Questions & Answers

What are your thoughts on writing?

I thoroughly enjoy writing, mostly of the creative variety. I love writing poetry, prose, short stories, analysis, reviews, and I hope to one day complete a novel (if not many). I currently keep a creative journal and a regular journal, and I have a book review blog that I try to keep up with at least once a month. Writing is my favorite way to creatively express my thoughts and ideas.

What are your thoughts on reading? 

Reading is pretty close to breathing for me on the list of life's important activities. I love the beauty of words and the stories they weave, and I am usually content to lose myself in a book in almost any place at almost any time. While I do appreciate books on history and other non-fiction subjects, I normally prefer fiction (fantasy, contemporary, science fiction, YA, dystopian, etc). My voracious reading habits began when I was a little girl and first picked up Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods, and I have read hundreds of books since. Among my favorite novels are The Host by Stephanie Meyers; Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly; the Iron Fey novels by Julie Kagawa; My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares; The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I am currently reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

What are your thoughts on technology?

I think that technology is, like most other things in this world, an extremely valuable tool that can either be greatly utilized or horribly abused. I personally have a great appreciation for technology in general, with special appreciation for things such as my Apple iPad or HP desktop that serve to make my work that much easier and more productive. I am currently only a gamer of the Angry Birds and Dragonvale iPad app variety, but I hope that someday I will find time to become a Skyrim player. I am currently active in Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Goodreads, and Tumblr. I am not overly or unusually paranoid about my identity and security, but I also understand the necessity for precautions and discretion while on the Internet.

What are your thoughts on learning?

Learning is something that I deeply appreciate and thrive on. I love learning my favorite subjects, learning new things every day, and learning things that I can apply to my life both at the present and in the future. I believe that education is also the key to success in both a healthy society and a healthy capitalistic government, and that without education people would be miserable and in a state of acute dissatisfaction. Human curiosity demands that we be educated and constantly understand as much as we can. My personal learning style is actually a pretty even blend of audio, visual, and kinesthetic methods, but I think visual rises a bit over the others in the way my mind is able to absorb information. I do believe in projects as a way to creatively express one's thoughts on a matter and also view it in a new light, and I believe that tests/quizzes help a great deal in allowing one to retain information.

Why do you want to take this course?

Last year, I had the privilege of being able to take Honors British Literature, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really appreciated learning how to apply twenty-first century skills to learning and appreciating British literature. I also really liked the flexibility and interaction components of the online class, and so for the wonderful experience I had in last year's course alone would I have taken this "companion" course. But, as I mentioned above, I am also an avid reader and lover of literature; so a class where I to get to read books, discuss them with others who love literature as well, and get credit for it sounded like just the kind of class I wanted to be in.