Going Home: Thanksgiving Break

I had a lot to be thankful for this long weekend. Though I have debated whether or not I like that Transy closes campus over this break, I am glad I went home. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I live just 15-20 minutes from campus, but Transy certainly keeps you busy, and sometimes, though I live so close, it’s hard to find time to go home.

Mom, My Nephews and some glorious Batman coloring sheets.

I love my family, and we are fairly close. I’ve grown up my whole life going to weekly family dinners at my Grandmother’s house, frequenting birthday parties for cousins, aunts, great­-aunts! Family, needless to say will always remain a top priority in my life. Interestingly, though, since I have come to college, my relationship with my family has only gotten better, and many of my friends have seen the same result among their own families! I chalk it up to my growing independence and my families growing acceptance of it—I make my own decisions, and they have learned to respect them, which makes me respect them more in turn, and our relationship reaps the benefits of that pattern!

Granddaddy with half of the Thanksgiving spread (which quickly disappeared, mind you.)

It was nice to go home and hang out with my dog, go out to eat with my mom, drive around with my dad, color with my nephews, chat with my brother and sister-in-law, and best of all, chow down on Granny’s Thanksgiving Feast with everyone.

Daddy and my Sister-in-law

I even had time to read for pleasure, as I had finished all of my pertinent assignments prior to break. With such a reading and writing-heavy course load, my eyes cross the minute I sit down with a book I want to read just for fun, so this break allowed me to finish a book I had been meaning to read forever! If anyone hasn’t read The Stranger, by the way, you owe it to yourself to do so! It’s wicked sweet!

My Brother!

For 4 days, I showered without shoes; I burned incense in my room; I slept until 11; I ate home-cooked food; I did everything you can’t really do at school, but tonight it’s back to Transy and back to the grind—and finals are coming up, too! Good thing I restocked my tea supply! I’ll keep you posted!

The Whole Crew (minus myself, a cousin and a nephew) slightly peeved at me for interrupting their food intake! Happy Thanksgiving!

Why I'm one of the only people at Transy awake at 9:00am on Saturdays:

When you’re in college, it’s easy to get caught up in studies and campus life and lose sight of the greater community. During my first year of college, I volunteered here and there, but definitely not like I normally would; the transition into university life hit me hard and I became too wrapped up in trying to maintain my grades for my scholarship and developing new friendships. Not to say those things aren’t super important, but you have more free time in college than you may think, making it an optimal time to donate some of your talents to those in the community that need it.

Going through that rocky first year of college developed my time management skills, so this year I have been able to take on several new commitments, including regular community service. At the beginning of the year, I heard some of my sorority sisters talking about the fulfillment they got from becoming a weekly volunteer tutor at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, and I absolutely jumped at the opportunity! It combined two of my biggest passions—education and literacy. To think that I would get to teach a young student how to read and write, and how to actually enjoy it made my heart flutter, so I walked (yes! It’s within walking distance!) right over to the Carnegie Center, signed some papers, went through a 30 minute talk/training/building tour and waited eagerly for my background check to go through. About three weeks later, after the arrival of my background check, the Volunteer Coordinator contacted me with the name of my student and said that I could start that Saturday!

While it’s sometimes hard to roll myself out of bed at 9:00am every Saturday morning, hearing my student say “Can we do that again next week?” or “I had fun,” or best of all “I GET IT NOW!” would make me consider getting up at even 6:00am—no, 5:00am—and staying forever!

In college, there are exciting dance parties, there are invigorating plays, there are action-packed sporting events, but knowing that I sacrifice a little of my free time to make just a small difference in this kid’s life and learning ability in a measly little hour is one of the highlights of my week every week, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Sickness and Artistic Enlightenment

Hello there! This week has taken its toll on me. I developed some mutant sickness last weekend that caused my throat to swell and feel as though someone had run razor blades repeatedly across my tonsils (not strep OR mono…thus mutant sickness). Since I have involved myself in so much here, though, I hardly had a moment to rest, which is probably why I woke up sick again on Friday after a day or two of feeling better. It’s tough around season changes at a small college—once one person gets sick, you can see it coming. I often call my dorm building a petri dish around this time because the sickness spreads so quickly (though, that’s probably just dorm life in general, no matter where you go). Luckily, our amazing campus nurse hooked me up with some wondrous throat lozenges that enabled me to survive going to class, though they didn’t do much for my voice, which must have dropped at least two full octaves.

Anyways, with so much going on around campus, I haven’t gotten to talk about one of the coolest things that I have experienced lately. As you may have gathered by now (or maybe not, but I forgive you), I’m kind of a poetry fanatic. My enjoyment of poetry started with Shel Silverstein’s silliness when I was a kid, then gradually developed as I read more and more throughout my school career and on my own. When I was a freshman in high school, I fell in love with Wendell Berry’s poetry, and it is a love that has persisted all these years. The first poem I ever read was “To my Children, Fearing for Them,” and it hooked me immediately. To know that someone from Kentucky could make this much of an impact as a writer gave me something to daydream about. I never imagined then that I would have the chance to hear him read his poetry, but that’s exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago—chalk another fulfilled wish up to Transy, specifically the Delcamp Visiting Writers Series, which brings prominent writers and poets like Berry to campus every year. I was completely star struck when Berry took to the podium and began reading. I leaned all the way forward in my chair (maybe the words would reach me just a little bit sooner?), and I drank in every syllable. I left that evening completely inspired and even scribbled a few lines of poetry myself afterward, something that I have unfortunately neglected this semester due to intense leadership and academic commitments.

This is another reason why Transy was just right for me—it’s location in the center of Lexington puts not only Transy’s, but also UK’s, the Lexington Opera House’s, the Lexington Children’s Theatre’s, and numerous private galleries’ and businesses’ artistic showcases and performances within walking distance. I value the arts and humanities greatly and it means a lot to me to have such an abundance of performances so close to me at all times. Though I may not have time to attend them all, I know that another one, probably one just as good if not better than the last, is always right around the corner.

Wicked Awesome Professor Numero Uno!

Wow. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks! I have been swamped. Papers and tests and meetings, OH MY! I have so much I could write about here, but I think I’ll save most of it for another day…

Since I tend to blog a lot about events and my life in general, I thought I’d start something new. Every now and again, I’ll try to highlight some of the outstanding professors we have on campus—the ones that have personally impacted my life, the ones who are doing amazing things on campus, and the ones who are just plain cool.

My first wicked awesome professor recognition goes to *obligatory drum roll here* Dr. Meg Upchurch! I’m in Dr. Upchurch’s Experimental Psychology of Learning class right now and she has quickly gained my respect as one of the best professors I have had so far. She’s engaging, clear, friendly, and she gives hilarious examples of key concepts that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I enjoy going to her class every Tuesday and Thursday, and not just because I’m a psychology major, but because she has an uncanny ability to make any aspect of any of our topics interesting to anyone!

Dr. Upchurch isn’t just a wicked awesome professor because of her teaching style, but also because she’s doing amazing things on campus. Last Thursday night, I attended a screening of the frontline documentary, “The Medicated Child,” and participated in a discussion group where my fellow students and I, with the help of student discussion facilitators, reacted to the problems presented by the film and discussed possible solutions. This event was sponsored by Dr. Upchurch’s “Drugged America” program, which serves to educate our student body, over the course of 2 years, about the increasing reliance on drugs in America. Dr. Upchurch is getting most academic fields involved, so we get to learn about this issue from a number of different perspectives (now that’s liberal arts!) So far I have had the pleasure of attending a Lecture on the History of Drugs in America, The Medicated Child screening, and I am planning on attending future events, which will include a discussion on drug resistance led by the biology and chemistry departments, a showing of the movie Euphoria by the music department, and several others which are still in the planning process.

Transylvania’s extraordinary professors played one of the biggest roles in my decision to come here. Valuing my education and community involvement as I do, when I saw how invested professors become in their students’ success and how involved they are in Transy’s campus community, I knew I had found a special place. So cheers to Dr. Upchurch and all of the other wonderful Transy faculty members, a few of which I will continue to highlight here and there in my blog.