Introductions

1. What has been your favorite course of study in or out of school? Why?

My favorite course I have taken in college is Greek Mythology. I love hearing all the stories and how they all create an intricate religion that was once practiced. I would study for hours for this class with pleasure.

2. How many pages was the longest paper you have written? Did it include endnotes and bibliography?

I have written a 20 page paper once before, it included a bibliography but not endnotes.

3. Which was your favorite paper? Please tell us about the topic in a couple of sentences.

My favorite paper I have written was about the correlation between the moral lessons in fables and how they effected the people of the time. Usually writing can be hard for me but because I was so interested in this paper it came easily.

4. Is there a particular kind of writing you love to do?

I love writing about personal experiences because I feel as if I can get more into it. Creative writing is fun as well!

5. Which books have you read lately: art, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, poetry, environmental, film? Any comments are welcome.

I’ve read two books recently, Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk and The Hunger Games. Both books have been fictional and very entertaining to read. Survivor is quite a grotesque book and The Hunger Games (though for children) was very fun to read.

6. Which artist or writer really impresses you? Why?

I really enjoy Bruce Nauman’s work because it is very diverse and full of what he believes to be true. His work really draws you in and makes you open your mind to his view of the world.

7. What is your main interest besides writing, art, music, (i.e., the humanities)?

As briefly said before, I am kind of interested in the classics. The history behind it all is fascinating and really captures my mind.

8. Please describe briefly an article in a newspaper or a magazine that got you thinking lately.

I read an article on the 9/11 10^th anniversary coming up. The article naturally made me sad for all the loved ones lost in the tragic happning. It also made me very thankful for having my loved ones.

9. Which recent cultural event has really impressed you? This can be a museum, a concert, or anything like that, but also a sports game (if you consider this a cultural event, for which there are good reasons).

Over the summer I finally was able to attend a concert at Red Rocks, here in Colorado. He venue was spectacular and everyone at the John Butler Trio Concert looked really happy. To see that many people happy, dancing, and enjoying themselves was moving in a way that made me truly happy.

10. Is there another, non-cultural event that has affected you deeply.

My father died in an airplane crash when I was in 8^th grade. He was a pilot for the United States Marine Corps and loved by all. There is not a single day that goes by where I do not think of him. He and the sad event have affected my life greatly.

11. Please share with us a thought or an idea that really widened your intellectual horizon. If possible, give a source for this idea so that those who are interested know where to go.

Recently I watched an informative show about the female orgasm on the Science Channel. There was so much I did not know about sex hormones and organs so it was very informative. I recommend watching it.

Carrie Nicholson

Introductions

1. What has been your favorite course of study in or out of school? Why?

My favorite class that I have studied at school would probably be Film and Fiction that I took this past spring semester. This was such a great class because in it, we studied Latin American film and literature and compared themes seen in both of these mediums. I love foreign films and being Hispanic, it was cool to learn more about the culture and to be exposed to films and pieces of literature that I probably wouldn’t have watched on my own time.

1. How many pages was the longest paper you have written? Did it include endnotes and bibliography?

The longest paper that I have written was 12 pages plus a bibliography. This was written my freshman year in the Writing & Rhetoric course as part of a RAP class at Sewall.

3. Which was your favorite paper? Please tell us about the topic in a couple of sentences.

Minus creative pieces I’ve written throughout my college career, my favorite paper was written in Film and Fiction. This paper dealt with portrayals of women in Latin American narratives. We had to use examples of women characters from films and novels and stories we read in the class in support of our thesis.

4. Is there a particular kind of writing you love to do?

I really enjoy creative writing. This includes narrative stories, poetry, and most recently screenwriting.

1. Which books have you read lately: art, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, poetry, environmental, film? Any comments are welcome.

I love to read. I usually am able to get a lot of books read in my free time, but this last year I haven’t had much free time. I have however, read a few good books which includes: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Never Let Me Go, rereading the Harry Potter series, On the Road, Amerika, and a few others.

1. Which artist or writer really impresses you? Why?

There are a lot of different artists and writers whom I have been impressed by. It’s hard to pinpoint only one artist that I have been the most impressed by because there are so many great ones.

1. What is your main interest besides writing, art, music, (i.e., the humanities)?

It’s weird because these are where my biggest interests lie, in the arts. I love film. As I have said multiple times in class, I love Harry Potter. So I guess my main interest lies in fandoms, that seems kind of strange though. I love the Harry Potter fandom, the Glee fandom, the Starkid Fandom, and the Doctor Who fandom. These are places where I am able to find a lot of common ground with people and have met some cool people through.

1. Please describe briefly an article in a newspaper or a magazine that got you thinking lately.

Oooh, I don’t really read newspapers or magazines so I can’t say which one has got me thinking lately.

1. Which recent cultural event has really impressed you? This can be a museum, a concert, or anything like that, but also a sports game (if you consider this a cultural event, for which there are good reasons).

This would definitely have to be LeakyCon. This was the Harry Potter conference that I went to this past summer and had the time of my life. I loved being around people who have been touched by the series of books and films. I don’t get to experience things like this often, and never have I ever participated in such an activity (any type of conference/convention that revolved around a fandom), but I am so glad that I did! It was so wonderful to see people talking so passionately about Harry Potter and dressing up in the Hogwarts robes or clothing that the characters wore in the films. I hold these memories near and dear to my heart and will never forget what I got to experience. It was also cool that some of the actors and actresses from some of the films were there, like Evanna Lynch for example who played Luna Lovegood. I loved meeting all of Team Starkid (they created the youtube sensations A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel) and most excitingly Darren Criss (who played Harry Potter in these musicals and Blaine Anderson on Glee).

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1. Is there another, non-cultural event that has affected you deeply.

I don't know if there has been something that has affected me deeply. Going to the Wizarding World in Orlando for the first time was a pretty fantastic thing I got to experience.

1. Please share with us a thought or an idea that really widened your intellectual horizon. If possible, give a source for this idea so that those who are interested know where to go.

A lot of what I get to experience and see as a film student has been so marvelous! I would never even dream about screening some of the things that I have watched in class or as part of IFS. My eyes have certainly been opened by seeing how far the art of film has come in just over one hundred years and also how much it has strayed from an art form to just for entertainment purposes which is kind of a shame.

Introductions

1. What has been your favorite course of study in or out of school? Why?

My favorite course of study would probably have to be the class I took this summer, The Lives of 007. The class treated the James Bond series as a serious piece of social and cultural study. The class allowed for analysis of the films as text; one of my favorite parts of studying cinema. The course also allotted for frequent entertainment as we watched a Bond movie every day, three times a week.

2. How many pages was the longest paper you have written? Did it include endnotes and bibliography?

The longest paper I ever wrote was 16 pages including bibliography. It was for my Advanced First Year Writing course.

3. Which was your favorite paper? Please tell us about the topic in a couple of sentences.

One of my favorite papers was the final paper written for The Lives of 007. We were told to write a monographic paper, 10 - 15 pages in length, on one aspect of the Bond canon. I chose to write about the automobiles of James Bond. I absolutely love cars, especially exotics, and figured there was enough material within the Bond series to write about them. I argued that the automobiles of 007 served as more than mere spectacle, but were utilized to reinforce ideals of classism and national superiority.

4. Is there a particular kind of writing you love to do?

I particularly enjoy writing analytical pieces because I feel that through my use of rhetoric I can typically formulate a strong argument for or against any given topic.

5. Which books have you read lately: art, fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, poetry, environmental, film? Any comments are welcome.

Over the summer I read Casino Royale by Ian Flemming, the first Bond novel. I enjoyed reading the book because the class afforded me the opportunity to contrast the 2006 film with the novel. I concluded that I enjoy the film better, on the basis that the Bond canon has had 40 years to evolve through film, whereas Casino Royale was the first of the Bond novels.

6. Which artist or writer really impresses you? Why?

Darren Aronofsky. I consider him an artist of cinema. He has the resources of big-budget Hollywood with the aesthetic of an independent filmmaker. He writes and directs his own films, something I truly value in a filmmaker. He also utilizes both Film and Digital capture, an approach that I think enriches all his films.

7. What is your main interest besides writing, art, music, (i.e., the humanities)?

Cars. I’m absolutely obsessed with the automobile. Aesthetics, performance, mechanics, you name it and it will most likely peak my interest. If I could pick any new car right now for a reasonable price ;) it would be a 2011 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Cosworth CS400.

8. Please describe briefly an article in a newspaper or a magazine that got you thinking lately.

The other night I was “stumbling” and came across an article that asked a very interesting question, “What if the Tea Party were black?” The argument was framed as follows. What if a group of black Americans marched on the capital with signs stating, ‘We’re armed and dangerous’ and spitting at congresspeople as they entered the capital building? Would it be considered exorcising their first amendment right? Or would it be deemed an out of control riot? The article concludes that the permissibility of the Tea Party’s angry mob is a classic example of white privilege.

9. Which recent cultural event has really impressed you? This can be a museum, a concert, or anything like that, but also a sports game (if you consider this a cultural event, for which there are good reasons).

As I’ve already touched on in class, my volunteer trip to South Africa was a complete cultural submersion. The different ways of life, customs and attitudes was truly impressive. As I stated in my first assignment, I witnessed a sense of vitality amongst the local children, despite their daily hardships. I think this feeling is best portrayed in the expressions of the boy in the following picture.

10. Is there another, non-cultural event that has affected you deeply.

I was deeply affected when my close older brother left America to live in Thailand for half of a year. But I was profoundly affected to find out, four months into his absence, that he’d decided to stay another year.

11. Please share with us a thought or an idea that really widened your intellectual horizon. If possible, give a source for this idea so that those who are interested know where to go.

I was always told growing up that God was all good, all knowing, and all powerful. This fundamental understanding of God was dismantled by the philosophical work of J. L. Mackie. If God knew of all evil, had the power to stop all evil, and was wholly good, then wouldn’t all evil be squandered by God’s mighty goodness? This philosophical argument revealed to me the necessity of doubt in learning.