Annie's Blog

Hello!

 School is back in session, and it is already in full swing. I moved back in last Friday and have been trying to adjust to the idea that I am actually there! I picked up most of my books, 23 in total. Even though yesterday was the harsh reality that break is over, I was incredibly excited to see everyone around campus. Every time I had to walk from one building or classroom to the next, I saw someone I have not seen in what seems like forever, but in reality, it had only really been a month. Classes went well for the most part. I had five out of my six classes yesterday, so that was a bit much. However, I really like the people in my classes and the material we are going to be covering, so that will make time go by more quickly!

 For the rest of Christmas Break, I read a total of nine books, only five for school though! I was still a bit restless, but I guess it is nice to sometimes just be able to relax.

So many things are planned for the semester in all of my organizations! We had our first Student Government meeting last night, and I think we are going to be able to start some pretty awesome things for McKendree this semester! I can’t believe it, but I am going to be in Jamaica in less than two months from today! We had our first class meeting yesterday, and I think it is going to be an overall amazing experience! In April, I will be going to Chicago for the Shakespeare Trip sponsored by the Literary Interest Society. I will hopefully be attending a conference for Sigma Tau Delta. My acceptance for my paper is still pending, fingers crossed! For Young Feminists, we have our annual performance of The Vagina Monologues coming up as well as a Brown Bag for Women’s History Month in March. For Kappa Sigma Tau, Greek Week is next week! The biannual week long event of Greek Rush! We are hoping for a large pledge class! Next week, I start working in the Writing Resource Center again. I hope students will actually utilize the services!

Goals for the semester? To NOT be so dependent on my cell phone and to earn another 4.0! I think the harder of the two is going to be the cell phone actually. I’m going to try my best though!

Hello! Merry Christmas!

Christmas break is finding me well, though I am starting to become a bit restless. I worked a lot last week, but this week and next week are going to be kinda slow. That’s okay though, I can find other things to do!  It’s been really nice to catch up with old friends from home. I didn’t realize how much I missed all of them until I actually saw them. This break has also been an excellent time to see people in general! Doing school work all the time tends to cut down on social time… I love being able to stay up late—without the regretful tiredness or risk of falling asleep in class. There’s something calming knowing that at one or two o’clock in the afternoon on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday; I don’t have to be sitting in class!

Grades came in! I was not exaggerating when I said that I would be very anxious to know. I checked everyday, multiple times a day! A couple of my professors waited until the last day to post grades (which almost killed some of my classmates and I), but the wait was well worth it! I did the best I have ever done in college so far; I earned a 4.0! I made it onto the President’s List. I know that grades may not be a huge thing for some people, but I made earning a 4.0 a short-term goal for myself, and I certainly felt amazing when I achieved it.

Time had been such a luxury! My reading catch-up has been awesome! I have already read three novels and will finish a fourth in the next couple of days. Two of the novels have been for next semester, and two have not. Though sometimes assigned books can be a drag to read, that has certainly not been the case for Toni Morrison’s novels! I have over two weeks left and many books still coming in the mail—and sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read! I’ll find something to do with all my time! J

I also found out some other good news within the past week! I will be presenting a paper of mine at a conference in the end of March! One of those papers I wrote for a class will serve a dual purpose! I will have fifteen minutes to present my paper on a panel of four other undergraduate students. Luckily, the conference is being held in St. Louis, so basically no expenses! All I needed to do to be accepted was to write an abstract, but now I need to finish editing and perfecting the paper. Oops. It will get done though!

Today was Christmas! My favorite Christmas tradition is volunteering at the Bishop’s Annual Christmas Dinner. Again, every year on Christmas, the Diocese of Belleville hosts a brunch essentially for those people who do not have family to spend the holiday with or those who do not have the finances to provide one for themselves. My mom, my sister, and I were part of the hospitality group this year. Last year, we helped get drinks, food, and just generally check on our table guests, but I think we had more fun this year. When Santa Claus comes to visit the children in attendance and give them each a gift, they all receive a Polaroid picture to remember the event. My sister was the photographer, and I was the helper! We were able to capture that happy moment on each child’s face when they received their Christmas gift! It was absolutely so touching. Some of these kids do not have the opportunity to receive gifts at home, so being able to share the “opening gifts on Christmas morning” moment with these children was amazing. I love going; it is what Christmas is all about! This year was our fourth year going, and I definitely know that next year will be the fifth!

I hope break is going well for everyone, too!

I’m free!!! I finished up finals yesterday and am now officially on Christmas Break! I took three written finals and had to turn in 7 papers within the last week, talk about some homework. None of my finals were cumulative, so that was a relief. Some of those papers were tough ones, though. The moment I turned in my final paper yesterday, I felt an instant relief from stress! Though the finals are over, the anticipation begins. Professors do not have to submit grades to WebAdvisor until next Thursday, that’s a whole week of waiting! Not cool. I’m one of those people who like to know their grades, so this week is going to be very long!

I am moving back to my house today, so I have packed everything up at my apartment. I made a conscious effort this year to not bring home everything I brought with me back in August. I went through everything and am only bringing what I need! It sure saved some time when I packed up my car!

During break, I plan on actually having time to do thing that are NOT school related. I do plan on reading ahead for a couple of my classes, though. I am taking many English classes, so that translates into piles and piles of reading! I’m not going to read only for school, however; I have about 15 books that I have bought or received as presents and have yet to read! Non-school related planned activities do include spending time with my friends, doing arts and crafts, working, and relaxing. I am going to be working a lot, but that’s okay. I would love the extra money! Since I have not been able to work during the school year much, I have not been able to buy anything for myself, so Merry Christmas to me!

Christmas is coming up in only two weeks! I have yet to start any of my Christmas shopping! Oops! I have been way to busy trying to finish up this semester! Christmas at my house is typically a very small gathering. We tend to stay at home and celebrate. One of my favorite Christmas traditions that we do, though, is going to Althoff Catholic High School and helping with the Diocese Christmas Dinner. Every year on Christmas, the Diocese of Belleville hosts a brunch essentially for those people who do not have family to spend the holiday with or those who do not have the finances to provide one for themselves. I love going it is what Christmas is all about! I think it is the best way to spend our Christmas Day! I don’t know what I am going to do for New Year’s, but I am looking forward to another big event during break. My 21st Birthday is on the 5th of January! I’m pretty excited, but I have to wait a couple months for all my other friends to turn 21 to really celebrate! At least I will be able to celebrate with all of them!

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday break!

                Thanksgiving Break! Finally! Today, I have four classes between me and freedom.  I have my first introductory type meeting for Jamaica today to talk about general information about the trip and fundraising ideas to start for next semester. The trip is finally coming into reality! Then tonight, I have two meetings: Student Government and Kappa Sigma Tau, so my school week should wrap-up well! I know many people on campus plan to leave immediately after their classes either today or tomorrow so they can spend more time with their families. I’m going to head to my house probably on Wednesday then come back sometime over the weekend. The big event for this weekend? Black Friday Shopping! It’s not really about saving loads of money, I love going and seeing how crazy people get about saving five dollars on a toaster. I can’t be too harsh though, I have my eye on a few DVDs from Target!

         I submitted my first paper to my first conference last week. I’m really nervous as to whether the committee will accept it or not, but I’m trying to resolve myself into thinking if it doesn’t get accepted this time, it will next time. For the conference, I used a paper I wrote for a class last spring. The best thing about conferences like this is that you really do not need to completely write a new paper. The entire purpose of writing papers in classes is to help you in the long run! I know a couple of papers I have written/or will write for this semester could possibly future conference options!

        My sister comes home on Thursday from her Army advanced individual training and I am so excited to see her since I haven’t seen her since August! I saw her in August, but she hasn’t been home since the end of May!

         I love having a break, but I know I need to write four papers sometime this week and actually start compiling everything to begin studying for finals. After today, I only have three more of my MWF classes and my two night classes once more. Crazy.  Finals shouldn’t be too bad; I have three actual finals and three final paper type finals.  All my classes have pretty much been wrapping up, so there haven’t really been any surprises. We know what we have to do before the end of class and it’s just a matter of getting it done!

         I have a list of books I want to read during Christmas Break and I am really excited to have the time to do so! It seems like over the semester, I have heard of a book I want to read or have suggested to me, so I add them to my book list, but there are so many now that I will not have the time to read so many in only a month’s time! I also wanted to read some books I will have to read for some classes next semester just to get a head start, so my “fun read” books may get pushed back until summer!  The only thing I have to remember is that this semester isn’t over yet!

      The sun is finally shining! It has been absolutely beautiful outside the last few days! The temperatures have also been unseasonably warm. I think that is soon going to change though. Sad, but I am looking forward to the snow, and I have a winter birthday!

     I met with my advisor last week and I figured out that the class schedule I was so sure about will not work out. So, my new schedule includes four 300 level English classes, a Sociology practicum class for the Jamaica trip, and my Spanish 4 class! The best thing about my schedule is that I once again do not have any Tuesday/Thursday classes. However, they will be known as my catch-up on reading days. I don’t think it’s going to be too bad; good thing I like English! I will be taking Shakespeare’s Comedies and Histories, Victorian Literature, Twentieth Century British Literature, and Major Authors: Toni Morrison. I will also have two professors I have never taken before, so that’s always a learning experience because every professor has a different teaching style and expectations of his/her students.

      This week is Hunger and Homelessness week at McKendree. The Center for Public Service puts on the week long line of events to raise awareness and prevention of the growing homelessness situation in the United States. I attended the Brown Bag this week featuring a speaker from the St. Patrick’s Center in St. Louis, assistance to those people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless with various programs and initiatives to get those people back to stable, independent lives. Throughout the entire week, they hosted events for students to have the opportunities to simulate actually spending the night outside as well as many volunteer opportunities to help those who are hungry or homeless.

     Though I had to go see McKendree’s fall production for a class, I thought the play was really well performed! The play for this year was Love’s Labor’s Lost by William Shakespeare. The most interesting aspect, besides the play itself, was the fact that the director decided to set the play as modern day instead of the play’s intended era of the 16th century. The language of the play still held its original accuracy, but the characters wore modern clothing. When I went to the Brown Bag, the director said that it was to show the relevance of the play’s plot as still applicable in present-day life.

     Thanksgiving is only two weeks away which means finals are just around the corner and final projects and papers are starting to pop up everywhere! It’s hard to celebrate Thanksgiving with finals and piles of homework daunting you. I can’t complain though; we get a five day weekend!

     I earned A’s on both the tests I was worried about last time! I was pretty excited, but I know there is still four weeks left until the professors turn in the final grade. Classes in general are going well. In Nature of Language, we are learning about word choice in the form of choosing or not choosing nonsexist language, slang terms, and bias words among other choices. In Ethnic Lit, we just finished reading a book that was a conversation-style narrative that intertwined Spanish words or phrases with English. It was a sad, but very powerful book. After we finished reading Love’s Labor’s Lost in Medieval and Renaissance Lit, we started reading an essay by Castiglione named The Courtier. What I did not understand at first was that it is a sort of “self-help” book for those people who wanted to be a member of a person in the nobility’s court. It’s like the “keys to success” type narrative. Then in Ethics this week, we finally finished studying the very abstract types of philosophies and way to live your type things and have moved onto current issues. Last week, we studied animal rights and vegetarianism, and I think we are going to talk about abortion and cloning next week.

     It’s that time of the semester, time to start thinking about classes for next semester! My planned schedule so far a.k.a. my pre-advisement schedule looks like three English classes, two Sociology classes, and a Spanish class! First semester ever without general education classes! However, it is three 300 level classes with three 200 level classes… I miss the 100 level classes.   I have to meet with my advisor yet to make sure the schedule works though.

      This month has been ridiculously rainy! I hate the rain and the gloomy weather. I like to be able to wake up in the morning to a nice, bright, sunny day, but I can’t. It’s truly saddening. On a happier note, the rain is not hindering anything from continuing on campus! Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen a number of organizations trying to fundraiser for events they want to host or places they want to go this year. I know for myself, I have helped with two bake sales and two T-shirt fundraisers over the past month alone, but I know it is all to benefit me in the long run!

     On Wednesday, I was able to attend the Brown Bag, presented by Dr. Collins and Dr. Patterson. The topic of the day was their semester long collaboration with their honors class and East St. Louis High School. They showed us the plight of this once great city and its efforts to slowly, but surely flourish again. I found it especially interesting because of my summer experience there between my freshman and sophomore year. I had the opportunity through McKendree’s education program to participate in the Inner City Practicum as a teacher’s aide in a 5^th grade summer school class with a cooperating teacher. Everyday, I would drive through the city and see the remains of what used to be. Before this experience though, I never realized that East St. Louis is not what it used to be, and especially after the Brown Bag, I had never heard the story from the perspective of someone who never left the city, no matter the struggles they faced.

     Join McKendree University’s Facebook and Twitter pages! The Facebook one is McKendree University and the Twitter link is @McKendreeU. Today, two other students and I will be inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta honor society for English. I’m pretty excited because it is the first professional membership I have! Halloween is on Saturday, but the Inter Greek Council’s annual Boo Bash costume party will be tonight. Saturday will also be the Bearcat football team’s last home regular season game! Right now, they are on a seven game winning streak!

      Classes are going well; I earned an A on the midterm I mentioned last time! I was pretty excited. On Monday, I had two tests in two different classes, in Medieval and Renaissance literature and Ethics. I definitely feel better about one test than I do the other! I’m hoping for the best. With the test in Medieval, we are officially done reading The Canterbury Tales. I’m kinda sad though, I actually liked it! We have moved onto William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, also known as the play the Theater department is putting on next weekend. We have only read a couple acts, but we shall be done reading before we need to go see the play!

        From weeks of planning and organizing to the morning of October 15th, it all seemed to kick in that we were finally going to the Rally. The rally, hosted by saveillinoismapgrants.org, was an initiative to make state legislators see the urgency and the need to restore the Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant funding that was eliminated from the state budget for the Spring semester for nearly 137,000 students across the state. For the last month, we had been preparing for this day through petition-signing, letter-writing, and various other ways. Four buses filled with McKendree students, faculty, and staff departed from McKendree’s campus to Illinois’ state capitol. On the way up there, we discussed talking points and tried to get a feel for what we were going to do once we got there as well as have fun!

          When getting off the bus, all I could see was a sea of students heading to the student-led rally a block away from the capitol. Once we made sure everyone had what they needed, we all headed down there as well. I was shocked to see so many students squeezing in underneath a tent. In the front of the tent, student representatives from every school present went up to speak about testimonials, their school’s initiatives, or simply to show their support to students who do depend on the map grant. McKendree’s representative and SGA President, Braden Posey, spoke for McKendree to tell all the other students to not give up the fight and to urge legislators to do what they can to restore the budget for the coming Spring semester as well as the 2010-2011 school year’s budget. While we were there, the St. Louis based KSDK (NBC affiliate) found us and ended up interviewing Braden about the student led rally. A clip of Braden and other McK students even made it on the 6 and 10 o’clock news! McKendree was definitely a large presence at the capitol, from our purple and white posters that read ‘INVEST IN OUR FUTURE’ to our bouncing mascot Bogey jumping around everywhere.

          After the rally, we all headed down to the offices of the legislators which were in separate buildings and separate floors from each other. Several small groups of students headed to meet with either their district’s senator or representative. So if many people are from the same area, they went as a group together to meet with either him/her. I was the group leader for the group who went to see Senator Kyle McCarter. Because my permanent address is local as many McKendree students’ are, there was a fairly large group of McK students who wanted to see him alongside me. When it was time for our appointment, his secretary was stunned to see such a large group of people all from the same school. The senator arrived ten minutes and actually had to meet with us out in the hallway because our group was so large! The main purpose of the appointments with the legislators was to show them that we care and we are affected by the budget cut. All actions have a ripple effect and all the students present on Thursday definitely showed everyone at the capitol that every single student who does or does not have the MAP grant are affected by the decision.

         If anything, this kind of standing up for what you believe in and fighting for your cause type thing is what college students of the 1960s and 1970s always had the chance to do. Though I wish we didn’t have to fight, this opportunity to be a social activist has been an amazing experience! Just seeing how many students at McKendree and across the state showed me that even in the 2000s, college students will never back down.

        Nothing is better than a cancelled class besides a whole day off! Today is what McKendree considers Fall Break which translates into a three-day weekend! Many people decided to take this three-day weekend to go home and visit their families; therefore the campus seems almost empty! I decided to stay and have not regretted my decision yet! All day, I felt very odd to be sleeping, doing homework, or running errands while I would be in class any other Friday. I’m definitely not complaining though! Homecoming is already next week! It always seems to creep up on us quickly in the semester, but then again the semester is almost half way done already!
         Fall is really starting to show now! It is getting colder outside, the bright side though is that the campus is starting to look beautiful with all the color-changing leaves. Midterms are also coming up, though; I only have one official midterm, so that’s a relief! Class has certainly been interesting the last couple of weeks. In Ethnic Literature, we just finished reading a book called Jasmine and watching the movie Mississippi Masala. Both pieces exposed the cultural differences and the idea of acceptance of diverse cultures in American life. Since living in the Midwest all my life, I have never really learned about other cultures. Therefore, it’s actually been quite a learning experience for me. Through this class, I now really want to add an Ethnic Studies minor before I graduate. Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales has been the topic of discussion in my Medieval/Renaissance class. In the first part of the class, we read the epic poem, Beowulf. Even though the poem is originally written in Old English, our book’s translation of the poem is in present-day English. Therefore, it was pretty easy to read. Chaucer’s Middle English is a bit more difficult though because our book left his tale in the original form. It is close to present-day English, but I have to look-up some words on the internet for proper translation! However, I do feel like I have accomplished something when I can identify a Middle English word without having to look in the dictionary.
         With the MAP grant issues I talked about last time, over 1000 students, faculty, and staff signed the petitions asking Illinois legislators to invest in our future by finding funding to restore the MAP grants statewide. Over 250 members of the McKendree community have decided to travel to Springfield this Thursday to have our voices heard by our lawmakers!
Tomorrow is another Preview Day! I love giving tours, so it should be fun. We’ll be wearing our new Student Ambassadors shirts, so we’ll look extra awesome! Student Government has been busy through the past month helping with the Harvest Challenge and the MAP grant issue. My big project this week was to update our website to include all the new senators and update the information for the returning ones. I am happy to report that it is almost complete! This month, I will be inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta, the international honor society for English. I’m really excited because this means I have the opportunity to submit a piece of my original work at the annual conference this March! The deadline for entry is in the middle of November, so I have to figure out which one of my papers I want to submit!
          I saw a volleyball game finally! My former roommate from McKendree West came up to campus to accompany me while we watched our other former roommate play amazingly and of course, win!

    It has certainly been a busy couple of weeks at McKendree! Within the last two weeks, I have had my first three tests, so lots and lots of studying found its way into my schedule recently. I’m hoping my studying paid off! I am definitely looking forward to Fall Break in two weeks!
    In the past couple of weeks, a majority of the McKendree community is making a great effort to encourage Illinois legislators to restore MAP grant funding. This week, many students and faculty/staff signed petitions, wrote or called legislators, or signed up to go to the student led rally on October 15th in Springfield. I’m hoping all the efforts from McKendree students and all students statewide is enough to restore the funding!
    Campus activities have certainly kept me busy as well! On the first Preview Day for Student Ambassadors, I showed around two prospective students and their families around campus. It had been awhile since I have given a tour, but all the information came back to me as soon as we started to walk around campus! The next one is only a couple weeks away! Student Government has been hard at work working on resolutions, granting budget requests, and thinking of ways to improve McKendree. A major project right now is the MAP and Me presentation we are presenting to concerned MAP grant students on Tuesday. We hope to inform everyone about what is going on, as well as, prepare them for the Student Rally on October 15th. As for recent Brown Bags, I did end up going to the one about Jamaica, and applied to go to the trip. Hopefully I am chosen to go! Presenting at this week’s Brown Bag will be a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Maria Karagianis. She will actually be speaking to several classes all week, as well as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series on Wednesday night. I have night class on Wednesdays, so I plan to hear her at noon during the Brown Bag Wednesday!
    Yesterday was an overall good day! In the morning, I ran my first 5K in the McKendree Harvest Challenge! I’ve participated in organized runs before like the Race for the Cure in St. Louis, but the groups that I always go with just walk the entire way. This time, however, I ran the entire time, thanks to a couple of months of training! It was awesome to see so many people participating! Along with many other people, some faculty/staff and students decided to either walk or run as well. Since the path overlapped around the park, it allowed everyone to cheer for each other in passing. I know that is definitely one of the things that kept me going, encouragement from other participants and all the volunteers. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers of the race, it wouldn’t have been possible with all your hard work!
    After the race, I met with my book club for lunch and discussion. The members of the club, ironically, comprise of five 2009 graduates from McKendree who were either English majors or choose English as their emphasis in the Education program. All the girls went their separate ways in terms of careers, but still wanted an opportunity to see their former classmates from McK. I’m not really sure how I got involved in it, but I love it. They are all able to give me great advice and tips for class and homework because they have all been through it, just a couple years before me. We choose a book every month in the group, but I think we socialize more than we discuss the book.
    After book club, I went to the McKendree football night game against St. Ambrose. That was the second McKendree football game I have been to this year. Both games resulted in wins for the Bearcats! Though I like football, I still need to make it to a volleyball game to watch them win!

     A short week! What a relief! Only four days of classes this week, well only two for me because of my amazing MWF schedule. Though I did make up for it with extra reading over the weekend, so it felt like I had class on Monday because I did homework all day! Though, when I went to class on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to have free fruit from the Wonders of Wellness organization on campus that was supporting the national campaign to encourage people to eat more fruits and veggies. I believe free food, especially healthy alternatives, always makes people’s days better, so thanks!
     Many of the organizations and campus events are starting to kick-off for the school year. I know this week alone, I have had three “first of the year” meetings in various organizations with which I am involved. Though we had a meeting last week for Student Government, this week was our first official meeting, starting with a budget request from various student organizations. In Student Ambassadors, we welcomed all of our new ambassadors, and are beginning to prepare to welcome prospective students on campus throughout the year; the first Preview Day is actually on Saturday! The last of the meetings this week will actually happen today, the Literary Interest Society. With this organization, I had the opportunity last year to spend a weekend in Chicago and see the Shakespeare play, Twelfth Night. I’m hoping for a great turn out today so we can think of fun events to attend or host for the year!
     As for campus events, the Teach Me Tuesdays and Brown Bags series have started as well. I wasn’t able to make it to the Brown bag this week, but I definitely will go next week because it will be about the past year’s Alternative Spring Break trip to Jamaica as well as an informational meeting about this year’s trip. The Teach Me Tuesday this week focused on the initial suggested steps to applying and preparing to apply to grad school. Even though I am only a junior this year, I found it very helpful because of the preemptive steps I can take now that can better prepare me for when I do apply next year. Some of the upcoming Teach Me Tuesdays will focus on grad school, so I hope to attend those as well. All the fall sports have also started up with practices and some have started their games already. I haven’t made it to any of the McKendree sporting events yet, but I know I at least want to go see my friend play some volleyball this year.
     The homework load this semester is not too bad, just a Blackboard posting or short paper here or there. I probably could get more homework done, but talking to my friends or getting on Facebook is so much more appealing than learning about the origin of language or moral relativism, no offense to my professors of course. However, this is usually the point in my day that I know I have to turn off my computer if I want to go to bed at a reasonable hour.
     McK West apartment life is going well, I like being able to study or do homework with one of my classmates and only have to walk across the parking lot to do so. My roommates and I finally started to decorate the apartment, so it is really starting to feel like home! As for my cooking though, it’s not happening very much. The extent of my cooking so far is stir-frying vegetables. I don’t see much hope for expansion, but it gives me an excuse to go home and eat a home cooked meal, courtesy of my mother. With laundry, it isn’t exactly the highlight of my day, but I do get some homework done when I am waiting for it to finish.