Concluding Freshman Year

May 7, 2009

Summer!

Hopefully I’ll spend it productively. I was going to spend the summer in Vietnam to teach kids English, but that didn’t work out.

For now, my plans will be to try to find a job, read a lot of good books, stay active, and spend a week as a coordinator for Cornerstone Journalism Institute.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my and other bloggers’ entries. If you’re coming to Cornerstone next semester, I’ll look forward to meeting you!

--Logan

The Magic of Saran Wrap

Mar 20, 2009

Most people use plastic wrap to cover their food.

My friends use it to prank my next door neighbor.

European Heritage Tea

Mar 17, 2009

Today Cornerstone had its second European Heritage Tea. English Society is doing it in conjunction with the Multicultural Organization and we’re trying to make it annual!

If you couldn’t tell from my other entry, I love tea. They also had other European snacks that were pretty scrumptious.

European Heritage Tea is an informal event for students to come in and relax in a more academic environment. Students come up and read poetry throughout the event (I read a poem from Sylvia Plath and an excerpt from The Phantom Tollbooth!), enjoy European cookies, and there’s even some festive music (my friend Raya played the bagpipes!)

English Society and the Literary Magazine

Mar 5, 2009

English Society meets every Wednesday here at Cornerstone.

Every month we have a theme to focus on, and at the end of each month is our Critique Night. Whoever has a writing piece can share it so everyone else can critique it. It’s pretty enjoyable!

This month’s theme is creative nonfiction, one of my favorites!

We’ve also started focusing on our senses, with this week’s sense being smell. I forgot to explore my sense of smell, but I did notice that the men’s bathroom in the Bolthouse building has a pretty pleasant smell. It’s kind of like the mixture of spring and the scent of a dollar store.

Anywho, our theme two months ago was poetry. We opened our first day by exploring what poetry was. I came across quotes in the “Harper Book of Quotations” (great book, check it out!) that I’m really fond of, so I’m going to share them with you.

So…what is poetry?

Poetry must be new as foam, and as old as the rock.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A poet dares to be just so clear and no clearer; he approaches lucid ground warily, like a mariner who is determined not to scrape his bottom on anything solid. A poet’s pleasure is to withhold a little of his meaning, to intensify by mystification. He unzips the veil from beauty , bur does not remove it. A poet utterly clear is a trifle glaring.
E.B. White

When you write in prose you say what you mean. When you write in rhyme you say what you must.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a lovesickness. It is a reaching-out toward expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.
Robert Frost

Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air.
Carl Sandburg

For me, poetry is an evasion of the real job of writing prose.
Sylvia Plath

Good quotes, eh?

And now for some very exciting news.  Cornerstone University English Society (or CUES for short) is publishing its annual literary magazine this fall!

And I’m proud to announce that this mere freshman is going to be a significant part of this project. I’m going to be a judge AND I helped come up with the new name for the literary magazine (Cornerstone University English Society’s Literary Magazine is just a mouthful). From now on it will be called “Feathers & Leaves”

For all you Cornerstone students, alumni, faculty, and staff who are reading this:

PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR WRITING PIECES BEFORE MARCH 31st!

We want this magazine to be successful, so please submit something. And if you’re worried about your writing being subpar, don’t fret it. Only the judges will read it, and it it’s not good, then it won’t go through (which is a cruel way to put it).

Just sayin’,
Logan

Facebookless

Feb 25, 2009

Today is Ash Wednesday, so in the spirit of Lent, a handful of my friends have decided to give up Facebook for a month. Being the bandwagon jumper I am, I joined on this little escapade as well.

Well, I didn’t really agree to it. But a little conversation between me and my roommate “convinced” me to do it. Here’s how it went:

Paul: Logan, you should totally give up Facebook with me!

Me: I don’t think I can do that…

Paul: C’mon Logan! Think about how good it would be for you. You would get so much homework done. Emma , Meredith, and Raya are doing it.

Me: I don’t think I want to.

Paul: C’mon, just give me your profile and I’ll change your password.

(five minutes of debating pass)

Paul: Okay, turn around.

Me: Fine.

Paul: Okay. It’s changed.

Afterwards, I check my profile for any last notifications and then proceed to logout. Clicking on that log out button was probably the biggest regret I’ve ever made in my life (no hyperbole intended).

Not only that, but I feel like Lent has gradually lost its meaning. Ash Wednesday might as well be called This-Is-The-Time-Of-The-Year-When-I-Have-To-Give-Of-Something-For-Forty-Days-Because-I-Don't-Know-Why Wednesday.
And now I guess I'm guilty for contributing to the loss of meaning as well.


But I was really surprised by myself, ‘cause it was just only 15 or 20 minutes later that I was suffering from Facebook withdrawal. I never realized how this mere social networking site had almost completely consumed me!

This is sort of embarrassing, but within hours of my FB password being changed, I would habitually type in the Facebook URL and sign in (it’s a reflex for my fingers, both typing in the website and my login!) only to find that I was denied access. The first time was understandable. But honestly, I did it about 4 times after that. HAH!

I was a bit skeptical (considering Facebook is my main means of nonphysical contact) but I can see how this will be beneficial. My Facebook withdrawal says that much at least.


Now that Facebook is out of the way (for a good number of weeks, that is), I can definitely focus on more things like homework, studying, checking out my “things to check out” folder (it’s jam-packed with promotional flyers for mission trips, international studies, and charities that I willingly take from the organizations’ stands), and this blog!