Category: Uncategorized (page 1 of 2)

“Dear Deceased Poet” by Juliana Castillo

April 25, 2023 / / Comments Off on “Dear Deceased Poet” by Juliana Castillo

Join us this Tuesday in continuing our National Poetry Month celebration with a guest poem by Juliana Castillo, a Philosophy major of the class of 2025. Juliana uses imagery of membranes, liquid and light in this fictional “love letter” to a poet who was influential to the narrator.

Dear deceased poet, who lived to 

Twenty-five – I miss you, even though you died

Years before I was born; years before today, when 

I am already twenty-six. Dear deceased poet, I can 

Hear your voice, telling me that life is a membrane

To stretch around the vesicles of water, nutrients, and the other

Vacu-sealed ingredients that enable existence.

Continue reading

“Ode to North Central” by Kate Dawson

May 9, 2022 / / Comments Off on “Ode to North Central” by Kate Dawson

Walking out of my dorm

 

I meet students sitting on the grass 

gossiping, studying, relaxing,

taking a break from life.

 

They stake into the ground a volleyball net 

and soak in the rays beaming down 

from the sun. 

 

Classes take their leave for the weekend, 

while university buildings continue to shelter students 

whose work remains a weight on their shoulder. 

 

Breaking the silence comes the announcement of noon, 

courtesy of bells that send their sounds rushing

out of Memorial Hall.

 

Scampering squirrels interject the path of travelers

prancing down the bricks, where townspeople separate

young adults clumped together. 

 

Horns honk, 

reverberating off the pavement. 

 

“Walk sign is on” fades into the distance.

 

 Students sputter over the crosswalk, 

racing the cars speeding towards them. 

 

Main Street commotion fills the ears of those

who journey up the stairs, 

greeted by a mini town packed into one strip of asphalt. 

 

Air whips across faces 

riddled with blushing cheeks. 

 

Hands grip coffee drinks, 

each with a unique store logo brandishing the front. 

 

Time carries on 

as errands are run 

and assignments are completed. 

 

Or 

leisure takes focus

as procrastination temporarily hides to-do lists. 

 

Picturesque, 

the scene so full of life waits 

to be captured in a still picture 

from the lens of a phone

that can’t express the true atmosphere and movement. 

 

Air turns cool, 

sky turns dark, 

and day turns night.

 

Grass regains its place 

upright 

after being indented by daytime visitors. 

 

Today’s pushed off worries 

become tomorrow’s goals. 

 

Falling into bed at night, 

basketball chains rattle outside. 

 

The sound permeates my window. 

 

North Central sleeps, 

waiting to breathe life 

into the Green

again tomorrow. 

 

This is a poem about “the liveliness of North Central that comes to life especially with good weather,” composed by  Kate Dawson, a Class of 2024 Elementary Education major in the Honors College. In celebration of National Poetry Month, “186 South College” will be posting the work of Honors students weekly throughout the month of April and May as bonus content. If you or someone you know would like to share their work as a guest writer like Kate, we are still accepting submissions at this link: https://bit.ly/186Poets22

“What Would It Take to Fall” by Nabiha Syed

April 18, 2022 / / Comments Off on “What Would It Take to Fall” by Nabiha Syed

I want, to be standing atop a skyscraper when my eyes touch yours

My body a bottomless abyss of butterflies on the Burj

I want to feel their pollinated flower blossom in me when I see those eyes crinkle

You are like the infinities of the universe

Ocean with endless Space, and Time to wrinkle

 

I want you to have your own kingdom and me my empire 

and when we join its still two different castles just both reaching higher

I want to feel whole without you

But still feed my soul around you

When I question it everyday

I want you to remind me i can live without you

 

I want you to make me do things I’m scared to do

Because I can, and that’s your truth

 

The only time you hide your face from me 

Is when it’s caught between two pages

 

I want to watch you stick 

red pins on a map 

like you forgot I have trypophobia

Take our pirate ship 

to the edge of land, 

then see if we can go beyond

 

I want to create our own chaos 

Power our connection even though our phones stay off

 

I want to fight with you over whether a cat or dog is better 

and end up adopting both from the shelter

 

I want the sun to envy us

 

I want you to disagree with me 

and somehow make me cherish you more

 

The water next to my mojave

The shoulder I hate to need

The only home I’m afraid to leave

 

I want, to be standing two inches from a bullet train when you brush past me

 

I want cardamom ginger chai to flood my veins when I hold you in my gaze

Or hell I wanna forget cardamom chai when i explore your taste

 

Cinnamon clouds and galaxies of star anise

Filling my head when your fingers trace the streets 

of Ilayangudi in my hair

We make our own language 

Methuselah’s roots in anguish 

Wishing to be as tightly entangled 

as our limbs

 

I want to finally finally be unafraid to lose myself 

 

To not think 

Safe. Comfortable

So captivated by you even the voice in my head finally stops and listens

 

I want to never have to second guess

That every one of my thoughts, you catch from my mouth and store in your treasure chest

 

I want to bare my soul to you 

and have you look at me bc you know that wasn’t all

because you know that even when my tongue is flowing

I keep the lowest parts of me locked

 

I’ve never let myself fall

I want you to make me wanna jump

 

I want to admire you dancing in my clothes you look so silly in

And never get tired of picking you over 7 billion

 

I want to give you my trust

And that’s a diamond I keep hidden in the rough

 

I want you to hear this one day and know I didn’t even cover half 

of what I want to feel

 

I want all of that.

 

So how can you be real? 

 

This is a love poem composed by Nabiha Syed, a  Class of 2024 computer science major in the Honors College. In celebration of National Poetry Month, “186 South College” will be posting the work of Honors students every Sunday throughout the month of April as bonus content. If you or someone you know would like to share their work as a guest writer like Nabiha, we are still accepting submissions at this link: https://bit.ly/186Poets22

“Beyond the Comedy – Life Lessons from ‘Friends'” by Yamini Vyas

November 16, 2021 / / Comments Off on “Beyond the Comedy – Life Lessons from ‘Friends'” by Yamini Vyas

236 episodes. 10 seasons. One of the most popular television shows of all time. Friends revolves around the intertwined lives of six friends who navigate their 20s and 30s in New York City. Categorized as an American sitcom, the series definitely lives up to its name. Each episode is created with the perfect amount of comedic timing, sarcastic remarks, and playful banter. But behind that comedy lies a plethora of teachings to take away and implement into our own lives. As a bigger-than-huge fan of Friends myself (I’ve watched the entire show more than three times), these are the five main lessons I have recognized and continuously try to implement in my own life: 

Continue reading

Guest Post: Valerie Light ’22 says enter the FYS writing contest

August 10, 2020 / / Comments Off on Guest Post: Valerie Light ’22 says enter the FYS writing contest

We asked Valerie Light ’22 to reflect on entering the FYS Common Reader Essay Contest in the first weeks of her freshman year.  Honors students are encouraged to enter and are frequently among the prize winners.  Valerie wrote an essay on Hope Jahren’s Lab Girl, the common reader chosen for 2018. Read on for Valerie’s thoughts:

Sitting at my Redding desk with my laptop squeezed between the clutter of my attempted home-feeling decor– picture frames reminding me of Georgia, encouraging notes from family and friends, and so much makeup– I embarked upon my first college assignment. It’s only for completion, I told myself. You get to talk about yourself in the essay, which is a talent of yours (I’m upsettingly comfortable with self-bragging.) I just wanted to get it done for the sake of ripping off the academic Band-Aid and passing UNIV101. 

At the beginning of college, so much is unpredictable and uncontrollable. I did not know anyone at UD coming from an opposite side of the country, I had no clue how I would make new friends, I didn’t know whether I was going to be academically prepared or not, and I barely knew how to do my own laundry– let alone take care of myself 700 miles from home. Reading the summer book was my way of knowing that I had one thing under control— my first assignment of college would be navigable. Being able to know what I was writing my essay about was going to provide me some sort of comfort in such an uncomfortable transition in my life. My roommate and I, who were complete strangers, were able to spend our first awkward days together reading the last few chapters of the book. This shared experience– a book club within the confines of our Redding room that burst with pink fur pillows and more wall art than the walls could support– meant more to me than I would have expected. When I submitted the essay, I had no understanding of what clicking that submit button would have meant to my college experience and my freshman year.

Winning the Common Reader Essay Contest filled me with an overwhelming sense of belonging. Less than a month into my time at Delaware, the University was already investing in me and my education. The scholarship was a special facet of the win; but, what was more important than that was the affirmation that I was academically prepared for the four years ahead of me. Oh, and the ego boost that accompanied the win. That was nice, too. 

This year’s Common Reader is Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented American by Jose Antonio Vargas.  Get reading!  The book is available in paperback as well as an e-book and audio book. 

Older posts

Tags

academics adventure advice Blue Hens Campus career challenge class classes college community Delaware Dominican Republic enrichment friends future global UD goals graduation hobbies honors Honors Memories learning life lifestyle Music National Poetry Month nature organization photography poetry Quarantine reflection research school semester service spring spring break student student life study abroad time UD UDaB

Archives

© 2024

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

Skip to toolbar