My First 2 Days of Classes in Review

I think that this semester is going to be very hectic and very enjoyable and I feel that it will be the first semester to go out on before graduation in May. I am starting to feel that anxiety that many graduates feel. What am I going to do when that diploma is handed to me? Baby steps, I keep telling myself.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I have Andrew Najberg's Creative Writing 270 which I initially took back at Tennessee Tech. I can't take this course for credit so I am auditing it. I am glad the he is including me in with all the other students. In a way, I feel like I did the first time I took a creative writing course. That whole sense of vulnerability, wondering in those in attendance will think your writing is just as grand as you do. The fragile egos, including my own. I think it's going to be great. My goal for this course is to help me realize why I fell in writing in the first place. It's sort of a getting back to basics. Andrew is very laid back but he has one of those quiet strengths about him. Since he is teaching fiction, I wanted to take him so that I can add him to the long list of creative writing professors I have had at UTC, which includes Rebecca Cook, Earl Braggs, Thomas Balazs, Sybil Baker, and the late Ken Smith (who was my first official Fiction professor).

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have Spanish 214 with Regina Ragon. I like this class because of my friends in there. Grace is in there and so is Whitney and Kyle. Mark's in there too and my goal for this semester is to not let him get to me. I realize that a lot of the things he says is because of his insecurities. I try not to take the things that he say personal anymore. Emphasis on the try.

I'm taking Michelle White's History of Modern Britain course because frankly she is the best history professor I have had since high school. Not to betray my sex but I feel that women make better history professors because history in itself is His Story so basically I feel that women tend to take a more unbiased approached to teaching it. She is absolutely phenomenal and she remembered me from her History of England course in Fall of 2007. She even remembered the research paper I wrote on Bloody Mary which gave me the warm and fuzzies. I worked really hard on that history paper and not only did I get the grade but I was her favorite paper that semester. Maybe I can do it again.

Sybil Baker is heading the course for the Sequoya Review which is exciting. There are a lot of people on staff and this year I feel that things will be better for the Sequoya Review as far as the content that goes inside. While I am glad that I did get published, as did several of my friends, I do feel that some true talent was overlooked last year. Funny thing is, when I walked into the classroom today, low and behold there was the person that beat me for a job interview. Honestly, I knew I was all wrong for the job but when the interviewer keeps reminding you that there is another applicant and she keeps reminding you how much she and that applicant have in common, it really isn't a pleasant experience. I knew walking out of that interview that I didn't get the job - which is fine.

Last of today was Thomas Balazs's Screenwriting and Playwrighting course. It's gonna be crazy hectic but fun nevertheless. Plus Ebony and Ebony (no Ivory ... yet, we're taking applications), aka me and my boy Jeremy, have been reunited this semester. He and I have taken Rebecca Cook's Nonfiction course three consecutive semesters and last semester he didn't take it. Kristen's in the class with me, too. So is Brandon and Rachel and Robert from UTC Author's Society. Today Dr. Balazs was going over the syllabus and when he came to the section on plagarism, he made a jab at Robert. It was funny but only Brandon, Rachel, and I got it.

Overall I am excited about this semester. It's gonna be long and difficult but I will manage, I will get through it and I will have stellar grades and hopefully a diploma.