SRTE's

I completed my SRTE's! Thanks for everything this semester!

Love,

Kristen Kempinski

The Final Prompt

         Well first off, I cannot believe that my first semester of my freshman year is over!!! And I survived J Over the past 15 weeks I’ve learned a lot about creating and supporting arguments and also about the Penn State arts community.

         Looking back at my approach to writing before this class, I never really thought much about making an argument in my work. This is not to say I didn’t write for a purpose. It’s just that I never thought of the word argument and purpose as synonyms. One of the greatest lessons I have learned about writing this semester was that everything truly is an argument (not to be cliché or quote the title of our textbook). I do not mean that everything requires yelling and disagreeing on things, but rather, all things are made to persuade you to look at it a certain way. Now that I understand this better, I think it has greatly helped me in my writing.

         While writing was a very prominent part of this class, I found that learning about the arts at Penn State was really well incorporated as well. I did not really understand what “The Arts at Penn State” would mean in an English 15 seminar class, but I can say I am truly glad I chose this option. My journey began at the Palmer Museum, Penn State’s very own art museum. I had no idea that that place even existed and I was shocked at how many interesting pieces they had inside! I’m going to go on a tangent here, but I would have to say that my favorite journal entry was the response to the piece of art at the Palmer. With so many paintings, sculptures, and photographs to choose from, I was able to find a picture, Working Horse: Hauling, which evoked a lot of thoughts and emotions from me.

          After that visit, I realized that there was so much that I didn’t know about the arts at my school. Attending literary readings and library sessions and learning about “The Hemingway Letters Project” placed me out of my comfort zone of interests, but in a very good way. I was always about sports, popular events, and academics before arriving at Penn State. Never would I have thought to go to the Arboretum and walk around or listen to Dave Housely read comic short stories.

         Now that I have been exposed to the greater world of art on campus, around the country, and around the world, I am hoping to make an effort to continue to go and experience such things. With a little bit of effort and research on my part, I think I will be able to find events and places to go and develop my appreciation for art (and I’m not just saying this to suck up). I want to be an educated and well-balanced person in all aspects of the world so I hope to travel around the country and over to Europe to experience the art of other cultures as well. However, for now, I plan to take baby steps and take advantage of the opportunities that Penn State offers such as their plays, musicals, concerts, and readings. Maybe in the near future I will have the opportunity to study abroad, as well.

         Coming to college is about expanding my horizons, and because of English 15: The Arts at Penn State, I am able to do this.

         

Sheila's Reading

            Last Thursday we were honored with the presence of a very special reader – the one and only Mrs. Sheila Squillante. I must say that private literary readings are the very best kind from what I have experienced so far. It was a very intimate atmosphere within the classroom and I felt that, as a class, we were able to see how personal these readings were to our teacher.

            She began her readings with a lyric essay called Self-Portrait with Rollercoaster. Throughout the whole essay she used such detailed imagery that made her experiences very real. Also, I enjoyed this piece because of the way she related the rollercoasters to her life. It such a random thing, one would wonder how anyone could relate their life to it, but she did an excellent job of clearly portraying her purpose.

            Another one of my favorite readings was the Maui Poem that spoke about a specific moment of a family on vacation in Hawaii.  The narrator in the poem was very relatable to me as a reader. Her words were honest and real. Moments in life that stick in your head are fascinating things, and the happy message that “everyone is getting some” is just a funny twist to the piece. It was an experience I could easily see myself having as well.

            My third favorite poem of Sheila’s was her dream poem. First, she read it extremely fast and wrote it in a form of many run-on sentences and descriptions. I thought this was the perfect way to portray the poem because her reading fast paralleled the confusing and unpredictable stream of consciousness a dream can cause in one’s mind.

            I was truly thankful that Sheila gave up her time and shared her works with our class. When a teacher sacrifices class time to share personal works, I believe it makes a great impact on the students. Personally, I find it easy to admire them and I think it gives me incite into the work they do other than teaching. It makes them more real and credible in their field of work. 

Thoughts on the Penn State Scandal

           Overwhelmed. I cannot say it any other way right now. On Saturday in November I was sitting on my couch at home, away from school for the weekend, and my good family friend sitting in the chair next to me says, ”Did you hear about the allegations against one of the Penn State football coaches?” Confused and surprised, I responded that I hadn’t heard anything. At the time I did not realize that I would be returning to a whirlwind of chaos and the national limelight when I arrived back at Penn Sate. From Monday to Thursday I saw the headlines of national television become littered with my school’s name and the news vans seemed to multiply by the tens.

            Tuesday night of that week, thousands of kids ran to Old Main to rally. Rally for what? I could not tell you. Tuesday night turned into Wednesday, a major climax of the situation, because at 10 pm, idol and football coach Joe Paterno was fired. This time there wasn’t a rally, but a riot. As destruction, anger, and pain swirled like a tornado around campus, our reputation began to spiral downward. Text messages and emails began to pour in from friends and family asking about the not so Happy Valley. They kept asking me, “How are you? Are you safe? What’s going on up there?”. As I tried to respond to these questions, it hit me – How the hell was I supposed to know how I felt or what was truly going on up here?!

            So I played a zombie that week, following my normal routine but nowhere near conscious of what I was doing. I though Dave Housely said it perfectly. “We are emotional, angry, sad, confused. Not necessarily in that order. Or, the order is changing on a day to day basis, as new facts come to light and tough decisions finally get made…” I couldn’t talk to people about the issue because all of my thoughts and opinions would get jumbled together and even sometimes contradict them. I know that may not make sense, but the whole thing didn’t make sense to me! How could Penn Sate, with a shining reputation, be completely tarnished within days? I hated hearing the remarks from people on Facebook like “it’s a great day not to be a Penn Sate student” and others. “How dare they?” I thought. I loved my school and I was proud of it…at least I had been. The actions of the students at the riot embarrassed me. I think a lot of people lost sight of what was important in this situation. It wasn’t about football (don’t get me wrong, I love Penn State football). This whole thing was about the innocence of children harmed and destroyed -- One of the sickest crimes committed.

            Now as I think about it, I have so many feelings and opinions on the whole situations. I’m mad at all of the authority figures involved in the situation. They brought a great institution down because of their own selfish actions. On the other hand I’m angry and embarrassed of the students who made this about JoePa rather than the victims and the cruel actions of Sandusky. However, I’m proud of the other students who tried to turn Penn State around quickly by organizing the Blue Out and raise money for victims of child abuse and the candlelight vigil. Those things are the reason I love Penn State and they are the reasons I still have pride for my school.

            Now that I have had time to digest the situation it is clear that Penn State will have to slowly rebuild its trust and reputation again. I agree with Dave Housely’s view that for now things will remain unknown, which can be very terrifying as a student, faculty, or resident. My heart goes out to every victim of child abuse, and I hope that Penn State continues to stand together to support victims and rebuild the reputation.  

Kiss Me Kate!

             From the time I was in grade school through today, I have attended several live theatre performances.  My family and I used to make it a special night out, where we would go out to dinner and then go see a show at the small theater company called The People’s Light and Theater Company. These shows included The Jungle Book and Around the World in 80 Days. When I entered high school, I fell in love with our fall musical because of the superb performances that the Arts Program put on. Unfortunately, I could not attend the show Kiss Me Kate with the rest of the class, so I watched the film version instead.

            The musical-theater genre first caught my attention when I was in 6^th grade. We watched the movie of West Side Story and I was completely enchanted by the show. The various musical numbers like “I Feel Pretty” and “Tonight” stuck in my head for months and I loved how the story of the Jets and the Sharks was narrated by song. In addition, the dancing was like no performance I had ever seen. I would always become so easily mesmerized by the combination of song and dance that I would leave reality and enter into the story. As I got older I continued to find more musicals that caught my interest. I loved Rent for its soundtrack including “Seasons of Love” and “Light My Candle”. When I got to high school, the fall musical was always a very big deal, so I went to see it every year. My favorite performance of theirs was Jesus Christ Superstar because of its mix of 70’s rock with the Christian theme.

            Kiss Me, Kate did not measure up to my other favorites as well as I had hoped for. As each musical number came on I found myself waiting for it to be over and wanting to fast forward through the movie.  While the musicals I liked had more dramatic plots, Kiss Me Kate was more frivolous and comedic. Unfortunately, I found the humor hard to follow. I think my love for musicals has always been because of the music. Using catchy tunes and lyrics that narrate the story, I am pulled into the performance. In Kiss Me, Kate, I found it difficult to immerse myself into the story.

            I have never read Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, so I did not have a background on the story before. However, I did understand how they integrated the character, Kate, as the parallel to the Shrew when they call her a “shrewd” woman. While I cannot compare the Shakespeare literature and Kiss Me Kate, I can infer that the plot was well intertwined as Kate transforms from despising men to finally falling in love with her suitor, Bertuccio, which I would inquire as “the taming” part of the story.

            Although I was unable to attend the performance, I hope that I have another chance to experience the theater at Penn State. Live performances are always a completely different experience than watching a movie. While movies allow you to rewind and fast-forward, theater performances force the viewer to pay close attention to the plot while also using their own imagination to create the scene around them. My hope is that the theater performs one of my favorite musicals like West Side Story or Jesus Christ Superstar so I can hopefully enjoy the experience and be engaged. 

A Visit From Dave Housely

            “Am I in the right place?” I thought to myself as I opened the classroom door. I walked in Room 108 Chambers and sat down in one of the many empty seats. I had arrived early to make sure I had a seat but there was really no use because the room was empty. Silently, I sat and hoped that other people would show up. I didn’t want to be the only one there!

            This was my first time ever attending a “reading” before. Dave Housely was coming to Penn State to read some of his short stories and since Shelia said he was funny I thought this would be an enjoyable reading to attend outside of class.

            As I sat in the room people slowly stated to trickle in. I guess I was expecting a small stage or dark coffee house looking room where poets in berets get up and speak emotionally and everyone snaps their fingers when finished. This, however, was not the case at all. 

            First, Dave came in the room with his parents and friends and looked like any other guy. He was talking and laughing with them while trying to set up for his reading. I actually wasn’t even sure if he was the reader until he finally stood up in front of the room. Then he offered everyone a free copy of Barrelhouse, a literary book that he edits, which I thought was so. After about twenty to twenty-five people took seats in the classroom, Dave got ready to read.

            Unexpectedly, he was very engaging and talked to the audience very casually. For example, he asked us how we liked the lighting in the room and even asked us to name the “doucheiest male star” at the time so he could add him as a character in one of his stories. When he started reading I was surprised at how freely he spoke about sex, drugs, and cursing without awkward and cringing faces. I guess attending a Catholic school all my life really sheltered me from real life literary works. Although I did not understand the entire story, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Dave read. I felt that he had a dry sense of humor, which I always enjoy. He reminded me of a person who doesn’t realize how funny he or she actually is.

            After experiencing a literary reading, I cannot say I would go to listen to an author just for fun. Although now as I think about it, I might enjoy a reading by one of my favorite authors or someone I’m familiar with. I believe that being familiar with an author and his or her work helps one to be able to enjoy a reading experience more than with an unknown author.