First Entry

Here at St. Lawrence I have been studying psychology and education. The main reason why I like my psychology major is because a lot of the classes are interesting and applicable to everyday life. I think my psychology background is going to aid in my goal to be an elementary school teacher after college. Therefore I enjoy my education classes here because they give me the opportunity to work with young students.

I am from a small town outside of Syracuse, New York called Manlius. Someone could compare Manlius to Potsdam, same weather, same small town feel but minus all the farms. Instead of the farms we have a lot of suburban neighborhoods. There isn’t a whole lot that would attract someone to my town, but home is home and I love it.

My main hobby is playing the violin. I’ve played since I was in the second grade and spend my summers teaching young kids how to play. I’m also a dancer. I have danced for over 10 years now, and have pretty much danced most styles, such as ballet, pointe, modern, African, belly-dancing and more.

I’ve had a mix of good and bad experiences getting feedback on my work. I think the most difficult challenge I have when I sometimes get work back from peers is there is a mix of opinions on certain areas of my writing. One student might think I should change a certain part while another thinks it was good. Such a mix of ideas makes it hard for me to decide what to modify or what to keep.

One poet that has stuck in my mind has been E.E. Cummings, specifically his poem “I Carry Your Heart With Me.” The poem is a little cheesy, but I like how the messages in this poem and in his other poems always have a positive feel to them. All of them flow very nicely in an almost a light, airy way.

For me, good poetry is one that has good rhythm to it. Along with a nice flow of words, I enjoy poetry that has connected their underlying messages of the poem in a continuous fashion. I would say by biggest challenge with poetry is trying to think of unique metaphors that convey the message of the poem.

In this course I would like to learn more about and read more poems from current authors. Even though the poets generally studied are classics, I would like to experience some other poets who may touch upon more current events that our generation might be able to relate to in their poems.