Tag-Archive for » Washington College «

Nov
07

I haven’t been diligent about posting…

Life has been busy.

That might be an understatement.

On a typical day, I leave my house around 7:30 and drive to Chestertown while listening to BBC on satellite radio. Before this daylight savings time nonsense it was News Hour, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I suppose I’ll get used to the news program that is on after that, though today it was a lot of feature stories that were long and boring. Anyway, I drive to Chestertown and always get there 10 minutes later than I’m aiming for because I inevitably get behind a dump truck or tractor.

I work for several hours doing things I enjoy (for the most part). I am very lucky, actually. My job is pretty cool. I get to work on social media initiatives, do research, coordinate things and fill in the cracks when other people in the office need help. I’ve been compared to a swiss army knife.

Lunch is either at my desk or in the dining hall. Once in awhile I will go to the shopping center and pick up something at Rose’s on my lunch break. A floor mat. Scrubbing bubbles. Halloween makeup. But if I’m eating lunch at my desk, I am likely doing homework. That’s right, I’m still taking classes at Saint Joe’s. After this, I will only have one more semester.

I work a few more hours and then I bolt, typically at 4:30. Last week I had to stay later a couple of nights. It happens. I’m okay with that happening.

Another hour-long commute home, this time usually fighting off sleep. I will call my Mom or listen to Bloc Party at obscenely high volumes to stay awake.

Dan and I eat dinner, sit on the sofa, and go to bed. There’s usually some more homework in there. Sometimes there’s laundry.

So, I really don’t have a valid excuse for my lack of posting. I’m going to try to get better about that. Promise.

Category: Life on the Eastern Shore, Teaching & Learning  Tags: , , ,  Leave a Comment
Aug
25

The Earthquake

I was on campus.

You see, I’ve been freelancing at my old job from college since we moved to Maryland two and a half weeks ago. So, when the earthquake hit, I was sitting alone in an office on the top floor of Bunting Hall at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

In college, it was not uncommon to hear testing at Aberdeen Proving Ground, which is located across the Chesapeake Bay. My first thought, as the shaking started, was that it must be something over there. As it got worse, I was worried that the construction in front of the building had gone horribly wrong. Only near the end of the earthquake, as the bookcase in the corner rattled and the plastic of the copier down the hall creaked did I think, “This is an earthquake,” and move to the doorway of the office.

Reports say the earthquake was only twenty seconds. It felt much longer.

Other confused faces poked their faces into the hall from their doorways. We looked at each other in bewilderment. The consensus seemed to be to go outside, so I followed. I tried to text Dan, but it didn’t go through right away. Eventually he got back to me and said, “You had a tremor too?” It turned out that 50 miles away, he’d been evacuated from his building as well.

Thankfully, it was a beautiful day to stand outside for 45 minutes. The College decided to send nonessential staff home. I listened to CNN and other news stations on satellite radio as I drove an hour back to our apartment and tried to wrap my head around what happened.

I still don’t think I completely understand.

Now it’s time to prepare for a hurricane. These things seem so alien to write about as a Pennsylvanian/Marylander.

Category: Adventures, Life on the Eastern Shore  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment
Jan
15

Oi with the Poodles Already

I wrote this in 2007 for The Collegian. It was published shortly before I (and Rory) graduated and GG ended. It’s funny how I didn’t actually end up pursuing the MA in teaching then, but came back to it three years later (at a different school that offered me significant financial aid and online courses). I’m thankful for how things worked out for me, but sometimes I still find myself wondering what happened to Rory.

The month of May marks the end of an era; not only am I graduating from this wonderful institution (god-willing), but my BFF, Rory Gilmore will also be graduating from Yale and possibly leaving the airwaves of CW forever.  I’ve come to terms with the fact that there may not be an eighth season of The Gilmore Girls; besides, next year, just like Rory, I’m supposed to be a grown up with a job and some sort of future.  I know she’s been interviewing at all sorts of newspapers across the country, and I’m very excited for her.  I probably won’t be able to afford cable, so I will rely on my set of Gilmore DVDs to sustain me while I do homework as I work toward a master of arts in teaching (again, god-willing) and wonder why I chose to attempt certification to teach high school English before realizing that I’m not a fictional character who attended an Ivy League University.  Deep breath.  If Rory can graduate, I can, too.  After all, she’s a communications major but I’ve not seen her take one journalism class.  Sure, she writes for and served as editor of The Yale Daily News, and she had that internship, but I’ve only seen her in a few classes over the years, and none of them taught her how to write a good lead or get a decent job.  And why isn’t she going to graduate school?  She has enough money.  They could easily stretch out this show as long as 7th Heaven without all the stupid plot twists if they put Rory in a graduate program at Yale.

I know Rory has a bright future, whether it play out on The CW or in the fan fiction that probably exists all over the internet.   more »

Category: Television  Tags: , , , ,  One Comment
Mar
28

Arsonist Snakes, and other fun at Washington College

When I was a senior in high school, I had the pleasure of visiting the beautiful campus of Washington College to see author Tim O’Brien speak as part of something called Sophie Kerr Weekend. The weekend included the lecture, dinner with Mr. O’Brien, an overnight stay in a real dorm room and a Saturday morning writing workshop with other prospective students. This weekend trip is what convinced me to go to Washington College; in fact, after I spent the weekend there, it was the only college to which I applied. Seven years after that initial visit, I returned as an alumna for Sophie Kerr Weekend 2010 to see Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, address the prospective class of 2014.

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Category: Adventures  Tags: , , , , , ,  Leave a Comment
Oct
24

Beauty on the Bay, Part II

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Sunday morning came far too fast. We woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking, and when I emerged from the bathroom, my birthday presents were waiting for me on the bed. Dan, of course, did a fabulous job. He framed a picture of us before our He Said Beer / She Said Wine dinner and one of my favorite pictures that he took on one of our outings (and he got frames that were my style, too). He also got me the Dandy Warhols vinyl that I had drooled over–and it’s signed! The mix CD that came as part of my gift beat the mix I’d made him in August, but I wouldn’t know that until the drive home from his house that evening.

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Category: Adventures  Tags: , , , , , ,  One Comment
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