Interviewing Alumni: Sarah Karasek on "The Little Punk Princess"

This week we interviewed alumnus Sarah Karasek about her upcoming book The Little Punk Princess: A Fairy Tale started as an URSCA project (that's Undergraduate Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity if you don't know), that took off. Take a break from studying for finals this week and give this quick little interview a listen.

The Little Punk Princess: A Fairy Tale synopsis: 

Princess is the heiress to the Presidency of America, but she has a dark secret - a deep love of metal, punk, and ska - all illegal contraband under the new ultra-conservative government.  When her secret stash of music is discovered, she is faced with the harsh decision of fleeing her country or giving up her only pleasure forever.

Unable to stand the prospect of a mind-numbing life full of Top 40 playlists, Princess departs through slums, sewers and swamps in search of a mysterious land beyond The Wall. With the aid of several magical friends and a little bit of luck, she makes her way to a place where music and culture flourish. A carnival village where great bands play 24/7 and Princess is invited backstage. But the culture clash may be more than she expected: her designer clothes get dirty, everyone thinks she’s a poser, and she’s asked to wash dishes like a lowly commoner. But if Princess can find a new way of existing in the world, she might just help change it for the better.

(Amazon.com)

Sarah also graciously expanded a little more via email after the interview Check out what she had to say about the editing process and the how the URSCA project helped her: 

"Because I edit as I write, it took me about two and a half months to write my final draft. One of the most interesting things I learned was that my double-spaced word document was seventy-some pages, but the book-form is over ninety. For some reason I always guessed the page count would be about the same.

"Editing is soothing to me. When I edit, it's mostly making sure all the pieces connect. If I don't already have a chapter title, this is when I come up with one and make sure it fits the theme/s.

"I said on the phone that I couldn't have written the book without the URSCA project, but more exactly, I couldn't have written the book so early in my writing career if I didn't have the previous incentive to hardcore study the genre I was writing. This ties in with my emphasis on writing for an audience. If you're writing horror or romance or whatever else, make sure you've read enough things in that genre that you adore so that writing for yourself is that same as writing for that audience. Pay attention to the publishers and journals that you find really awesome pieces in. If you haven't quite found what you want to read yet, try digging deeper. I found bizarro (a very new movement) from surrealism, mostly spurred on by E.T.A. Hoffman who passed away in 1822.

"Shameless plug: Follow me on Twitter @haunted4always. I don't have an author profile on Goodreads yet, but I'd love to see what you're reading there, so feel free so friend me. I go by my usual name, Sarah Karasek."

Be on the lookout for this book in May!

Tips to Stay Sane During Finals Week

Yeah, finals are coming up next week. We all know what that means. The beginning of the semester feels like it happened eons ago, and you can’t remember how to spell basic words. Instead of feeling stressed out trying to remember facts from your seven different classes, try these helpful tips:

Study Advice:

Stop studying the night before – At some point you need to tell yourself “It’s past 1 in the morning, I’ve crammed all I can into my head”. Space out your studying this week. Sleep is important.

Take breaks – People can generally study between 20 minutes to an hour before they start to “crash” or get distracted, so try to absorb knowledge in 30 chunks and take 10 minutes in between to grab a snack or take a lap around the library.

Use all your senses – The more senses you use when studying, the more likely the information will stick in your head. Try reading them out loud, rewriting them by hand, or even singing them. One thing that helps a lot is re-teaching them. Call your parents or siblings, sit down with your roommate, and “teach” them about what you learned this semester.

Test-Taking Tips:

Clear your head – take a few moments before going to your final to close your eyes and breathe, especially if you’re anxious. You don’t have to purge every thought, just take a second to calm your thoughts down.

Get in there with an “I don’t care attitude” – it sounds counterintuitive, but going into a test without worrying over whether it will make or break your grade in class will help you calm de-stress a little.

Self-Care: 

Sleep – If you ignored my advice about not studying the night before—why? Sleep is important!

Eat something – Eating is also important. You’re not you when you’re hungry (Snickers Logo). Hydrating falls under this one, too.

Clean up – Especially important if you’re traveling to go back home for winter break. Take a five-minute break to make your bed, put away some clothes. Decluttering the space around you can help declutter your thoughts.

After Finals?

This is de-stress time. Take some time to celebrate or commiserate with your friends and/or family about how you did, but don’t obsess over it. Let yourself relax. No matter how you did, you just got done with your finals! Good job.

Alumnus Interview with JC Lee

About the movie Luce (2019):

“It's been ten years since Amy and Peter Edgar (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) adopted their son from war-torn Eritrea, and they thought the worst was behind them. Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) has become an all-star student beloved by his community in Arlington, Virginia. His African American teacher, Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), believes he is a symbol of black excellence that sets a positive example for his peers. But when he is assigned to write an essay in the voice of a historical twentieth-century figure, Luce turns in a paper that makes an alarming statement about political violence. Worried about how this assignment reflects upon her star pupil, Harriet searches his locker and finds something that confirms her worst fears.” (rottentomatoes)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Recently, I had the opportunity to have a conversation with JC Lee, an alumnus of Bloomsburg University and Juilliard who recently showed his move Luce on campus. We talked about his movie, his career, his methods for how he got from point A to point B in his life, and advice he had for anyone trying to do the same.

The inspiration for the original play came from multiple places and facets of his life, including how he himself is mixed race, and how he’s had to code-switch to fit in with different groups of people in his life, a theme prevalent in his play-turned-movie. He also drew a little bit from his love of superheroes and their own alter egos, and the idea that everyone has a mask that they put on for others.

The movie Luce was originally as play, as we know. Lee has been involved in the theater for basically his entire life, especially during his undergrad at Bloomsburg University, and his time at Julliard. During our conversation, he told me that he’d been writing a bunch of comic stories with superheroes at Juilliard for a while.  Near the end of his time there, he was told that he had to write a “grown-up” story. “I thought, “What does that even mean?” he joked with me, and told me he’d ended up returning to an idea that he’d jotted down in a notebook years ago and written in “Come back to this when you’re 35.” That idea ended up becoming Luce.

The play debuted in 2013, and it was due to the encouragement, prompting and pushing of a friend that it became the movie it is today.

How he got to where he is, Lee told me, is basically through hard work. You have to have a drive, and it’s something people are born with or not. “I have no doubt that there are a lot of talented people in LA,” he said, “but you have to have the drive to go after your goals.” He’s had to support himself for much of his life, and his suggestion on “making it” was to go for it.

Currently, Lee is working on another play, a short movie based on a short story by Stephen King, and series for Apple TV. When I asked him why he took on so many varied forms of media, he told me that working on different genres and forms of media helped to hone his skills.

Following that, his advice is to hone your skills by working on different things, and also to take in everything. Every form of media, books and TV shows and movies and plays, and to take in the bad as well as the good.

Thanks to JC Lee for letting me pick your brain and share your thoughts with the masses.

Meet Our Students: Liana Amadeo

What's your name? Liana (Lee) Rosalie Amadeo
Where are you from? Central Islip, Long Island, NY
What's your major? English, Secondary Education
Minor? Literature
Year? Senior
Literary Strengths? Writing Analysis
Favorite books and/or TV shows? My favorite book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Why did you become an English major? In 8th grade I had a really caring English teacher who pushed me to be the best I can be and showed me that I was actually good at something when I didn’t truly see any of my strengths. He is one of the many reasons I chose this profession.
Favorite class(es) ever taken? Creative Writing with Professor Koch and Literature for Young Adults with Dr. Stuart
What organizations are you a part of? Warren Literary and Art Journal, Sigma Tau Delta
Favorite subjects to write about, formally or informally? I love writing memoir pieces about my own life. I also like to write about Marvel and Transformers in my free time.
Quick, create a title for a book you’d like to write: A Marvelous Transformation
Now a title for a book about you: Little Lee
Dream job? 12th grade English teacher
Any advice for incoming freshmen or students thinking about taking more English classes? Take something that isn’t in your comfort zone. You may be surprised by how much you love the challenge.

Liana is the Managing editor of Warren Literary and Art Journal, which is currently taking submissions! Check out their social media to learn more: 

Instagram: @warrenbu49

Twitter: @warrenbu49

Email: litmag@bloomu.edu

Big Dog Reading with Wemple and Lawrence

Our own Prof. Wemple and Dr. Lawrence were the guests for the most recent installment of the Big Dog Reading Series.

Prof Wemple introduced the event with a the statement, "November, the worst month of the year," a sentiment echoed by many who prefer warmer weather. Ironically enough, both educators' readings were set in the summer.

Dr. Lawrence started us off with some personal and deeply touching flash (non)fiction and illustrations (and a bonus drawing she added in to lighten the mood).

She began with a flash fiction piece, then led into a series of flash-nonfiction pieces she wrote about her recent discovery of her birth father, following a timeline that started before she was born, and ending in the summer of 2019.

Her pieces explored family dynamics, mother-daughter interactions, including one of her truest lines, “mothers in opera are notoriously bad,” and piecing together parts of the past to create something beautiful out a messy, scattered life.

Best line: “When I was 5, I thought Mr. Rogers was my father.”

Wemple read second, introducing a set of nostalgic summertime poems he wrote during a retreat this past summer.

His six poems were titled as follows: “That Summer,” “GAR,” (standing for Grand Army of the Republic), “Smash Cans,” and “Almost,” “First Visit, South Carolina,” and “Tapies.” 

His prose led us through sun-soaked backyards and parking garages with evocative imagery and engaged all the senses, recalling the nostalgia of summers long past. He connected the past with the present, and engaged the audience: “Of course, everything is connected, even those of you listening to this here and now.”

Another quote: “Because baseball is a metaphor for life, I’m gonna end with a baseball poem.”

Bad Poetry Night: Warren Literary and Art Journal

Big Dog Reading Series: Jerry Wemple & Claire Lawrence

Don't forget to go to Monty's on Thursday and hear two of our own professors in the English Department, Prof. Jerry Wemple and Dr. Claire Lawrence, share their work. The event starts at 7 pm in Monty's Assembly Room on upper campus.

We can't wait to see you there!

Interview with Shawn Rosler: The Coarse Grind

This week, we interviewed Shawn Rosler, Bloomsburg University alumnus, about his podcast "The Coarse Grind." Listen to the end for info on a special giveaway.

Find out more about Shawn Rosler and "The Coarse Grind" here:

the coarse grind podcast
youtube
twitter
instagram

COLA Symposium, English Alumni Panel Cover

Bloomsburg University’s 4th annual College of Liberal Arts Symposium was held just last week, inviting professors and alumni to speak and share their experiences and knowledge at various panels. One such panel featured five alumni of the English Department, providing life experience to English majors who are all going to be wondering the same thing upon graduation: what happens next?

From left: Steve Kotch, Lisa Regan, Jennifer Melzer, Seth Nolan, Keara Hozella

Keara Hozella (’14) is a Corporate Storyteller at SEKISUI SPI, a plastics manufacturing company in Bloomsburg. What does a corporate storyteller do? Hozella does all of the company writing, including social media, press releases, internal communications and editing. Whew.
Biggest piece of advice? Be involved at Bloom outside of classes. Hozella was a Gender Studies minor as well as an English major. SHe was also involved with the Voice (our student newspaper), the writing center (now WALES), and was gender studies work study student. All of these extracurricular activities helped her to gain skills that she uses in her job today.
Her interviews that she did with the Voice helped her to learn how to interview her coworkers and colleagues. Her English classes taught her how to write, write well, and edit well—and importantly, how to edit others without offending them.
Words of wisdom: “Your plan that you have right now might shift, but there are always ways for you to get to where you want to be.”

Steve Kotch (’10) is currently a copywriter at web.com, and is working on his teaching degree. He started out in the education track, but decided to go the full English major route when he found he wanted to write more. After completing his undergrad, he took a job at the call center of web.com, and after working there a little, noticed that they had copywriters and copyeditors. He applied for that position, and is now a copywriter, writing and editing copy and helping businesses move up the ranks in Google.
Words of wisdom: (on applications) “They want to see that you’re interested in the craft.”

Jennifer Melzer (06’) is a freelance author and editor. She’s been editing since right after she graduated, after hearing the advice from those around her saying that she had to focus to do something with her degree. Meltzer scoured the internet and created contacts that helped her build her client list and has been editing and writing fiction for the last 12-13 years.
The skills Meltzer uses most as an editor are her peer review skills she honed from her English classes, and how to give feedback without being hateful or hard. It all boils down to tact.
Words of wisdom: “I just started looking all over the place for places to write for, and through those opportunities I met other writers, and most of them were fiction writer or business writers and they needed an editor.”

Seth Nolan (’15) is currently a newspaper journalist at the Williamsport Sun Gazette, a “medium-to-small sized city with big city problems” that covers the news daily. Nolan has been a reporter there for three years, after a stint with the Press Enterprise, and is now an editor, in addition to helping with media and design.
Nolan learned how to be a diverse writer at Bloom. At the paper, he’s been required to cover all sorts of stories, from crime and court, to environmental issues, to whatever else they’d throw at him. It all requires him to be in a different headspace, and his experiences with English helped him to cover these stories.
Words of wisdom: “I was always more on the creative end, even though I was on the literature track. I realized I needed to get a portfolio together and got involved with the Voice. I started a little late, but it’s not too late to start building a portfolio . . . I’d got together a solid portfolio and send it to different editors, saying ‘this is my experience.’"



Lisa Regan (’02, ’05) currently is a full-time writer. Her titles have been on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.
After first graduating from BloomU, Regan wasn’t sure of what she wanted to do, so she decided she wanted to get her PhD and become a professor. She came right back for her masters, and upon student teaching, realized that she didn’t share the same passion for teaching that her colleagues did. She finished her masters and went to Philadelphia to start working on writing, becoming a paralegal to pay the rent. She worked for thirteen years as a paralegal before she could start writing full time. She currently has eleven titles published, with her twelfth coming out in December.
There are three skills she gained as an English major that helped her with both her paralegal work and her writing, she says, and will carry over to any field. The first is critical thinking. The second, attention to detail. And the third, spelling and grammar.
Words of wisdom: “NOBODY uses critical thinking in the real world. I was a very highly paid paralegal. I was a plaintiff’s paralegal, which normally doesn’t pay much, but my boss valued my critical thinking skills so highly that I made twice as much as the others.”



While all of the alumni on the panel had great advice for the students in the crowd, one of the best pieces of advice came from Dr. Entzminger, the English Department head, while closing the panel: “Not everybody’s job is the right job.” None of these panelists started in the job the ended up in, and a few of them might move on to different jobs in the future, but the skills they learned as English majors with carry with them throughout their lives and help them in their careers.

Meet Our Students: Anna Jaskiewicz

Where are you from? Bloomsburg
Major? English: Lit and English: Digital Rhetoric
Year? Senior
Literary Strengths? writing analysis, professional writing (gotten better at)
Favorite books and/or TV shows? Steinbeck, East of Eden, probably anything from Margaret Atwood. I don’t really watch TV so I don't have any favorites—except for Avatar: the Last Airbender.
Why did you become an English major? At first I wanted to teach English in a high school setting, then I just fell in love with study of literature and literary criticism, and I realized there was a lot more that I could do with an English degree than I originally thought.
Favorite class(es) ever taken? Major Authors, focusing on Atwood - Topics and Criticism with Dr. Randall - European Lit 1 with Dr. Whitworth - Approaches to Lit with Dr. Randall
What organizations are you a part of? Phi Sigma Pi, a national honors fraternity (I'm the president), Sigma Tau Delta which is another honors fraternity, and I'm the opinion/editorial editor of the Voice.Favorite subjects to write about, formally or informally? I like literary criticism, even like on a more base level just book reviews, but I only really write when I have to.
Quick, create a title for a book you’d like to write: Middle Class Memoirs
Now a title for a book about you: Uh, Incredibly Indecisive
Dream job? Professional Reader–does it have to be real?
Any advice for incoming freshmen or students thinking about taking more English classes? Enough is never enough with lit classes. Don’t be afraid to even minor in English if you want to major in something else because the skill set is invaluable.

COLA Symposium

If you’re taking any English class whatsoever (and I hope you are!), you probably know about the 4th annual College of Liberal Arts Symposium. Make sure to check out the schedule found here to see what lectures you want to see the most—like our multiple English Department alumni. The event is taking place this Thursday and Friday in multiple buildings around campus, so be sure to attend.

Sigma Tau Delta New Initiates

Congratulations to our new Sigma Tau Delta members! Initiation was held at Dr. Francis’s house last Sunday and included a lovely potluck dinner and some light poetry for dessert.

Our three initiates:



Sheila Patoka (right), Sophomore Secondary Education major
Caroline Vandivere (left), Junior Secondary Education major
Robert Leonard, Sophomore Creative Writing major

In addition to initiation, guests also talked about upcoming events in the honors society, like the Ervene Gulley Faculty Lecture Series on November 20th. Their main speaker, Dr. Stuart, is focusing on the topic “Inheritance.” Be on the lookout for more info when we get into November.
The whole of Sigma Tau Delta is also hosting their international convention in Las Vegas next spring, and submissions for that event are open until October 28th.


(President Jose Gamboa, emphasizing a talking point so hard his hand blurred)

The night was filled with laughter and fun, and was a hugely successful initiation overall. We warmly welcome our newest members to the Theta Kappa chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honors Society, and wish the best for them in their future scholarly endeavors.

(About Sigma Tau Delta: The International Honor Society of English Majors and Minors has a capture here at BU and is housed in the Department of English. The society seeks to recognize students who excel in literary studies and supports their work as they grow through enriching their knowledge through academic and scholarly endeavor.)

Halloween Flash Fiction Contest

Law (Enforcement) Career Expo: Not for English Majors?

Dr. Decker’s English 488 class went to the recent “Law, Legal and Government” Expo to see what job opportunities they had to offer and what experience they could get from this event. The expo was held on the 9th of October in Kehr Union Ballroom, from 11:30 to 1 pm.

While the expo had numerous opportunities, the majority of them were for law enforcement rather than the other titles stated in the name of the event. Several students interviewed about their experiences after the event, including Jose Gamboa, Madeleine Malley and Anna Jaskiewicz all said that it was “not anything like the university advertised.”

One job representative at a booth there outright said “we’re not hiring teachers.” After the students said that they even though they were English majors, they were not focusing on teaching, the representative only repeated their initial statement.

Another student started a great conversation with a representative from another law enforcement table. Unfortunately, when he learned this student’s major, he dismissively said that they weren’t looking to hire English majors.

Despite these negative interactions, the experience was still instructive. The main lesson these students learned was to actively scout out potential employers and inform potential employers about all the skills that English majors have to offer besides being “teachers" (all those critical thinking skills learned in reading analysis are helpful in many legal careers, for example). Hopefully, this experience will help the university as well as its students in holding and attending more successful career expos in the future.

NCTE Book Club!

Check this out:

Meet Our Professors: Prof Jerry Wemple

Where are you from?

I grew up in the nearby towns of Danville and Sunbury, but also spent part of my childhood in southwest Florida. As an adult, I have lived in several different parts of the US and visited about 12 countries. I left after high school and only came back to this area when I got a job at BU.

Where did you graduate from?

I have an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

What kinds of publications have you written for?

I have three published poetry collections and I co-edited a poetry anthology that was published by Penn State Press. My poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in lots of journals and anthologies.

How long have you taught at Bloomsburg?

Twenty years.

What classes do you usually teach?

I teach a lot of different courses. I teach the poetry workshop and the nonfiction workshop, also The Practice of Creative Writing, which is a junior-year seminar for majors. I taught the poetry literature course, African American literature, and American Ethnic Lit. Of course, I also teach English 101.

Involved in any other organizations?

I am the director the Visual and Performing Arts Learning Community. That can be a lot of fun. Recently we went on a weekend field trip and were able to get a guided tour of the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. There is some wild stuff in there.

What are your personal favorite kinds of books/shows?

I read a little bit of everything. I read poetry, of course, but I am interested in creative nonfiction and history, too. I am also always looking for new books to teach in class. For example, right now I am reading The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. It is graphic memoir depicting an immigrant Vietnamese family. I may use in my American Ethnic Lit class in the spring.

If you could create your own class to teach, without restriction and about anything you want, what would it be?

One of the nice things about our English Department is that professors have a lot of academic freedom. I can shape my courses in a way that works for my students and me. I am kind of always teaching the course that I want, but I am always looking to keep it fresh. Even in English 101 I will not use the same books and approach more than a few semesters.

What is the best advice someone has ever given you about English?

In high school, one of my English teachers told me “good writing is good writing.” What he meant was to not limit oneself to a particular genre or style, but simply strive to be a good writer. When I worked for newspapers, I wrote sports, local news, and about crime. I was essentially a technical writer when I was in the Navy. Those types of writing definitely informed my creative writing. Working toward being a good writer in any genre will generally help your writing overall.

Quick, create a title of a book you’d like to write:

I just finished a new poetry collection. It is called “Ridge and Valley.” My poetry is often about place, and we are in the ridge and valley zone.

Now create the title of a book about you:

“Damn”

What would you like to see for the English department?  (Both short- and long-term)

In both the short-term and long-term I think the department needs to get the word out even more about the successes of our graduates. I’d like to see more students (and their parents) recognize what an English major can do for them. We have graduates from all of our tracks who go on to do amazing things and earn good salaries. However, too many people have a vocational mindset when it comes to higher education. If you want to be an accountant or a nurse, then by all means pursue those majors. But English teaches people to analyze diverse and often difficult literatures, research multiple sources, to synthesize, and to write effectively. In creative writing classes, we are always problem solving. For example, writing a sonnet is problematic: a sonnet should conform to a certain meter and rhyme scheme. It also has a rhetorical structure. The poet must set up and solve a problem in 14 lines, and do it in an inventive manner that appeals to readers. That is a lot of problem solving, and those skills lead to creative thinking. English majors who work hard during their college years are prepared to succeed and to adapt. Studies show that STEM grads generally start out with higher salaries, but liberal arts grads eventually catch up and surpass them.

(Hear some of Prof Wemple's and Dr. Lawrence's works at the next Big Dog Reading Series event!)

Rosemont College Info Session

Interested in grad school? A representative from Rosemont College is visiting to talk about their program options. Check it out here:

Chaucer Class Trip to Met Cloisters

This past Sunday, Dr. Francis’s Chaucer class took a trip to the Met Cloisters and Renaissance Faire in Fort Tryon Park NYC.



The Met Cloisters is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art that’s devoted to medieval Europe art and architecture. The building includes traditional sculpture and architectural elements from France, containing three cloisters (enclosed courtyards), and chapels from Spain and France. The artwork within the museum can be traced from all over Europe.



Some of the great works from history the class was able to see were the Reliquary Cross, claimed to hold a piece of the true cross of Christ, The Annuncuation Triptych, several illuminated manuscripts, and the famed Unicorn tapestries.

                
       (The Unicorn in Captivity)                                 (The Unicorn Purifies Water)

The class went to study medieval history and artwork for their class, as well as interact with characters from a medieval setting at the renaissance faire held around the museum. According to Dr. Francis, the faire has grown since she’s last taken a class on this trip, but the larger crowd provided more attractions.



For those who don’t know, Renaissance Faires generally follow a medieval story, and the troupe at this faire featured the story of Robin Hood. The day included demonstrations from the Armored Combat League, aerial acrobatics, human chess, traditional music, falconry demonstrations, and jousting tournaments.



The trip was jam-packed with information, excitement and fun, and was an overall success for the class.

Kicking Back After the English Department Cookout

English Department Cookout chez Dr. Francis (or, more accurately, her backyard):



A fun time was had by all who got to come to the English Department Cookout at Dr. Francis’s house yesterday. Everyone who came got to meet up with friends and professors, meet some new people, eat some good food and pet some good dogs.

We took pictures and interviewed some of the people who were there:

Alexis Mucci:



What’s your major?
Creative writing, with a minor in ASL interpreting.
What inspired you to do this as a major?
Well, I had to write stories for third grade English, and they did contests every week. As the year went on, I found that I was winning all of them. And then I was like, “Huh.” And I just went with it.
How are you liking the cookout?
 . . . a lot? It’s really fun.

Madison Fick:



What’s your major?
English, secondary Ed.
What inspired you to choose this as a major?
My family, they were always pounding it in, “Get your education, get your education.” I want to make it a priority for people who don’t have that.
How are you liking the cookout?
I’m enjoying it. It’s very relaxed, and a lot less stressful than I thought it would be.

Prof Jerry Wemple



What do you teach this semester?
Lit and Society, English 101 and English 316
What inspires you to teach every day?
Teaching is fun. I like helping people, and always changing up the class. The 101 I taught 2 years ago is nothing like the one I’m teaching now. I’m always thinking about different approaches, it makes things interesting for me and the students.

Picture time!

Fraggle, being adorable 

Finn and Dr. Francis

The late end-of-the-party crowd

Can't Find an Internship?

Can’t Find an Internship? (don’t forget to look in your own area!)

Internships are great resume boosters and ways to practice your skills and explore what you want to do with your life and career. But most English majors look at internships and think, I can’t do that, or they couldn’t want someone like me. English internships are at schools or

Any local newspaper or journal.

Lots of people think these kinds of internships are for communications majors, but who would be better to grammar check a column on the spot than an English student?

Libraries.

What better place to intern at than a building that focuses on the written word? Even if they’re not looking for an internship, see if you can volunteer just for the experience.

Online.

Social media accounts are booming, but someone has to create and edit that content (who do you think writes these posts?). Look at businesses in your local area and ask around. Maybe you could volunteer, get an internship or even a summer job.

Finally:

Anywhere that involves writing.

Consider what an English degree teaches you: analytical thinking, peer review skills, research skills, solitary AND group work. What are places that can help you apply and hone those skills? Every job requires the written language, which means every job requires people to write, to edit, to revise, to research, to think critically. These are skills that every English student practices in class, every day.

When looking for your winter/spring semester internship, open your mind to the possibilities. They may surprise you.