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[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

winter break is here...and just about gone! what a lovely opportunity to read lots of books. or talk about how you want to read lots of books.

new blog post - spring semester schedule

say hi on twitter - @EnglishMajorMag

link to video

[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

A NEW SEMESTER BEGINS (SOON)! - Spring Semester Schedule

There’s something undeniably, automatically exciting about new beginnings, even if you spend half your days laughing at memes about how time doesn’t exist (which I do). I keep joking about “new year, new me,” and have even made a couple changes to my life that may or may not pan out, but I seriously am incredibly excited for Spring Semester 2017.

Part of it is just continuation of the immense relief that Fall Semester 2016 is over. There was something inherently terrible and exhausting about the whole thing that pretty much everyone at my school (and beyond?) seemed to feel. This winter break was much-anticipated and much-needed, and I’m very glad I’ve still got something like a week left of it.

But next semester is gonna be fun.

Maybe this will be the year I actually do that two-copies-of-your-notes-for-better-retention thing. Maybe this year I’ll color code my writing for longer than three weeks. Maybe my room will stay tidy for more than three minutes.

Maybe not.

But this is definitely the semester I get to take five awesome new classes, and as a Class-A nerd I’m incredibly excited to get started. Plus, my courseload for the Spring looks like one of the best I’ve ever had.

Without any further ado, let’s take a look at MAGGIE’S SPRING 2017 CLASS SCHEDULE!

1.      SHAKESPEARE

I’ve been wanting to take a Shakespeare class since I started college, or maybe even before, so I’m obviously psyched to finally be getting there Spring Semester of my junior year. I have a moderate interest in the works—I’ve only read a few of them, but I really enjoyed Macbeth and Twelfth Night. Plus, if we’re being honest, modern Shakespeare adaptations like She’s The Man and 10 Things I Hate About You are my jam.

2.      JANE AUSTEN IN LITERATURE AND FILM

I shouldn’t even have to explain why I’m so excited for this. I am rather behind on my Jane Austen phase, but I like the lady as much as…well, I don’t know what comparison point to use because I’m not sure I like her quite as much as the next English Major, but I am hype for the class. It’s also taught by one of my favorite professors, a very snarky lady whom I love dearly.

3.      ENGLISH LANGUAGE

This class was officially the last addition to my courseload for the semester, but I’ve also been looking forward to taking it since I heard about it in fall of my sophomore year. I’m still not even one hundred percent sure what we’re going to be learning, but it definitely has something to do with the history and syntax of the English language, and I am very on board for it. Another pro is the professor, who is one of the most fun and enthusiastic professors I’ve ever had. As described by both me and another teacher, he pretty much just knows everything.

4.      SOCIAL MEDIA

This is a really exciting addition to the list for what I assume are obvious reasons. You may know by now that when I grow up I want to work in social media, so this class was a no-brainer that the rest of my schedule was built around. I will almost definitely be talking about what goes on in this class as the semester goes on. With any luck, it’ll help this blog suck less!

5.      HISTORICAL METHODS: WITCH CRAZE

This is probably pretty obviously the outlier of this list. I’m an English major and one of my minors is Communications, so the above classes don’t really draw the eye the way a history class about witches does. Yes, to answer a question you might have, this class is specifically for history majors and minors. I am neither of those things. But it’s taught by my absolute favorite professor (I had him for my school’s equivalent of freshman seminar), who one day said to me something to the effect of, “hey, I’m teaching this class about witches, it’s going to be awesome, take it,” so here we are. I’m not really what would be called a history person, but I’m still pretty hype about it.

So there we have it! That’s my class lineup for this semester. What about you? What kind of classes are you taking? What are you looking forward to? Dreading? Have you taken any of these classes before? Do you have any new year/new semester resolutions? Any recommendations for resolutions for me? Let me know!

plus, check out my new video about winter break and future plans, coming soon!

[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

My first video is up over at HashtagEnglishMajor on Youtube! I’d love it if you’d check it out, subscribe, and share!

intro blog post: http://hashtagenglishmajor.tumblr.com/post/148267807231/introducing-me-blog-edition

say hi on twitter: @EnglishMajorMag

link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1dpeRmlBpA

[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

Introducing Me: Blog Edition

Hello and welcome to Hashtag English Major! This is the part of the show where I talk about me for a while before we get to talking about books, which I presume is why you’re actually here.

If you’d like to hear even more about me, check out my intro video over on my youtube channel! 

And now, without further ado...

NAME: Maggie

AGE: twenty

EDUCATION: about to enter my junior year of college at a small Catholic liberal arts college in Maryland

CURRENT FAVORITE BOOK: The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

CURRENT FAVORITE SONG: Make You Stay by The Girl and the Dreamcatcher has been stuck in my head for three days. Breaking Up My Bones by Vinyl Theatre, Something Better by Audien feat. Lady Antebellum, Getaway Car by My Favorite Highway, Fix My Eyes by For KING & COUNTRY, and various others that I won’t get into just for time reasons are on my Spotify “priorities” playlist, which basically means I listen to each of them 2-5 times a day.

CURRENT FAVORITE DRINK: Bigelow Vanilla Chai with what I’m told is a disturbing amount of sugar

CURRENTLY READING: I’m slowly making my way through Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo as well as Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. Next (hopefully soon) I’ll be starting one of the books I mention in this video (link coming soon)!

CURRENTLY WATCHING: I just started season 7 of Gilmore Girls, as I’ve been racing to finish before the new episodes come out. #TeamJess4Life #LetLukeAndLorelaiBeHappyPlease. As far as movies go, I’ve watched One Small Hitch three times in the last month and a half, so. There’s that.

FAVORITE CLASS EVER: This is basically an impossible question because I am a huge nerd, but I can say that I absolutely adored my Intro to Literary Study I and Software Development classes, both taken in my sophomore year of college, my Detective Fiction and Film and Origins of the West classes, both taken freshman year, my Synoptic Gospels class this summer, and my Latin classes in high school. To name a few.

WORST CLASS EVER: Latin 201 and 202 my freshman year of college. (Everything changed when an entirely different teaching style and testing method than my high school Magistra attacked.) GPA killers, the both of them. Also, APUSH.

EARLIEST READING MEMORY: I vividly remember bringing my mom’s copy of Beezus and Ramona for silent reading time in first grade, and showing it to my teacher. (Also, can we just take a moment of silence for the lack of silent reading classtime in college? I miss it. I miss it so much.)

EARLIEST WRITING MEMORY: I can’t remember what EXACTLY the first story I wrote was, but I know some early contenders would be a series about twin detectives and a truly startling number of stories about horses. The first story I ever wrote start to finish that was a coherent whole was, I realize now (though I had no clue at the time), straight-up Little House on the Prairie fanfic. I think it even included characters from Little House. If I recall correctly, it was about 40 pages of bright orange, probably size 18 font.

FUTURE PLANS: Short term – get this blog up and running, successfully pull off my college’s August Orientation program, do wonderfully in this upcoming school year, get a good night’s sleep sometime soon. Long term – graduate college, get a job in publishing (preferably in social media), get married and have a family.

HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR ME? Feel free to ask them in reblogs/replies, in comments on my channel, or on my twitter @EnglishMajorMag

[hashtagenglishmajor-blog]

6 of the best things I’ve read for class and 1 of the best things I haven’t

Because I wouldn’t have read them if someone hadn’t forced me to, so now I’m forcing you

1. Twelfth Night, or What you Will by William Shakespeare                “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit”

Disguise, mistaken identity, forbidden romance, unbelievably witty snarky fights, clever women, crossdressing, and a modern adaptation starring Amanda Bynes? What’s not to love? Twelfth Night is incredibly funny, and my absolute favorite out of the works by Shakespeare I’ve encountered (which, to be fair, isn’t that many). I read this play in my Intro to Lit Study I class, and I wrote one of my favorite essays I’ve ever written about it. And then I watched She’s the Man again.

2. “Head, Heart” by Lydia Davis            “Help, head. Help heart.”

This is a wonderful little poem that packs a lot of punch into a few short lines. I don’t have too terribly much to say about it, other than to eagerly encourage anyone and everyone reading this to go check it out for themselves. Of course, that’s my goal with everything on this list, but this particular entry is very short and readily accessible with just one quick Google search. Go ahead, Google away and enjoy. I’ll wait.

3. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie            “It had come about exactly in the way things happened in books”

This one I read for a class called Detective Fiction and Film. I’ve always had a considerable liking for mystery stories (I live for the triumphant moment when I actually figure out the twist more than two pages before it’s revealed), but somehow I’d never cracked open an Agatha Christie novel. This was one of those times a class forced me to read a great book I’d somewhat meant to read but probably never would have gotten around to picking up myself. For the record, I totally failed to guess the murderer. I know, I’m disappointed in me, too.

4. “Mid-Term Break” by Seamus Heaney            “Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, / Away at school”

Seamus Heaney’s poetry is some of the more accessible I’ve read, but even so I definitely would not have read it if I hadn’t taken Modern Irish Literature. Sorry, Seamus. That said, the more I delved into his poems the more I liked them. Having to write a 9-page research paper on just a few poems really helps you form an attachment. “Mid-Term Break” sticks with me (haunts me, really) in a way none of the others really do. The narrative is clear and easy to understand, even as the reader is as alienated as the speaker from the events. It’s easy to feel what the speaker feels. My heart drops every time I hit that last line.

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley             “If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear”

What I learned reading this book for class is that I really did not know the story of Frankenstein and his creature that well. I haven’t consumed a lot of Frankenstein-centered content, but I thought I knew the gist of the book. In actuality, I found the book contained a lot of central figures and ideas that are simply missing from the general public’s view of Frankenstein, or at least mine pre-reading (“Who is this Elizabeth person? And Clerval? Wait, I know Frankenstein-is-the-doctor-not-the-monster, but he’s not even the narrator? What’s up with this guy Walton?”). There were, of course, pieces that were familiar to me. For example, I knew the poor creature just wants to find love and decides that murder and threats are the appropriate course of action to achieve this goal. Whether you know it’s coming or not, it makes for an exciting read.

6. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs            “I am telling you the plain truth”

This, you may notice, is the only thing on my list that isn’t a novel or a poem. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a nonfiction slave narrative that I read for the first time this semester, but I definitely intend to read it again and recommend it far and wide. The autobiographical narrative follows, as you may have gleaned from the title, the life of a slave girl (referred to throughout by a pseudonym, Linda). Harriet’s story is a tragic story of suffering, but it is also a beautiful story of her perseverance, strength, love, and faith. Importantly, it is more than simply a documentation of her own trials—though that would have been enough. It is also a plea and a call to action for Northern women, asking for their help to end slavery and the suffering of their fellow women. In short, Harriet Jacobs was boss.

+1. The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater            “Blue was a fanciful, but sensible thing. Like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches that had been cut into circles for a fancy tea party.”

Magical realism, dynamic characters so real you can hear them breathing, street racing, talking forests, psychics, rich and arrogant teenagers, deep and life-changing friendships, dangerous and desperate quests—I could go on for a while, but I think this brief list is a nice sampling of the incredibly large number of things the Raven Cycle has to offer.

Maggie Stiefvater’s four-book series has so much depth and so many layers it might take twice as much time to dig through them all as the years it took her to craft them. She herself said that “My goal with the Raven Cycle was to write a series that rewarded the re-read (and the re-read of the re-read) and required the reader to pay rather closer attention.” I’m confident they’d stand up to a semester’s worth of critical analysis—and likely much more. Besides that, they are simply breathtakingly easy to fall in love with.

The final book in the Cycle, The Raven King, came out April 26th, which means there is plenty of time for professors to catch up on them and prepare a course that could be offered next spring. I’m just saying…

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(***disclaimer--this post was originally written as an assignment for my intro to literary study ii class)