Dear Gentle Reader,
I wrote an article just like this one a year ago, and it felt like the perfect way to reflect on my first year amid all the final essays, projects and exams. The end of the Winter semester in university comes at you very harshly, a season never the same twice, and the weather, in typical Windsor fashion, is unpredictable. There is not a designated last day for everyone, and you are receiving lectures up until the last second. Oh, how I miss those last days, movie nights and popsicles. My Second year was even faster than the first, but it was oh so fruitful!
I was able to take less introductory courses and narrow my interests but let me tell you, Communications and Media classes are the crux of our modern society, and if you see a upper level course you want to take but don’t have a prerequisite, try to email the professor, and you might end up taking a hybrid literature and sociology course. When I enrolled in “Introduction to Greek Civilization”, I thought I was going to learn about Persephone, not the dense political tyrant Perilaus. I tried a topics class, “Gender and Literature” where I encountered the loveliest English professor and learned about more women poets than ever before, and all sorts; Canadian, queer, Indigenous, lesser-known women who lifted belly and led unconventional writerly lives, convincing me that I could too.
Admittedly, what is scary is knowing I have completed 50% of my degree. Already. There are times when I believe I have not learned a single thing, but then again, there are spots of time I recollect in tranquility, like one time when I sat with “Ribbon Girl” to rewatch an episode of Dickinson, a TV show anachronistically depicting American poet Emily Dickinson’s life. One of her poems, “Sue Forevermore!” appeared in the episode, and just a few years ago, I didn’t understand it, but this time around, I picked it apart, understood her conventions and what her imagery alluded to. Now, that may not seem like much, but I know little me would be amazed at how well I can internalize and perceive art and poetry. Other moments that I know my studies are firing synapses in my brain is when I am studying with my friends, reading off Quizlet cards, and we are miraculously able to bridge connections and create our readings through critical thinking and applying concepts to make something completely our own….or maybe it is already in a published scholarly article…but isn’t that the beauty of literature, the shared coffee talk?
A new thing I experienced this year was a full-year course. Second year was the year I could start to hone my writing with other writers taught under a professor. I had learned more than I ever had for my writing and developed a technique that fit within the voice I always carried within. And realized at the end of the year that I was finally learning the rules to break them, and I could decide what “To Be” verbs to keep.
At the end of the fall semester, our professor told us that we were going to compile our poetry into a chapbook and publish it, and she asked me to be the manager for it! I had never taken on a role editing, planning, and scheduling a project before, and it was a learning curve that I can add to my CV (which I still have not started writing). I could not have done it without the later appointed “co-managing editor Ribbon Girl” and encouragement from all my classmates. Once we published our chapbook, we planned to sell it and give a public reading at a Creative Writing gala joined by professors and others in UWindsor Creative Writing courses.
Our chapbook was titled Arrhythmia…to highlight the irregularity of the love poems, as we were not allowed to use pronouns or abstract concepts. My classmates and I also decided to incorporate an out-of-context section, penciling in things we said in the course that would be fully inappropriate or ridiculous “out of context” of the workshops we’d have. This speaks to the way that these full-year creative courses build a community where we knock on wood to show we agree on something (a habit that permenates your everyday life), but more seriously, a place where we get to know our most vulnerable art intimately, and grow with eachother – an experience I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to have in university.
In fact, this is how I met my new friend, “Substack Celebrity”. She is a fellow writer and poet. From the first poem “Ribbon Girl” and I read written by her, we knew we wanted to be her friend, and lo and behold! We all spoke after our second workshop and told her so—and she admitted she took both of our poems and put them into her diary—and the poem she chose is actually now published in a literary magazine, Gently Mad, on page 63. That is another thing “Substack Celebrity” encourages: submitting my work to literary journals. So, I started to explore what kind of opportunities there were to do so—there were online literary journals, some printed and pressed magazines, and even ones sold in stores. Some you paid to submit to, and some pay you if/when your piece gets published (fingers crossed for me to hear back from one at the end of April). We all write together, edit each other’s work, and have a lot in common. When you meet like-minded individuals, don’t let them go; start a coterie.
The club that I joined last year, the English Undergraduate Student Association? I was part of the social media team this year. I also hosted a Valentine’s booth with “Ribbon Girl” called Blind Date with a Book where books are wrapped in plain paper with tropes or a teaser written on them in order not to judge a book by its cover. We were met with so much enthusiasm and amazement that the university had a ratified English club. I knew that it would be possible and important to pop popcorn and book a room to host a book-to-movie night or plan excursions and bonding events, just as many well-funded STEM clubs on campus do. The thought that my university education was 50% complete made me realize I wanted to do more: create connections, build friendships, and host events for chances for memories. To have fun, just for the fun of it. And if it was only made up of a couple of friends, that would be enough – I knew this because I hung out with my friends from the aforementioned Creative Writing course, and it was some of the most laughter I’d had all year.
Most of EUSA’s executive team was graduating, and I decided that I wanted to run for president (with “Ribbon Girl” as a co-president, though my campaign was alone, long story short). We needed to put it to a democratic election, and on the road to school, half-asleep on a Ramadan morning, I knew what my slogan would be. True to myself and my pop-culture personality, I ran a Chappell Roan-themed campaign. As Roan says to her huge crowds, I’m your favourite artist’s favourite artist, and I decided I’d be your favourite candidate’s favourite candidate.
I knew I would still be happy regardless of the outcome just because I’d have a tangible memory of these posters, this campaign, and all the fun “Substack Celebrity”, “Ribbon Girl” and I had when we designed posters, and then put them up around the school with “Red Wine Superpoet”. I was able to celebrate because of the power vested in Chappell and all the wonderful people who voted for me and/or told me stories about how they campaigned for me (without me asking). I won with a 78% majority! I got the news when “Ribbon Girl” and I were hosting EUSA’s first open house:
I never thought I would ever want to lead a group in university, but here I am, and I am so excited for what Third year has to offer.
Before I sign off for another year, I wanted to share a couple of rapid-fire things I did, bouncing off ideas for you… I adopted a Calico Critter and placed it in the corner of my laptop while I studied; I did a thousand in-car lessons; I asked if there were positions available when I wanted to do research with a professor; I am in the process of emailing one of my professors BIPOC suggestions for her Fall course since she was open to adding to her syllabus; if something in academia doesn’t sit right with me – like why Aladdin is not considered a fairytale – I will write an essay about it. I went to a gala—my first one and I knew that if I had a solid group of friends, I could get dressed up, and the least that they would have is a photo booth, where you get to keep pretty pictures forever, and I ended up having a blast. I found some GA/TAs are bitter about something or other and mark your essays a million times worse than an English professor with a PhD would. I explored what kind of study abroad opportunities there are and how I could be a part of them (Belgium, here I come!). I made a schedule where I had large gaps, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve made. I used the time to study in the library, go to cafés, watch movies, and take notice that the fun things in the city were quiet on these odd weekdays, making everything more comfortable. Most of the time, 6 hours was not enough space to be on time for my next class, and that was okay because the true memories usually lie in a sandy, cork-sealed bottle, not in a stuffy lecture hall.
My second year of university allowed me to broaden and narrow my interests, hone in on my writing and poetry in a formal setting for the first time, allowed me to make new friends, make connections, get involved in the campus community, and feel comfortable with myself and what I am here to do, earth or otherwise.