I've been at school for just about a month now, though it seems like it's been a lot longer. Unfortunately, I've gotten very little writing done, due to a combination of tons of homework, constantly being sick, and the looming election.
Happily, though, NaNoWriMo approaches, and this year I've officially founded a National Novel Writing Month club here at Grinnell with another Portland native. First meeting in a bit more than a week, and I'm quite looking forward to it.
You may notice the appearance of a "Sponsor Me" link; once again, I'm looking for sponsors for my NaNoWriMo efforts (all contributions go to NaNoWriMo, not to me!).
Monday, September 29, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
One week down
I'm now done with my first full week of school. Reactions:
Medieval Literature - This class is fantastic. I don't know that much about Christianity to begin with, and I always did find the classical stories about Hell very compelling (reform Judaism has nothing that compares). We've read the Book of Revelation, St. Peter's Apocalypse, and St. Paul's Apocalypse so far, and will be moving on to some pre-Dante views of purgatory as well. I find it all very fascinating. The reading load is heavy, but not unmanageable, and discussions in class are always lively. The professor does a good job of spurring on discussion, and I think the rest of the semester will be just as good. My only complaint is the 8 AM start time.
History of the European Left - Also very interesting. As usually happens, the readings are denser for history courses than for English courses, but the professor is so terrifically excited about everything that discussion in class makes the readings worthwhile (even the driest ones, which are kept to a minimum). Another class with a heavy reading load, but thankfully on alternating days with Medieval Lit so I can manage it.
World War II on the Eastern Front - An excellent class. I'd never had the professor before, so I was a bit wary - I think the professor really makes or breaks a history class - but he's turned out to be excellent and the class has a good mix of discussion and lecture. I didn't know much about the eastern front going into the class, mostly because people don't talk as much about the Nazis vs. the Soviets, but it's turned out to be very interesting. Depressing, too, of course, but definitely worth it. Oh, lots of reading too. Still manageable.
Fiction Writing Seminar - Probably the class I was most looking forward to, and the class that will have the most work. I have an 8-25 page short story due at noon on Monday, a 15-20 page autobiography due at noon next Monday, and a proposal for a guided reading project due next Wednesday. Short stories always give me the most trouble, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. The autobiography, too, will be difficult. The guided reading project should be awesome - I'm going to focus on Terry Pratchett, who wrote Night Watch and co-authored Good Omens, two of my favorite books. This means reading 20+ of his novels over the next three and a half months. I do wish the class were meeting more often - we're only going to meet (and workshop pieces) once a week.
Racquetball - Not that much to say about this one, except that racquetball is awesome and I'm awesomely uncoordinated.
Otherwise, I'm writing for the newspaper, which is perhaps a commitment I should've waited a week to make, and in the Boggle club (yes, I'm a nerd). Last night I played Risk with a group of friends at Ecohouse, and briefly controlled all of South America and most of Europe until North America stabbed me in the back and conquered Iceland.
Also brought my ex-roommate some food so that she wouldn't work herself to death in the local Obama field office, which she's running while taking a semester off from school.
I've put off writing long enough, I'm going back to work on my short story for class. I hope.
Medieval Literature - This class is fantastic. I don't know that much about Christianity to begin with, and I always did find the classical stories about Hell very compelling (reform Judaism has nothing that compares). We've read the Book of Revelation, St. Peter's Apocalypse, and St. Paul's Apocalypse so far, and will be moving on to some pre-Dante views of purgatory as well. I find it all very fascinating. The reading load is heavy, but not unmanageable, and discussions in class are always lively. The professor does a good job of spurring on discussion, and I think the rest of the semester will be just as good. My only complaint is the 8 AM start time.
History of the European Left - Also very interesting. As usually happens, the readings are denser for history courses than for English courses, but the professor is so terrifically excited about everything that discussion in class makes the readings worthwhile (even the driest ones, which are kept to a minimum). Another class with a heavy reading load, but thankfully on alternating days with Medieval Lit so I can manage it.
World War II on the Eastern Front - An excellent class. I'd never had the professor before, so I was a bit wary - I think the professor really makes or breaks a history class - but he's turned out to be excellent and the class has a good mix of discussion and lecture. I didn't know much about the eastern front going into the class, mostly because people don't talk as much about the Nazis vs. the Soviets, but it's turned out to be very interesting. Depressing, too, of course, but definitely worth it. Oh, lots of reading too. Still manageable.
Fiction Writing Seminar - Probably the class I was most looking forward to, and the class that will have the most work. I have an 8-25 page short story due at noon on Monday, a 15-20 page autobiography due at noon next Monday, and a proposal for a guided reading project due next Wednesday. Short stories always give me the most trouble, so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. The autobiography, too, will be difficult. The guided reading project should be awesome - I'm going to focus on Terry Pratchett, who wrote Night Watch and co-authored Good Omens, two of my favorite books. This means reading 20+ of his novels over the next three and a half months. I do wish the class were meeting more often - we're only going to meet (and workshop pieces) once a week.
Racquetball - Not that much to say about this one, except that racquetball is awesome and I'm awesomely uncoordinated.
Otherwise, I'm writing for the newspaper, which is perhaps a commitment I should've waited a week to make, and in the Boggle club (yes, I'm a nerd). Last night I played Risk with a group of friends at Ecohouse, and briefly controlled all of South America and most of Europe until North America stabbed me in the back and conquered Iceland.
Also brought my ex-roommate some food so that she wouldn't work herself to death in the local Obama field office, which she's running while taking a semester off from school.
I've put off writing long enough, I'm going back to work on my short story for class. I hope.
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