn't a full test though, nor was it on the computer, so I definitely have some things to look over.
I'm also questioning what I want to go into. Part of me so loves literature and writing that I want to teach English for the rest of my life, but another part of me has found a new love--psychological research. I find research fascinating, and I'd love to do it for a living, especially since that would more than likely mean I get to teach Psychology as well, which would be fun. I have until the spring of next year to figure it out; otherwise I will probably have to take both the English GRE Subject Test as well as the Psychology one... just in case.
Tomorrow I need to make Ron a scroll bar today for the new SIR issue. I told him I'd do it today but I was really absent-minded. If I still had Photoshop on my computer, I would have been able to do it at home, but alas.
I can't wait for summer.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Two weeks before this semester is over, and I don't know how I feel about that, exactly. On one hand, HOORAY!, the semseter's nearly over! This means that the majority of my stress will be gone and all I have to worry about is work. On the other hand, it also means I have only two weeks to finish all my term papers that are due (and there are SEVERAL) and undergo the agony of finals. I just want it all to be over, but now is not the time to daydream about the end; now is the time to get focused and crank out the papers and cram for the tests. It's the last big battle, and I intend to come out victorious. Maybe a little bruised and exhausted, but that makes it all the more impressive. It's time to prepare for the big finale.
Another rather thrilling viewpoint on this semester's end is that it marks the end of April, which means that I have only to wait two and a half more months before I get to once again embrace my fiance. It will have been a year in July that he's been gone overseas and I have been anxious for his return and more than ready to finally have him home to stay. I have to say, this semester has kept me so busy that I was forced to concentrate more on my numerous obligations and less on the emptiness I felt. Having dated since we were freshmen in high school, the sudden separation was not an easy one, despite the fact that we knew it was coming nearly a year prior. It will be another crowning victory to have survived this long year and yet to have also grown in our relationship in leaps and bounds. Alas, the wedding date is still not set....something about financial security...I don't know. Seems a trifle to me but they say it matters.
On a more intern-ish note, there has been a steady flow of submissions for the SIR and I have to say it is exciting to open the envelopes and prepare your submissions for the readers. I often wish I received such bulging envelopes from my fiance...
Everybody on campus seems to be caught in the frenzy of last-minute cramming; I'm glad not to be the only one. Plenty of late nights await, as well as energy drinks, snacks, and books piled high around the computer, all in aid of the completion of the dreaded term papers. Wish us luck. Wish us inspiration. Wish us determination.
Another rather thrilling viewpoint on this semester's end is that it marks the end of April, which means that I have only to wait two and a half more months before I get to once again embrace my fiance. It will have been a year in July that he's been gone overseas and I have been anxious for his return and more than ready to finally have him home to stay. I have to say, this semester has kept me so busy that I was forced to concentrate more on my numerous obligations and less on the emptiness I felt. Having dated since we were freshmen in high school, the sudden separation was not an easy one, despite the fact that we knew it was coming nearly a year prior. It will be another crowning victory to have survived this long year and yet to have also grown in our relationship in leaps and bounds. Alas, the wedding date is still not set....something about financial security...I don't know. Seems a trifle to me but they say it matters.
On a more intern-ish note, there has been a steady flow of submissions for the SIR and I have to say it is exciting to open the envelopes and prepare your submissions for the readers. I often wish I received such bulging envelopes from my fiance...
Everybody on campus seems to be caught in the frenzy of last-minute cramming; I'm glad not to be the only one. Plenty of late nights await, as well as energy drinks, snacks, and books piled high around the computer, all in aid of the completion of the dreaded term papers. Wish us luck. Wish us inspiration. Wish us determination.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Wrapping up the semester!
We are wrapping up the semester and it's about time. This semester seems to have been a drag for everyone, students and faculty. You can see it on their exhausted faces. Although it was full of excitement for the interns (AWP, RopeWalk readings, MCM winner interviews, etc.) it has been difficult to get all of us interns together to collaborate on projects, but we appear to have made it into a clearing. Congratulations to Adrienne on her acceptance into Carbondale. It's going to be rough without her because she is a great help but it is time for bigger and better things.
The rest of us here are moving on to better things as well. There is a new class being offered next semester: ENG 459, a course in editing and publishing. Why it hasn't been created before is beyond me, but to have the opportunity to take the class my last semester at USI is exciting. It will be nice to work with a larger group to help smooth out the editing/publishing "problems" (this may be to strong a word) that we encountered as a smaller group. The class is filled already which is a great sign. Who knew we had so many people interested in a course like this. Most students weren't aware of the English internship opportunity and now they have the chance to prepare for it. The internship has been a great experience for me in these last couple years and I count even count the number of things I have learned.
As for the remainder of the semester, the RopeWalk Anthology is coming to a completion and the new SIR issue is on a roll. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
I guess it wouldn't be prudent to post all 20 something photos...
So I actually ended up going to Carbondale on Saturday. My parents, sister, and I loaded up and headed out to SIU to look at the campus. Luckily, they were having an orientation day for undergrads so I was able to grab one of the leaders and have her teach me the complicated method used for navigating Faner Hall. Actually, she didn't know and had to call for help, but I was able to find the English Department anyway.
The Student Center is glorious and filled with all manner of tasty, fattening things for me to enjoy and is conveniently located right next to Faner Hall so I don't have to worry about getting lost on my way to lunch during those first few days of the semester. This trashcan, by far, was the greatest thing about the Student Center:
We kept finding random Easter eggs all over campus with jokes inside. A joke: Why was the little cookie so sad? Because his mother was a wafer so long. Har har har...
The Student Center is glorious and filled with all manner of tasty, fattening things for me to enjoy and is conveniently located right next to Faner Hall so I don't have to worry about getting lost on my way to lunch during those first few days of the semester. This trashcan, by far, was the greatest thing about the Student Center:
We kept finding random Easter eggs all over campus with jokes inside. A joke: Why was the little cookie so sad? Because his mother was a wafer so long. Har har har...
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Last Reading
Norman Minnick came to USI yesterday. He attended our Poetry Workshop class, taught by none other than Matthew Graham, and gave us advice about the writing process, and, more pressing, graduate school and what to expect. He seemed like a pretty chill guy, if I must use slang, and I was pretty excited about the reading.
After I went to Poetry Workshop and Psychology of Gender, I immediately went to my friend Jenn's place where she cut and colored my hair for $5. I'm not a really picky person, so I just said, "Keep it shoulder length or longer," and let her have her way. I like the way it turned out, and got a couple compliments while at the reception. At first, it seemed the professors were going to hog all our Norman Minnick time, but he was able to make his way over to us sooner or later and we had some pretty fun discussions.
The reading itself was wonderful. Minnick has a great personality; he was very funny and I found myself laughing most of the time. I really enjoyed hearing his poetry read aloud. His poetry is very simplistic but beautiful. He lets us know exactly what we're looking at in our imagination, but invites us to see below the surface. I borrowed some money from Ron to buy a book (I grabbed all the cash I had in my room but that was only like seven dollars... Poor college student is poor) and asked him to sign it. He wrote me a very nice message on the inside. It said, "To Crystal, and the author who will blossom and continue to blossom." Reading that made me smile.
On a side note, I had chosen "Her Image" as the poem to go on the poster, and I was surprised to learn that he saw it as a sad poem. I believe he even called himself a "jerk" for not playing with his daughter.Basically what happens in the poem is that his daughter is playing with a spoon, looking at her image in it and flipping it over and back as if she's trying to trick the spoon. The last line of the poem is "Eat, I tell her." I saw it as a funny and cute picture of his daughter, and the last line elicited more of a lighthearted laugh than scorn. To each his or her own, I suppose.
In any case, I imagine that since the Ropewalk Reading Series has come to an end (for the semester anyway), most of our work will be focused on working on the next issue of SIR, logging submissions, and making sure stuff goes to the right place. That really doesn't sound too bad, though this is the time of the semester where everyone starts freaking out about final projects (thank you, Research Methods and Statistics I), papers (thank you, 20th Century Poetry), tests (thank you, German 204 and Psychology of Gender), portfolios (thank you, Poetry Workshop), and finals (thank you, Research Methods and Statistics, German 204, and Psychology of Gender). We can manage, I'm sure. We're college students; we don't need sleep!
Oh and blogging. We have to do some of that too.
After I went to Poetry Workshop and Psychology of Gender, I immediately went to my friend Jenn's place where she cut and colored my hair for $5. I'm not a really picky person, so I just said, "Keep it shoulder length or longer," and let her have her way. I like the way it turned out, and got a couple compliments while at the reception. At first, it seemed the professors were going to hog all our Norman Minnick time, but he was able to make his way over to us sooner or later and we had some pretty fun discussions.
The reading itself was wonderful. Minnick has a great personality; he was very funny and I found myself laughing most of the time. I really enjoyed hearing his poetry read aloud. His poetry is very simplistic but beautiful. He lets us know exactly what we're looking at in our imagination, but invites us to see below the surface. I borrowed some money from Ron to buy a book (I grabbed all the cash I had in my room but that was only like seven dollars... Poor college student is poor) and asked him to sign it. He wrote me a very nice message on the inside. It said, "To Crystal, and the author who will blossom and continue to blossom." Reading that made me smile.
On a side note, I had chosen "Her Image" as the poem to go on the poster, and I was surprised to learn that he saw it as a sad poem. I believe he even called himself a "jerk" for not playing with his daughter.Basically what happens in the poem is that his daughter is playing with a spoon, looking at her image in it and flipping it over and back as if she's trying to trick the spoon. The last line of the poem is "Eat, I tell her." I saw it as a funny and cute picture of his daughter, and the last line elicited more of a lighthearted laugh than scorn. To each his or her own, I suppose.
In any case, I imagine that since the Ropewalk Reading Series has come to an end (for the semester anyway), most of our work will be focused on working on the next issue of SIR, logging submissions, and making sure stuff goes to the right place. That really doesn't sound too bad, though this is the time of the semester where everyone starts freaking out about final projects (thank you, Research Methods and Statistics I), papers (thank you, 20th Century Poetry), tests (thank you, German 204 and Psychology of Gender), portfolios (thank you, Poetry Workshop), and finals (thank you, Research Methods and Statistics, German 204, and Psychology of Gender). We can manage, I'm sure. We're college students; we don't need sleep!
Oh and blogging. We have to do some of that too.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
SIUC
So, I made my choice about which grad school to go to. After being accepted by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Minnesota State University Mankato, and University of Memphis, I've decided to go to SIUC. Their program is ideal for my needs and goals and the funding package is great. I have yet to hear from University of North Carolina Greensboro and Bowling Green State, but an acceptance from either one of these programs, great though they are, will not change my decision. I've gotten used to the idea of living there.
I was going to visit this weekend at attend part of the first Little Grassy Fesitival, but various things came up and I ended up not going.
So I simulated my own visit:
-Read a ridiculous chunk of their website and reviewed the list of course offerings for MFA students.
-Googled photos of the campus and looked at the map.
-E-mailed a current student and asked various questions.
-Reread a story by Pinkney Benedict from New Stories From the South and read all the poetry by the faculty that I could find on the internet.
- Checked out Craigslist and carbondalerent.com to check out apartments and cost of living in the area.
-Had my dad look at the atlas and show me how to get there in the fastest way possible for when I am able to visit.
I am pretty excited about all of this, I tell you what.
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