TBT: “Reflection Time” by Avery Beer

Today’s Tuesday post falls on the last day of class this semester. For many of us, this is the time of saying goodbye to professors and classmates and reflecting on the semester as a whole before we begin final exams. Please enjoy this Throwback post from Avery Beer about reflecting on our growth as students and people during our time at the University of Delaware.

In the midst of studying for finals and wrapping up the school year, it is natural that we ponder all that we have done and all that we have learned in the last few months: about ourselves, about the world around us, and everything in between. College is for just that: self-exploration, soul-searching, seeking out passions and taking full advantage of each opportunity that crosses our paths.

I came into college thinking I knew just about everything that I needed to know. Looking back, I was so naïve, so vulnerable, yet so eager that independence was now something I could own and do whatever I wanted with it. College is a weird thing because while we are so sheltered and so enclosed in our campus environment, we can truly do whatever we wish. I am so grateful that I proved to myself that there is so much to learn not only from a textbook, but through relationships and experiences that have entered my life. I realize now that college really is not just about what grade you earn on a paper or an exam. It’s about so much more. Of course your GPA matters, but I have to keep telling myself that as long as I am learning and as long as I am applying myself and coming out on the other side with something new, then I am fully taking advantage of what I have in front of me.

Sophomore year has been the year of taking things for what they are, for accepting what I cannot change, for embracing myself and all that I am, for exploration, for proving things to myself that I did not know to be possible, for realizing how much can change in a year, and for being so grateful for where I am at whatever moment, wherever that is.  

I truly feel like I know who I am this year. I have planted myself and have grown into my own being: I have solidified everything I know to be true about myself. I have matured—in my passions, in my relationships, and in my view of everything around me. Of course, there is always learning to be done, but that is what the rest of life is for.

I think it is important to realize that as we get older and life gets scarier, we cannot neglect all the good that comes out of it also. It is so easy to fall into the traps of absorbing the negativity of maturation, but there is so much to be said for all the good that comes out of it too. We should all strive to embrace the intricacy of everything, to take notice of each little thing around us, and acknowledge that all that we know is a work of art. There is so much negativity to scare us, but there is so much beauty if you let it get to you. If we didn’t have tragedies, if we didn’t have hardship, we would not be able to value the love and generosity that goes on each day. I had my moments of struggle freshman year of highschool, but I did not let it consume me to the point where I could not see past the clouds that were blocking the sunshine.

I am eternally grateful that I have found my home here in Delaware. I have found my home in the Honors Program, at the Writing Center, in Alpha Xi Delta. I have found my favorite study spots, my favorite sandwich from Perkins, my passions, and myself. And what is the beauty of it all? That there is so much more to discover.
Happy summer, Blue Hens!

TBT: “A Little Love for the Library” by Erin Jackson

As we get closer to Finals week here at UD, please enjoy this Throwback Thursday post about Morris Library written by Erin Jackson in 2018. Through humorous anecdotes, Erin describes the sense of community and some of the many resources Morris has to offer.

Though we have all been to the Hugh Morris Library at some point by now, the building holds a different meaning for all of its attendees. For some people it is the only place they can get work done; for others it’s the ultimate destination for group projects. Some people go there as a social event, and still others use it as a way to escape the noise of an active college community. For a while, I had no idea where I fit in among these classifications of library-goers. It started out as a necessary destination whenever I needed to print something before I invested in a printer of my own. Then, after my first semester of freshman year when my laptop somehow got blacklisted from the UD internet for reasons unknown to this day, I again was forced to the library to either rent a laptop or spend time there on their desktops, knowing that someday I’d again have a functional laptop and could have more control over my study location.

It was not for a while that I began attending the library out of choice instead of necessity. I would occasionally go to the reading room between classes, or wander around the third floor until I found a rare empty seat, afraid to cough or breathe too loudly and disrupt the population already there. Even then, I felt a little lost, not having a spot of my own, a routine location I could count on. I still didn’t fit into any of my pre-determined library stereotypes, but I kept trying.

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“The Honors Capstone” by Felicia Seybold

I remember the experience of checking my degree audit during my first year here at the University of Delaware. At the time, nothing was fulfilled and there were a million and one classes that I had to take (or so it seemed). The requirement that I felt the most far away from completing was my Honors capstone course, which must be completed within the last two semesters of your degree. Well, I am now in my last semester, taking my Honors capstone. I am an Applied Molecular Biology and Biotechnology major (a mouthful, I know; I just say biotech), and we have a unique capstone course. We are placed at laboratory internships to apply and practice the skills we have learned in class. This semester I was placed at MIDI Labs (now part of Biolog), a local microbial identification lab in Newark, Delaware.

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TBT: “42°F” by Jenna Whiting

Thank you to everyone who participated in our guest writer series for National Poetry Month! To wrap our celebration up, here is a throwback from Jenna Whiting in November 2017 — a free verse on the time of year where we are wishing for cool respite from summer heat. Now, though, let’s hope things warm up again soon before the semester draws to a close…

42°F

Oh, how I am so glad to see you, merciful white numbers,

Old friends who haven’t greeted me in a year,

Floating in the stark cerulean sky of the Weather Channel app

That I scroll through, standing next to my dorm window.

Finally, after the summer’s sun overstayed its welcome,

After its warmth encroached onto the calendar squares of October for far too long,

After I thought the humidity would never cease sticking to the streets and to me,

The feeling of fall is finally in full force.

42°F

The first time that you appear from your summer hibernation

Is a special day.

I can finally snap open my dorm wardrobe door

And squish the well-worn yarn of my well-loved sweaters between my fingers as I search for the day’s attire.

I can pull on my marshmallow coat and maybe, if I’m lucky enough for the wind to warrant such a treat,

I can wrap a cat’s-ear-soft scarf under my chin and nuzzle into its cloth.

The first emergence into the autumn air from the front doors of Redding,

My sweater and coat and scarf putting forth a valiant effort in the name of warmth,

Is one to be cherished.

Oxygen, cold and crisp as a Granny Smith, enters my nose and invigorates my lungs and mind.

I breathe deeply and cherish the scent of multi-hued leaves

That have erupted throughout campus, making UD’s scenery even more beautiful than before.

I can almost taste them in all their crunchy red and brown and yellow glory.

More deep breaths with each step on the red brick paths

As my hands protest the sudden change of climate,

And I bury them into the pockets that are permanently bitten out of my marshmallow coat.

42°F

One of your best traits is your trademark holiday:

Thanksgiving and its accompanying break from school

And family time and pumpkin pie and background-noise football

And the scent of stuffing filling the kitchen and the sparkling cider that is retrieved from the basement shelves,

And curling up in blankets on the couch in front of a movie, tea or hot chocolate steaming beside me.

42°F

Thank you for instigating the lighting of candles that pervade my house with the spicy scent of cinnamon,

The fire prancing around the wax like the reindeer that will land on the roof in a month.

“But wait, watch this,” says the fireplace, competing with the candles

That can’t hold a candle to the warmth and size of the wood-fueled inferno,

And the central heating provides a familiar whir as comfy air is pushed through the vents.

42°F

I trumpet your magnificence to anyone I can.

“You’re crazy,” they all say. “I love warm weather,” they all say.

Don’t pay attention to them, 42.

You’re the best.

60°F

But wait.

How dare you, Delaware.

I love you, but you’re such a liar, as you always are when it comes to weather.

The warmth is back again,

Not as much as before,

But still here.

But I shan’t worry,

Because the cold will soon return

And settle in

Like a bear in a cave ready to sleep.

“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.

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