Author Archives: Annie Brown

About Annie Brown

I'm an English major, writing minor, and Honors Program student at McDaniel loving life as a soon-to-be junior! Follow me as I write about my day to day life and what's happening on campus!

So many things!

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I’ve done and been to so many things over the past few days that I don’t know which ones to blog about! As a result, I’d like to share a lot of those things with you in the form of a list with some brief descriptions.

Saturday

-I went to MAWCA, a writing center conference, where I learned some new things and bonded with my coworkers

Sunday

-I finally gave my presentation on archetypes and alchemy in Harry Potter. The presentation was a success and my co-presenters and I had dinner at an Irish restaurant called Ryan’s Daughter afterward.

Monday

-Another week of class, but for the first time this year, truly gorgeous weather!

-Pinwheels! Rainbow pinwheels graced Red Square in order to promote student contributions to the Annual Fund. Private colleges such as McDaniel require contributions from alumni and other donors in order to make the cost of college more affordable for students.

-Allies Week began! Our campus gay-straight alliance, Allies, sponsors this week every year to voice support for LGBTQ issues. They host a lot of fun events throughout the week!

Tuesday

-My only class today was canceled so that the professor could meet individually with us to discuss our papers in progress.

-I spent two hours in the writing center, leading a tutoring session, discussing MAWCA and social media, and finding and photographing a new cover photo for the McDaniel Writing Center Facebook page. It was time well-spent!

-I took a walk around campus and took some pictures of the daffodils in bloom.

-An event called “Around the World in 80 Plates” took place in Red Square. I had fun tasting a number of the worldly desserts served!

-I registered for classes for next semester! I’m taking classes in rhetoric, writing, literature, and German cinema. I even snagged a spot in a yoga class!

-I went to “McDaniel’s First Time,” the first drag show ever held on campus. Being at a drag show was strange and unfamiliar to me, but I enjoyed it (and I learned that bringing a bunch of one dollar bills to a drag show is an expectation).

Overall, the warm weather, combined with the ample social interaction and plenty of fun things to do has made me a happy girl this week! Though busy, April is probably the best month of the spring semester because there’s so many fun things to do!

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Poet Lia Purpura

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On Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to listen to poet and essayist Lia Purpura read some of her work at tonight’s Bothe Lecture on campus. The Bothe Lecture, named for alumnus Christopher Bothe, is an annual lecture sponsored by the English department and the Bothe family in which poets and writers come to read some of their works aloud.

All of the poems Purpua read came from her book of poetry, King Baby, a collection of poems about a mysterious “being” (depicted below) that she and her son found in a river one cold winter day and the powerful impact that this being had on her.

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I really enjoyed listening to her read, but it wasn’t enough. For me, listening to poetry is hard if I don’t have the text in front of me. But the way she spoke and the emotion that came from her as she spoke about this being, King Baby, convinced me that I needed to buy the book, which would be on sale after she was done speaking. Not to mention that memoir in the form of poetry is a genre I have found that I like and would like to read more of.

Unfortunately, it occurred to me early on in the reading that I had forgotten my keys, which are attached to a small pouch in which I keep my student ID and some cash. I was bummed because I would not be able to buy and book and have it autographed. Fortunately, a very wonderful person who knows who she is agreed to spot me the money to purchase the book. I am so blessed!

So the day was saved! I now have my very own copy of King Baby signed by Lia Purpura, who is also lovely—she concurred that listening to poetry while wonderful, is also difficult.

I have already read few the first few poems, but it will be a while before I’ll have a chance to tackle the collection in its entirety. But I am very fortunate to now have a copy of the book because it brings me one step closer to having that chance.

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Easter on and off the Hill

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My Easter weekend is quickly coming to a close.(McDaniel does not give students off on Easter Monday.) In just hours, I’ll wake up from what little sleep I end up getting tonight and make the two-and-a-half hour drive back to campus with my mom, who well then drive two-and-a-half hours back to Pennsylvania. All of the time spent commuting will be worth it though, since I had a lovely weekend with my family!

When I go home for the weekend, I usually have one of my parents pick me up on Friday afternoon. However, we did things a little differently this weekend: On Saturday afternoon, my whole family–both my parents and both of my siblings–trekked down to Westminster to see not only me but also Carroll Arts Center’s annual PEEPshow.

The PEEPshow, most fortunately, is not what its name might first imply; Westminster’s PEEPshow is a relatively new tradition in Carroll County where people create sculptures, movies, and other artwork made with Marshmallow Peeps, which are then displayed for about two weeks. I went last year with my uncle and cousin when they came to visit me, and I was so impressed with it that I went a second time that week. This year, I wanted to share the creativity and sheer awesomeness of the Peeps with my immediate family, and they were equally or more impressed by all of the great entries as I was.

The PEEPshow will be at Carroll Arts Center daily through April 7 from 10-7. If you live anywhere near Westminster, I highly suggest that you check it out, particularly if you already happen to be visiting McDaniel. But if you can’t go, fear not! There’s plenty of pictures from this year and years past here!

My fun this weekend did not stop with the PEEPshow, however. I got to go home for Easter, which was exciting since I did not get to go home for it last year (my family dared to take a vacation to California without me since my siblings were on spring break). I love Easter at home because it combines family and food with the added dimension of chocolate. This year’s Easter was extra great too. Some of my cousins, whom I don’t normally see on Easter, came because my oldest cousin, also home for Easter, had to drive back to college and my house is on the way. My extended family and I sat down to a delicious dinner home-cooked by my mother, and my dad even hid eggs around the house for my siblings, cousins, and I to find. (I’ll never be too old for an Easter egg hunt!)

My weekend was fabulous, and it’s kind of crazy that I’m still home. But the extra hours spent home instead of speeding back to campus on the night of Easter Sunday will be worth it because I truly got to enjoy my Easter weekend.

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Friday night at Westminster Station

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I’m not one to go wild and crazy on Friday nights, but I still like to have fun over the weekend. Often time, my friends and I will hang out in my suite’s common room (like we do on most nights), but tonight, I went with a couple of friends to Westminster Station, a local coffee shop.

Westminster Station is nice because it’s in walking distance from McDaniel (though we drove because it was cold and dark out) and because it’s open until 11 or so. They have a variety of drinks including tea, smoothies, and of course, coffee, and they’re quite tasty. They also have a gift shop with some pretty random and entertaining items. The atmosphere is nice–there’s plenty of tables but also plenty of sofas and there are more secluded and areas that are more out in the open. The bathroom is also worth mentioning, as it has a chalkboard wall. A lot of live music takes place here too.

There’s also plenty of books to read and look through. I was pleasantly surprised to find a copy of last year’s issue of Contrast, McDaniel’s literary magazine sitting on the coffee table where my friends and I situated ourselves for the evening. (I highly recommend perusing through the 2012 edition of Contrast if you ever get the chance–it’s a beautifully designed book with phenomenal prose, poetry, and artwork.) We spent a lot of our time looking through an astrology book that was also there, learning about our signs, our friends’ signs, and various interpersonal compatibility factors of each sign.

I had a lovely time and the fact that I was with a small group of friends was a nice change of pace for me. I have so many friends on campus who all like to hang out as one big group that I don’t always get to interact with my friends on a more individual basis. There’s nothing like being in a coffeehouse with good fun and good friends, and I would love go out for coffee more often.

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McDaniel appears on Buzzfeed!

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Like many, I love the internet. I love social networks, goofy videos, Tumblr, and memes of all sorts. (I even wrote a paper analyzing the rhetoric and genre of Advice Animals for my Approaches to Everyday Discourse class last semester. It was a fun experience–I got to spend gobs of time on the internet while writing a paper at the same time, without all the shame of spending all that time online while writing a paper not about the internet.)

So as an internet aficionado, I was thrilled tonight when I found out that McDaniel’s South Park and Contemporary Issues class was mentioned in an article, “15 Geeky College Courses You Won’t Believe Actually Exist,” which was published on Buzzfeed a few weeks back. The course is a sophomore interdisciplinary studies class about South Park and how the show deals with controversial social issues, and you should definitely read more about it here.

I love it when McDaniel gets national exposure, and to see the College get mentioned on a website so accessible and interesting to young people (and one that I really like) is exciting! Buzzfeed is amusing and even thought-provoking, and working there is my dream internship. Perhaps if I get to apply, I can tell them about my awesome college and our super cool South Park class.

And speaking of cool college courses, McDaniel has a lot of them. Check out our course catalog to decide for yourself which ones are the coolest.

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Tips for making the most of your spring break

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Spring break in college gives you the opportunity to do a lot of things, so take advantage of your time off. Here are some tips and ideas for your spring break:

1. Homework

If you’re stuck with homework over your break, don’t wait until the last minute! (This is a predicament I currently find myself in.) Either frontload your break with homework (after you’ve given yourself the first day of break off, of course) or spread it out throughout the entirety of your break, doing a little homework each day. Spring break isn’t supposed to be stressful, so don’t let it be by procrastinating.

2. Get Ahead

Were you not stuck with a lot of homework during spring break? Lucky you!–I’m jealous! Even if you don’t have a lot of things due immediately after break, if you have some downtime, why not get ahead? Try to get something out of the way that would cause you stress if you were trying to do it on campus, be that reading, some smaller assignments, or one larger assignment. The last half of spring semester is no walk in the park, so why not make life easier for yourself?

3. Go Places!

If you have the time and means to go on a big trip during your spring break, go for it! Vacations are fun and memorable! But even if you can’t go on a cross-country road trip or fly down to Florida, you don’t have to stay in your house for all of spring break. Find some friends or family members and plan a day trip or an afternoon outing. Whether you go someplace you’ve never been or somewhere you’ve been a hundred times, your backyard is a place for fun and exploration!

4. Apply for Summer Jobs and Internships

Summer may seem ages away, but the time to seek out summer jobs and internships is now, during spring break, when companies are looking for students to fill summer positions. Apply for a variety of things, including both paid jobs and internships, and just like applying for “reach” colleges, apply for some “reach” jobs–you never know what could happen.

5. Indulge in Some Downtime!

You’ve just finished up with midterms! You’ve earned some downtime! Catch up on that TV show you’ve been meaning to watch, rent a few good movies, tackle your bookshelf, or do whatever else is relaxing for you. Just remember to have your downtime in moderation–be productive too!

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A trip to Lancaster

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It’s been a lovely spring break here at home for me, but when my mom had off from work yesterday, we decided that the day would best be spent taking a day trip together.

We decided to make the not-too-far trek to Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, just a little over an hour away from my home and about an hour and a half away from Westminster. Lancaster is well-known for its Pennsylvania Dutch subculture, which includes groups of Anabaptists known as the Amish and the Mennonites.

Our mission in Lancaster was to shop well, eat well, and find a selection of tasty Pennsylvania Dutch desserts to take home, and we succeeded in this mission quite well. We first went to a few of the shops in the Rockvale Outlets before having a delicious all-you-can-eat buffet lunch at Miller’s Smorgasbord, with food so tasty it would make Glar food weep with envy. (Sorry, Glar.)

After eating more food than we should have, my mom and I drove around the towns of Intercourse (yes, that’s the town’s actual name) and Bird-in-Hand to go to some smaller shops and bakeries. My mom loves to explore Lancaster and she actually knows her way around pretty well. My favorite part of this leg of the journey was our stop at the Bird-in-Hand Bakery, where we were greeted by goats and fluffy chickens before we went inside to purchase chocolate shoo-fly pie, apple dumplings, and other Pennsylvania Dutch baked goods.

We finished out our trip by going to the Tanger Outlets, another outlet mall in the area, where we went to a few more stores.

I had a fabulous day! I added a few new pieces to my wardrobe and indefinitely postponed my “diet” yet again, but best of all, I got to spend an entire day hanging out with my mom.

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A Pi Day fit for an English major

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I’ve always seen Pi Day as a day that makes math accessible to everyone. It’s a day for people to make pi-based puns and jokes, eat pie, and perhaps even learn about some of the math that has to do with it. (If you happen to be someone who does want to learn something about pi, check out this video.) I made sure I stopped by the math department this afternoon to get a tasty slice of pie to celebrate and chat with some friends who are math majors.

While Pi Day is most certainly a day to celebrate math, my boss Josh, the director of McDaniel’s writing center, decided to add an English major sort of twist to it by hosting a a get-together  he called Pi and Pie on Pi (Day). He invited all of the current writing tutors and tutors in training to his house for an evening of tacos, homemade ice cream, games, and of course, pie. He also screened Life of Pi for those who were able to stay.

The evening was so fun and delicious! We played Mennonite Madness, a very simple and super competitive game, and Whisper Down the Lane Pictionary, which was hilarious. The homemade food was delicious, especially the chocolate mocha Oreo ice cream. If I hadn’t had so much homework waiting for me back on campus, I would have stayed to watch the movie too.

I had a great time and I had fun getting to know my fellow writing tutors some more. We have a group of intelligent, friendly, and funny people who currently work and will be working in the Writing Center, so when you’re a student on the Hill, be sure to schedule appointments with us to get some awesome feedback on your papers and other writings!

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Spring is coming!

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Spring break is close, but spring seems even closer! The weather on campus was beautiful this weekend. A small number of students made their way to the quad on both days for some sunbathing and studying and playing catch, and as the weather gets warmer, more students (including me) will join them.

Because the weather was so nice, nine and my friends and I walked to Baugher’s for dinner. This was a lot of fun and the food was delicious (I had a hot turkey sandwich with a chocolate peanut butter sundae for dessert), but next time, I would go with a smaller group or on a different day in order to get seated faster–ten people on a warm Sunday evening is a recipe for a long wait at Baugher’s.

I’m looking forward to the emergence of warmer weather because it means I’ll be able to get off campus by myself more. Though I have friends with cars, I only ride in them when we go on group outings. I don’t have a car on campus, so my only solo means of transportation is walking, and in though there are plenty of things within walking distance from campus, when the weather is freezing, walking off campus usually isn’t worth it for me. (I also don’t like to rely on others to drive me places.) But with spring weather, I’ll be able to allow myself to go on more errands and go get coffee off campus. And with only eight weeks in between spring break and summer, it will be those little things that will give me something to look forward to when spring break is over : )

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CEO Open House

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McDaniel College has a wonderful office in the lower level of Decker College Center, McDaniel’s student center, called the Center for Experience and Opportunity, abbreviated to CEO. The CEO is not just a career services office–they also have tons of resources to help students and alumni find internships and volunteer opportunities.

This semester, the CEO has been trying to get students to be more familiar with their office and their services by holding open houses for each class year. The senior class was the first class to get two days of open house devoted just to them, followed by the juniors, who got two days of their own.

The sophomore open house was finally today, so I went to see what I could learn about finding jobs, since I’m trying to find some sort of job or internship to occupy me over the summer.

I’m really glad I went. I’ve actually been pretty anxious about what I’m going to do this summer, but some of the resources the CEO counselors showed me has made the process of finding and applying to jobs and such less intimidating. In addition to giving me a tour of the entire office and showing me through some of McDaniel’s job search databases, they also introduced me to Indeed.com, a job search engine that lets users search for any type of job based on location. Since a lot of McDaniel’s connections are based in Maryland, but I don’t live in Maryland, I think Indeed will be a great resource for me. Over the coming days and weeks, I’ll be sure to take some time to search for writing internships and internships for English majors on the website.

The CEO is a really great resource on campus, and I encourage all McDaniel students to use it! If they don’t already know of a job listing for you, they’ll help you find one that’s right for you based on your interests, abilities, major, and location.

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