Welcome to Finals Week.
This semester, it is comprised of cigarette smoke wafting in from the hallway
mixing with the raspberry in my tea.
This semester, I pore over my German book,
leaving International Conflicts
(Oh blessed easy class)
for tomorrow morning.
This semester means no music for the 1 a.m. student
The pounding headache is enough
And there are some verbs that even Paul McCartney
can't conjugate.
This semester is looking around and wondering, once again,
how things will look next time.
And how oh how will everything fit in my suitcase
And how do I get more people to follow me on Twitter?
This semester creeps to a close, me teetering on the edge between night and dawn
Still studying,
Trying not to think that in a few days
I'll be standing on American soil again
And my parents will be there to greet me
In English.
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grammar. Show all posts
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday Night Apple Crisp
Current Location: Briggs Library Writing Room
Just Ate: Apple crisp; they had three huge pans of it downstairs for some reason. The librarians were wandering up and down the floors encouraging people to go down and eat some, so I did! It was certainly delicious, that random, Wednesday-night apple crisp.
Just talked to: Some random lady on the phone. She called the library asking for writing advice, and then the librarian came up to the writing room to get me so I could speak to her (they didn't know the number to transfer her up). I picked up the receiver, and all of the sudden the woman is throwing sentences at me, asking me to help her identify the subject and the predicate. Subject and predicate (I exclaimed to myself)! I haven't learned about those since elementary school! I remembered somehow, however, and was able to help her out.
She wasn't done yet, though; as a child screamed in the background, the woman began to complain about how schools give assignments and just expect children to be able to do them without help. She berated teachers for not wanting to be contacted with questions after hours, and for telling kids not to bring their textbooks home (which makes it hard for parents to assist their children).
I understood her points, and she really wasn't nasty about any of it; it just amused me that she was talking to me of all people about such things. I'm simply a student worker who's job it is to help other students improve their papers for class! I work in a tiny room on the 3rd floor, I'm not a mother, and it's 9:30 p.m. What a random call to receive!
In retrospect, I think that the woman simply needed someone to vent to, and that I was the first person who seemed willing to listen. Fine with me. It's interesting experiences like this that make my life interesting, truthfully.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Will have to settle for a shorter spiel than I originally intended to give. This Side of Paradise was amazing. It is now officially my favorite new book, mainly because it gave me so much to think about, both in terms of the ideas introduced in the novel, and in terms of how the novel itself was crafted.
Although Amory Blaine (the main character) is not necessarily a character to be admired, I found that I could relate to him in various ways, especially where his college experiences were concerned. He discovers so much about himself, and about the world in college, and yet these discoveries leave him reeling, and wondering what the true meaning of everything is.
And at the absoulte pinnacle of the book, Amory finds himself back before the spires of his Alma Mater. He leans his head back into the night and screams, "I know myself, but that is all-."
And that is exactly how I feel.
As good of an ending as the above is, I want to briefly add that F. Scott Fitzgerald was an absolutely marvelous writer. It's actually difficult to describe it, but the thing that strikes me the most is how observant he was as an author. Fitzgerald had a gift for character development; he effortlessly pieced people together until they were so complex that they were entirely real to readers.
Again, I don't think I'm explaining this very well. I think you should just read something of his for yourself. Start with The Great Gatsby, and then go from there. You'll like him, I promise.
Just Ate: Apple crisp; they had three huge pans of it downstairs for some reason. The librarians were wandering up and down the floors encouraging people to go down and eat some, so I did! It was certainly delicious, that random, Wednesday-night apple crisp.
Just talked to: Some random lady on the phone. She called the library asking for writing advice, and then the librarian came up to the writing room to get me so I could speak to her (they didn't know the number to transfer her up). I picked up the receiver, and all of the sudden the woman is throwing sentences at me, asking me to help her identify the subject and the predicate. Subject and predicate (I exclaimed to myself)! I haven't learned about those since elementary school! I remembered somehow, however, and was able to help her out.
She wasn't done yet, though; as a child screamed in the background, the woman began to complain about how schools give assignments and just expect children to be able to do them without help. She berated teachers for not wanting to be contacted with questions after hours, and for telling kids not to bring their textbooks home (which makes it hard for parents to assist their children).
I understood her points, and she really wasn't nasty about any of it; it just amused me that she was talking to me of all people about such things. I'm simply a student worker who's job it is to help other students improve their papers for class! I work in a tiny room on the 3rd floor, I'm not a mother, and it's 9:30 p.m. What a random call to receive!
In retrospect, I think that the woman simply needed someone to vent to, and that I was the first person who seemed willing to listen. Fine with me. It's interesting experiences like this that make my life interesting, truthfully.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Will have to settle for a shorter spiel than I originally intended to give. This Side of Paradise was amazing. It is now officially my favorite new book, mainly because it gave me so much to think about, both in terms of the ideas introduced in the novel, and in terms of how the novel itself was crafted.
Although Amory Blaine (the main character) is not necessarily a character to be admired, I found that I could relate to him in various ways, especially where his college experiences were concerned. He discovers so much about himself, and about the world in college, and yet these discoveries leave him reeling, and wondering what the true meaning of everything is.
And at the absoulte pinnacle of the book, Amory finds himself back before the spires of his Alma Mater. He leans his head back into the night and screams, "I know myself, but that is all-."
And that is exactly how I feel.
As good of an ending as the above is, I want to briefly add that F. Scott Fitzgerald was an absolutely marvelous writer. It's actually difficult to describe it, but the thing that strikes me the most is how observant he was as an author. Fitzgerald had a gift for character development; he effortlessly pieced people together until they were so complex that they were entirely real to readers.
Again, I don't think I'm explaining this very well. I think you should just read something of his for yourself. Start with The Great Gatsby, and then go from there. You'll like him, I promise.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Current Events
It's been a good few weeks since I last blogged. And by 'good few weeks' I don't only mean the time period, but the good quality of the time period. That's right; college is still amazing. That's right; I did just use a semicolon (thanks, College Writing). Here's what's been going down since last I wrote:
1. I made MCSA (UMM's version of student council). To run, I had to submit a petition of reason to the school paper stating why I should be elected. And I got voted in! We had a meeting on Sunday, which I was a bit nervous about because all the upperclassman members were there as well as the new members. It was fine though; what a nice group! I'm just really excited to be part of it! I was in student council in middle school, but didn't even run in high school since I was new to the district and didn't think I'd make it.
2. I've been writing weekly articles for to University Register, which evidently makes me a staff writer. I've also been lucky enough to have my articles on the front page for every issue. This, however, may have more to do with the topic of my articles than the quality of my writing, though I hope it takes both into consideration.
3. I've made a lot of new friends. Pine Hall, my dorm, is the smallest underclassman hall on campus-only 80 people total, so we all know each other pretty well. We're currently working on making a movie entitled Pirates of the Caribbean, the Musical, for the annual UMM film festival. Ship scenes will be filmed in the pool.
I guess that's all I have to say for now. I've been so madly busy that it's hard to find time to sleep, let alone blog. Naps have become my best friend.
1. I made MCSA (UMM's version of student council). To run, I had to submit a petition of reason to the school paper stating why I should be elected. And I got voted in! We had a meeting on Sunday, which I was a bit nervous about because all the upperclassman members were there as well as the new members. It was fine though; what a nice group! I'm just really excited to be part of it! I was in student council in middle school, but didn't even run in high school since I was new to the district and didn't think I'd make it.
2. I've been writing weekly articles for to University Register, which evidently makes me a staff writer. I've also been lucky enough to have my articles on the front page for every issue. This, however, may have more to do with the topic of my articles than the quality of my writing, though I hope it takes both into consideration.
3. I've made a lot of new friends. Pine Hall, my dorm, is the smallest underclassman hall on campus-only 80 people total, so we all know each other pretty well. We're currently working on making a movie entitled Pirates of the Caribbean, the Musical, for the annual UMM film festival. Ship scenes will be filmed in the pool.
I guess that's all I have to say for now. I've been so madly busy that it's hard to find time to sleep, let alone blog. Naps have become my best friend.
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