My First Internship

Not only was it beautiful out today, I got a chance to get off campus and read poetry. Professor Betsy Bolton invited all twelve of the Poetry Workshop participants to help a Drexel professor read through manuscripts for the Saturnalia Press manuscript contest.

A fellow student and I had a little adventure: got on the train, navigated the city on our own, bought Auntie Anne's pretzels. 

We sat in the corner of Drexel's basement Writing Center and read through manuscripts, discussing what we should think about when choosing yes, no, or maybe. We learned quickly and got started, marveling at the stacks of unopened manila envelopes teetering in his office. It's weird to think that next year one of them will become a book that you could hold in your hands, complete with cover art and a spine waiting to be broken in.

On the train ride home, we dreamed about staying on campus through July 1 (when the process ends). Something idyllic (and perhaps causing the men and women commuting home from work on the express train to think of us as cliche): reading manuscripts out loud in the outdoor amphitheater, discussing poetry, cooking our own meals.

Turns out there's no partial summer housing on campus. Students who are specifically working at the college get first preference. And no air conditioning. Ugh.

Maybe we'll house sit for some professor. 

My First Absence

As Chief would say in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next, "I been away a long time."

Perhaps I could blame it on the lack of firsts. As spring semester started, I settled into a routine. I know what goes on in all the buildings. I've tried every meal on the rotating Sharples menu. I've even seen Swarthmore in every season (yup, it really looks like Spring is starting, just like Punxsatawney Phil predicted). 

But it would probably be a little bit dishonest, a little bit of a shiny gloss. The truth would be something more like "I forgot" or "I didn't have the time." The routine of Swarthmore somehow managed to suck up all my time. I forgot a lot of things. Like calling my mom on Friday afternoons (but maybe that had nothing to do with being busy and a little more to do with wanting to feel independent). And washing my clothes once every week. 

Right now I'm home for Spring Break and rather than doing spring cleaning (since my room here is so empty that it can't help but be neat) I'm making some belated resolutions. 

Or maybe just one big resolution: to maintain a balance. 

I'll let you know how it goes.