Yesterday was my last day of classes at Holy Cross. The experience isn’t as weird as it is for some of my friends who have jobs lined up (aka, they’re going into the real world). Well, it is still weird for me, but at least I know I’ll be in a classroom again come October. For some of my friends, though, yesterday was it. It’s all so surreal – I can’t believe that the end is coming this quickly. My thesis is finished, and I’m going to get it bound tomorrow. My final presentation for Chant went well. I have two more papers to write for Chaucer and Contemporary Literary Theory; the former is due on Friday, and the latter is due next Tuesday. I have my oral final exam for CLT on Saturday…and then I’m finished.
Yesterday was really weird for another reason, though. It was my last ballroom dance practice. Every year, we turn the last day of practice into a dinner and dancing event. I just couldn’t believe it that practice was it. Ballroom has been such a huge part of my college life, and it seems weird that that chapter is now over (well, at least the American side). I’m excited to see how the team will grow next year, but I will miss being a part of it all. Now I’m headed off to my final Kimball banquet. Why is everything wrapping up right now? It’s all happening way too quickly!
Wrapping Up
“Your Experience in a Minute. Go.”
You’ve all read this blog to (ideally) get a sense of what life is like here. You’ve been through it all with me – the late nights, the exams, the papers, everything. You all know how much I have to say about my experience at Holy Cross – I love this school, and trying to stick to a 500 word limit for my entries is quite a task (eh. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I go waaaaaaaaay over). So, imagine my surprise when the Public Affairs department asked me to sum up my experience in about a minute. Well, here’s the result:
Wow. I look so…so…stoic…I might try to get another screen shot.
On that website, you can also see Miriam, one of my really good friends (She’s also our class valedictorian!), Anthony, who’s a fellow CHP’er, Wan-Yi, who is another CHP’er, and Andrew who’s an amazing student athlete. Five quite different voices and experiences, yet one similar characteristic: we all love Holy Cross and our four years here. Check them out! They are only a minute, after all.
And, in other news……
It is so close to being bound!
“To Fr. Grace!”
Thanks to the generous support from Mr. and Mrs. Michael Halloran ’60, the English department hosted the first annual Fr. Tom Grace Memorial Lecture in Medieval Studies. This was the first time that I had heard of Fr. Grace, but I actually owe most of my education at Holy Cross to him. Fr. Grace was an Oxford-trained Medievalist who was a member of the English faculty in the 1950’s and 60’s. He inspired a generation of Holy Cross students to go to graduate school, and many of them became medievalists, including Traugott Lawler, who is a Professor Emeritus at Yale University and was present at the speech yesterday. He reflected upon how Fr. Grace inspired him personally and professionally – according to Mr. Lawler, Fr. Grace relied heavily on the Socratic method and wanted students to lead discussion instead of lecturing to them for hours on end. He pushed them to deliver only their finest and to follow their academic passions, whatever they might be. So, although I never met Fr. Grace, I feel connected to him through my association with Holy Cross, Oxford, and the medieval period. The talk also helped me realize the Holy Cross Medieval Studies tradition of which I’ve become a part, starting with Fr. Grace and continuing through Professor Lawler.
The speaker last night was Dean Seth Lerer from the University of California in San Diego. Funny story – one of his books was actually on my reading list for one of my tutorials last year. Small world, huh? Anyway, Dean Lerer talked about a manuscript that he happened to find at the San Diego Public Library. It’s a 15th century book of hours that has additions in it throughout the 16th (and maybe 17th) century. These personal prayers are written in a letter-like style, and they possess a Pauline quality. I’m going to stop there because I’m afraid that I’m going to bore most of you to death if I continue, but if you’ve followed this blog at all, you can probably guess why I was so excited about the talk. Lerer was an extremely energetic presenter, and we’re really so blessed to have had him as the speaker for the first Tom Grace Memorial Lecture.
What was also fantastic is that I got to go out to dinner with Dean Lerer, Professor Lawler, Professor Kee, Professor Ireland, and Mr. and Mrs. Halloran after the presentation. The conversation was superb – I was able to talk to Professor Lawler about medieval studies (whoever decided to seat the two of us next to each other…THANK YOU). It turns out that Professor Lawler is very good friends with Ralph Hanna (that’s a blast from the past for you blog readers). Dean Lerer attended Oxford for his Masters (Hertford College, actually!), so I was able to talk with him about graduate school, etc. And, perhaps the best moment of the night was when Mr. Halloran commented on my polka dot socks (they were the only clean trouser socks that I had, and I thought my pants were covering them). At that, Dean Lerer showed us his “modest” argyle socks. It was, quite frankly, one of the best nights that I’ve had at Holy Cross.
So, here’s to Fr. Grace and all those that he was able to inspire in his brief time at Holy Cross!
Full Circle
Firstly, I am still bouncing up and down after my Toronto acceptance. Now I’m just waiting for Oxford. Come on, Brits!
One of the requirements to graduate in the English Honors Program is to take a metacritical course. Although my paleography tutorial at Oxford would have counted, I decided to take Professor Mulrooney’s Contemporary Literary Theory course because…well…he once advised me to take a course in Literary Theory if I ever wanted to go to graduate school. Well, I listened to him, and I’m glad that I did. Don’t get me wrong – Literary Theory is tough stuff. It’s basically the application of philosophy to literature – what is a text? What, exactly, is writing? How do the constructs of language affect our writing? It’s all just in a day’s work for this class. But as tough as it is, I’m glad that I’m taking the course, especially as a second semester senior since this course explains how the English department here teaches literature and why. I ran into this a bit when I was abroad last year – even some of my American friends from other universities approached literature very differently from the Holy Cross kids. We’re taught from day one in CRAW Poetry (wow, that’s a blast from the past. Haven’t heard me say that in a while, have you?) to analyze just what’s on the page – the author, time period, etc., shouldn’t affect our interpretation. We’re also not looking for a meaning from a poem; instead, we’re taught to see what imaginative work the poem asks us to do. Now, when you’re a freshman (I’m not speaking from personal experience…at all…hum dee doo deee dumm….), you think that you know everything that there is to know about poetry, and this approach seems…well, silly. For the most part, metacritical studies simply aren’t a part of the English major, compared to some other universities. For instance, one of my American friends last year could tell you everything about any literary “movement” (sorry, I just read Derrida so he’s affecting my interpretation of those words a bit), but if you asked her to analyze a poem, she was lost. So, during my freshman year, I didn’t understand the value of the type of training that Holy Cross endorses. But now that I look back, I’m glad that I learned how to first analyze poetry and then find my own literary movement affiliation rather than reading every piece of literature through one lens. Especially with graduate school next year (EEEEEEEEEPPPP It still hasn’t hit me that I’ve been accepted), I’m glad that I have some sense of Literary Theory, though.
Aaaaaaand if you’re not an English major/even remotely interested in the Humanities, tune in tomorrow for a non-English major related post! Wait. I can’t guarantee that.
100 Days Left. Wait. What?
Last night was the 100 Days Ball sponsored by the Purple Key Society. Technically, there are 104 days left until graduation, but you all get the idea – there’s very little time for us seniors! The dance was held at the historic Mechanics Hall in Worcester, which was a gorgeous location. Oddly enough, the last time I was there was during my freshman year for a FYP event. How everything comes around…
Anyway, here are some photos from the event:
I met most of my friends in this photo freshman year. And we’re still as crazy as we were then!
We tried to stage the Marilyn Monroe photo, but we were lacking an air grate. Carrie tried to be one, but it didn’t really work.
Carrie, Robin, Rebecca, and Me
Although we might look it, I swear that neither Jess, Kevin, nor I are possessed.
Bill, Jenn, Kevin, and Me – the four senior Liturgical Coordinators
Carrie, Tina, and Me – Carrie and Tina are current roommates, so this is a bit of a roommate triangle…ish?
Please just humor me and say that this looks like it’s from “Dirty Dancing.”
Grant and Me dancing the night away
Tina and me before the ball
Tina and me once again
Fallon, Janet, and me dancing
Tina, Margaretmary, and Kate dancing
Here We Go!
Sorry, my sister and I bought Mario Kart for Wii and I think I’ve picked up Mario’s “here weeee gooooo!”
Anyway, I am officially in the second semester of my senior year. And you know what? I am very surprisingly quite calm about the entire situation. I think what helped a lot was my participation in the Spiritual Exercises, which is a five day silent retreat offered by the Chaplains’ Office on campus. Yes, I said it.
I, Colleen Curran, the local chatterbox, went on a silent five day retreat.
At first, I thought that the silence would be tough, especially since I went with some of my best friends. But I actually just got into a rhythm of spending more time focusing on internal conversation with God and myself than external with my friends. Over the course of the five days, I learned to let go of my anxieties about this semester, next year, and my overall plan. As one of the spiritual directors, Fr. John Savard, said, “God has such a brilliant plan for you that even you can’t mess it up.” I like that optimism! It was an absolutely incredible experience – I realized that my graduate school applications are already in, my thesis is progressing, and I have a general sense of direction. And I realized that I can’t freak out about any of that stuff, especially since I have one last semester to savor. So, everyone, you should do the Spiritual Exercises. Or at least try to be silent for just a day. It’s amazing what a difference the silence makes.
Then we returned to Holy Cross…which was covered in snow.
And then Holy Cross reminded us that we’re seniors and we’re graduating soon. We had Senior Convocation, which was a night of great food, showcases of senior musical talent, and far too many trips down memory lane (laughter was the soundtrack of the night).
And before you know it, classes started. Here’s what I’m taking this semester:
1) Contemporary Literary Theory
2) Chaucer & Dante (Prof. Ireland wants to put a sign that reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” above our seminar room’s doors)
3) Chant as Popular Music
4) My thesis
5) and I’m auditing T.S. Eliot.
Exciting semester, right? Okay, if you’re a sciency person, then no.
Then, today, as if to really hammer it in to the entire senior class that we are graduating in May, the Registrar told us how to apply for graduation. Graduation. In May. Aaaaaaaaaah!
So, my goal for this last semester is to truly enjoy everything that Holy Cross has to offer – my friends, classes, and opportunities. I can’t believe that this is the beginning of the end, but it has been a fantastic first week back already.
One last time
As I was packing tonight (no, I don’t do last minute packing…okay, so I live by it), I realized that this is the last time that I’ll be home until Graduation in May. Now, I’m not a homebody (see me running off to England and threatening to stay there indefinitely last year), but it’s kind of weird when I think about it that way. The next time that I’m home, I will have a diploma from Holy Cross, my thesis will be finished, I’ll hopefully know where I’m going for graduate school, and there won’t be any of this snow on the ground.
So here I am packing up (yes, it’s nearly midnight…have to get back in the groove for the semester sometime, right?) to go back to Holy Cross for the last semester. Weird, right? It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was a freshman and had no idea what to pack for my first Worcester winter. So, here’s to one last semester on the Hill. Now that I’m done waxing nostalgic, I have a suitcase to pack and an application to finish!
Dear First Semester of Senior Year:
Please stop going by so quickly.
Love,
Colleen
Someone in my Apocalypticism Through The Ages seminar noted how we only have three more meetings left. Then Prof. Gettleman reminded the EHP students that the draft of our first chapter is due on Wednesday, December 1st…as in two weeks from now. Then Fr. Brooks told us that our final oral exam for Contemporary Christology will be on December 8th. Then I realized that the Brown competition on Sunday was my last competition with one of my teammates who will be going abroad next semester (by the way, the team did really well. Josh and I placed second in Silver Swing and fourth in Silver Cha Cha/Rumba. This means that we now have to start dancing Gold…eek.). Everything is just coming to a screeching halt. Honestly, yesterday was just August. Then I woke up this morning, and now it’s November 18th. This weekend is Senior Ball. As cliche as it sounds, I cannot believe how quickly this semester is going!
I warned you.
Remember when I warned you all that since this is my senior year, I’m going to have a lot of reflection style entries about my years at Holy Cross? Well…I did warn you.
Today, I talked with one of my professors about my upcoming paper for my Shakespeare class (Carrie and I now refer to Mr. Shakespeare as Shakey. It’s catchy and much easier to say.). We then started talking about the nature of the liberal arts education and what he’s trying to achieve in class. See, I expressed a fear about maintaining my average for graduate schools, and he told me to stop worrying about the grades and focus more on education – that’s what the liberal arts experience is really all about. Now, that is much easier said than done, especially for someone as OCD and neurotic about grades as me, but his comment made me reflect upon my grades. The highest grades that I’ve received are in the classes where I stopped working for the grade and started working for the sheer enjoyment of learning. Yes, yes, I know how cliche this sounds, but it’s so true. I’ve been lucky enough to find professors at Holy Cross (and Oxford as well) who teach in this manner and focus not on the end result, but on the journey to get there. I think I’m going to end this “senior moment” entry now, but my talk with my professor was just really inspiring. And that, my friends, is why I love the liberal arts education.
