Student Blog

Ah, the semester is over. The Fall was a jam-packed semester. I am happy to see it is finished and I can take a break. Many accomplishments were made this past semester, though. We had record turnouts for poetry readings, a great magazine was produced, – http://elektraphrog.scf.edu – and we won the Florida College Poetry Slam. All in all, it was an excellent semester despite being busy and overloaded.

This Christmas break is a well deserved break for all of us. I am looking at all of the gifts under the Christmas tree and am getting excited for the holiday. Part of me is disappointed as most of those gifts are going to nieces and nephews. I think three are mine. Ha! In any case, after this semester, this is going to be one of the best Christmases in a long time.

Enjoy your break and have a happy Christmas, everyone! See you in the Spring. There are a lot of exciting things being discussed for the Spring. Get ready for another great semester.

Update: SCF won the Florida College Poetry Slam this past Thursday! Along with myself, our team consisted of three other poets, Bill Graydon, Kenney Morales, and Steven Brown. All were excellent poets walking away with high scores each time. Steven Brown received a perfect score at one point! The attendance was incredible. We had 100 chairs set up, but I noticed a few people were standing. I am told we had around 100 people. Ray McNiece was hilarious as he entertained everyone for two and a half hours! Talking with Ray afterwards, he said this was one of the best turnouts for a Slam he has ever seen, which speaks loudly for SCF since he is a founding father of Slam and has been doing this for twenty plus years. Be proud, SCF, Ray McNiece asked us after the Slam if he can come back next year!

In addition to that exciting news, this is the last week of classes before finals, and I am stoked to have this semester over! I have been extremely busy this semester and cannot wait to finally breath once again. I am suffocating from work I have fallen behind in; however, that is life. I just keep telling myself, it is the last week to feel this way – the last week. The stress is mounting and getting heavier each day; however, as the saying goes, ‘This too shall pass.’ No, that was not in Lord of the Rings. That was, ‘You shall not pass!’ In any case, good luck everyone. The end is near.

Thanksgiving was a blast. I hope everyone had just as much fun as I did. No one can complain with more than one Thanksgiving dinner. It is also a wonderful feeling to see family you have not seen in a long time.

When it comes to college, Thanksgiving serves two purposes, relaxation and crunch time has come. For this year, it is the two-week warning. As I write this, we have one-and-a-half weeks remaining in the semester before finals. Crunch time has arrived. There is work to catch up on, a magazine to publish, tests to take, essays to write, and other such required tasks before we can get this very busy semester over with. Thanksgiving comes at a great time – a time when we all need to relax and take a breath before the final push. I can tell everyone one thing, I cannot wait until this semester is over. It has been a crazy and busy one. I think I will hibernate until the Spring semester.

We are well into the second half of the semester, and things are heating up as we near the end. The week Robert Olen Butler came to campus felt like the semester’s hump for me, but things continue to get even more hectic. I am sure we all feel the same way.

Currently, I am focusing hard on Elektraphrog, SCF’s online literary magazine. Producing a magazine always gets rough the closer we get to publication. Tasks include: finalizing publishing decisions; creating web pages; emailing submitters with our decision to publish their work or not; finalizing the web pages; editing/proofreading published submissions; and hosting a party for staff, faculty, and contributors. It gets rough, but I love doing this stuff. For anyone who is interested in taking the Journalism course and producing a magazine, search for the course titled, ‘Journalism 1440L.’ I am finishing up the second level of the course this semester, as Editor in Chief for the second time.  I will participate in the production, but not take the actual course, in the Spring. If you wish to participate, please feel free to sign up. It is a one credit course as we meet only once a week for one hour (Wednesdays 12 -1pm).

After a bout with the Swine Flu, I am back on my feet.  

Last week was a great week for the SCF literary club, Swamp Scribes. Tuesday was the Arts and Letters Day we participated in by holding an open mic reading underneath the amphitheatre.  I missed it due to the Swine, but it went well if I understand correctly.  On Thursday, I was able to participate in the event with Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Olen Butler, who came to campus to spend some time with us.  Many people who attended will, I am sure, never forget the moment as some were great fans of Butler’s.  Butler is a famous author, who is also the Literary Envoy for the U.S. State Department.  He signed many books for fans, and also signed extra copies of his new novel, Hell, that can be purchased in the SCF Bookstore.