Week Five: Shirley, Poetry Month, and Cornell

Last week was all about touring Oxford (yes, the Bodlein is indeed the most magical place on Earth, as one would expect), but now I’m back in the US, which means back to the usual schedule. At my internship, there was plenty to do—we had the quarterly staff meeting on Tuesday, followed by trivia and donuts just for the joy of it all. I worked my way through reading school newspapers from 82 different universities and got started on my second article. This one is substantially longer and focuses on building an argument for the value of poetry and literary study (in honor of April being the 30th annual National Poetry Month). Having an internship at a corporation that is fighting for higher standards in US higher-ed is both enlightening and a bit surreal, given that I’m currently navigating my own college decision process. Choosing a college—and by extension, a life path, in many cases—is not for the weak. But having this internship offers me access to all kinds of information about schools that I would never have had on my own. In fact, as I write this, I’m on my way to a Cornell admitted students event—the very school I was just researching last week for ACTA. It’s so strange to see the higher ed world from both ends, and it’s certainly shaping my college decisions. It was my concern about eroding funding and rigor in US humanities programs that first prompted me to look at Oxford. Now, my research into cuts to the NEH and humanities departments, diluted rigor, and a variety of other issues in the US system, is certainly influencing the way I’m looking at my college options. Senior year is certainly wild and uncharted, and this internship, as well as being joyous and fascinating and perfectly suited to me, offers a helpful look behind the curtain at the places I’m considering devoting four years of my life.

On the research project front, this week was rather efficient. I finished Shirley early in the week, marking my final Charlotte Brontë novel. Next up is Elizabeth Gaskell, of course. I’ve been working on writing up and organizing my Brontë notes into neater conclusions, and have begun working my way through my Gaskell supplementary material, just as I did before starting to make my way through Brontë. I’ve spent the week reading Gaskell’s letters and biographies, taking breaks in between to work on my new June Jordan-based painting for AP Art. In all, this was quite the busy and fruitful week, and I can’t wait to finally start Gaskell once I return from Cornell!