Thursday, March 28, 2024

Search

‘Oh Yes, of Course, I Really Like to Write’

By Victoria Davis

I like to do a lot of things. I like to go for long runs through the trails at the County Park. I like to lie on the beach from nine to five on a hot summer day, reading romance novels and playing intense games of paddleball. I like to cuddle on the couch and watch reruns of Law and Order with my dog. And yet, I forgot that I like to write. Actually, I like to write a lot.
I am officially an International Business major, with a concentration in Pre-Law. I take economics, and study accounting, and I know what all those numbers mean on the Stock Market. It’s actually a fascinating time to be a freshman business student, with all of the historical happenings in the financial world. Mergers, consolidations, deals, and “bail-outs”… these are unprecedented times.
Of course, I can’t forget to mention what it was like to be a first-time college student during the election of the President of the United States. Having sent in my absentee ballot weeks before the election, I hadn’t expected much excitement in time before November.
However, there were people campaigning for the cause on every corner. Debates were held, rallies were organized, and I even saw a few verbal arguments during class, refereed by bemused professors.
It was intriguing; never before had people of my age actually cared about politics, except maybe the 11 of us in AP Government and Politics last year.
Maryland, being a Democratic state, and the University of Maryland being a highly liberal campus, I was in the minority. I went to a few rallies for both candidates, and even asked a question at a televised debate. I was curious, mostly.
I had made my decision on my vote way before Election Day, but I was intellectually intrigued by all the hubbub and attention. And I watched the election on television, though I wasn’t as, well, passionate about it, as some people in my hallway were.
In fact, I heard there was a huge rampage on campus when it was announced Obama won (when I say I heard, I’m not kidding). It was great to witness such a huge event, even if I personally did not choose a winning candidate. But in all of the excitement in the financial and political world, I sort of swept aside a favorite past time of mine. Writing.
Yes, I know that may sound very unexciting and rather boring in comparison to the kind of year 2008 was, in the other worlds, but my passion for writing was, I guess you could say, “reignited” in my first semester English class.
University of Maryland has those lovely “CORE” requirements that make students crazy and parents want to pull their hair out. It’s a list of “categories,” and each category has classes to choose from. For instance, there is an Arts requirement, a Science Lab and a Science Non-Lab.
These have to be completed before a student can begin studying their major intensely. So, at orientation, while I was choosing my classes, I decided to fulfill my Literature requirement first, since I was exempt from Freshman English.
I chose English 205, a course called Introduction to Shakespeare. I was a little wary, but my senior year in high school I studied British Literature, and actually really enjoyed the play Macbeth. But as I sat in class and listened to my professor, I was completely caught off guard.
The first day, he gave a speech so passionate about the words and language of Shakespeare, it was almost a love speech. He did a cartwheel, and yelled at us to “feeeeeeeeeeel the language, damnit!” It was crazy, unconventional, and amazingly enough, it made me interested.
The class wasn’t about what was happening. “We have a million overpaid, unbrilliant critics for that,” but more about how it was happening, and why it was important. What is the language trying to tell us? Why is this word choice significant? Why does this matter?
I never noticed things like the reason whether to use the word “steaming” or “scorching” or just plain “hot,” besides the reason that it sounds better. I mean, it’s every high school kid’s favorite button in Microsoft Word, synonyms, right?
But hearing my professor’s favorite saying every day, “I’d give a year’s salary to have written that line” it made me curious about why I stopped writing so much.
I have filled a hundred marble notebooks with ramblings, written “books” and kept up with this column, and yet when I got to college it was the first thing I tossed aside. Well, not anymore. I like to do a lot of things. I like to play sports, and sing along to the radio really loud in my car.
I like to read old romance novels and even the classics, and lie on the beach and take pointless pictures with my friends.
And oh, yes, of course, I really like to write.
Davis, 19, is a freshman at the University of Maryland and a 2008 graduate of Middle Township.

Spout Off

Villas – To the channel40 spouter. You may be able to get Philly channel with a different store antenna. I guess that's the closest after Vineland.

Read More

Villas – It’s obvious if you take a quick glance at the ariel photo of Hereford Inlet that the grid of Wildwood development violates the natural shoreline. Stop the bickering and don’t use my tax dollars to…

Read More

Court House – Reading the Spout offs you find clear evidence that our Public Education is destroying this once Great Country. We once had the best Public Education in the World ,today 2024 our Public Education is…

Read More

Most Read

Print Edition

Recommended Articles

Skip to content