Picking my classes each quarter is one of my favorite things to do. Even while working through the Core and the first classes in my major, I had lots of options to choose from and always ended up with classes that I loved. But when I was picking classes for Winter Quarter this year, things were a little different. I had just finished the Core curriculum, and only had a few classes left to finish my major, so I had the opportunity to branch out and take classes that I normally wouldn’t choose. I looked through every single class offered that quarter, and I picked the ones that sounded most interesting to me. I ended up choosing "Peripheries of the Greek World," a Classics class that focused on the Ancient Greeks and their relationships with their neighbors; "Early Christian Art," an Art History class that I was taking to help prepare me for writing my BA thesis about Roman Art; and "Beginner Non-Fiction Workshop," a creative writing class.
Each week, we would read a piece of non-fiction creative writing, and write a response to it, and we would also read and critique our classmates’ works. For my piece, I chose to write about my family and my childhood. My classmates wrote about such diverse and interesting topics; each week I read their stories about artificial intelligence, travel, linguistics, boarding school, and love. Critiquing their writing helped me become a better writer, and their comments on my piece guided me in my writing. I would even swap papers with my friend who was taking Beginner Fiction Workshop, which functions in a similar way to the Non-Fiction Workshop. Each week, the three hours would fly by as we discussed authors, writing, and any tangent that came up while we were critiquing each other’s work. I would always leave class inspired, motivated to write more.
At the end of the quarter, I was a little bit sad to turn in my finished piece and end my Wednesday mornings with my classmates. I had learned so much in this class, both about writing and myself. Looking back, I’m so glad that I decided to branch out and try something new. Now, writing is one of my favorite things to do. I write almost every day, and I’m planning on taking more creative writing classes next year. I’m already signed up for Beginner Poetry Workshop in the fall!
Of all my classes, I was most excited for Non-Fiction Workshop. I have always loved to write, but never set aside significant time to do it. By taking this class, I hoped that I would learn technical skills and be inspired to write more. I went into the first day of class with no idea of what to expect. I knew that the class met for three hours, once a week, in the Logan Center for the Arts, and that there were twelve students. The first class definitely surprised me! Each student had a fifteen minute Q&A session, during which the professor and other students would ask questions about who they were, what they liked, and ultimately, what they wanted to write about.