My senior learning community consisted of two courses: a writing-intensive senior seminar on Caribbean literature, taught by Dr. Erica Johnson; and a reflective tutorial examining the history, development, and use of different literary theories, taught by Dr. Anne Schotter. Not only were these courses a chance to prove my worth as an English major, analyzing works of Caribbean literature from many different viewpoints, but they gave me an opportunity to get to know my fellow English majors and learn from their viewpoints and experiences.

My experiential learning for my senior learning community consisted of my summer internships at the Staten Island Advance, where I gained invaluable experience reporting news. I faced several challenges, from proving myself in the newsroom to working two jobs in order to support myself, but I learned a lot about journalism and gained valuable contacts. This semester [written in May 2007] I am interning at a Time Inc. publication, This Old House magazine (tied to the classic Bob Vila renovation show). It has been an interesting experience, getting to know the inner workings of a magazine and writing brief pieces about tools and home products. But in the end, my time there has proven to me that I much prefer writing about news and culture—issues I care about.

In my senior thesis, “How does a woman get to be that way?: Formation and rejection of gender identity in Jamaica Kincaid’s Lucy,” I attempted to examine the character Lucy through the Marxist, feminist and psychoanalytical lenses provided by Gayle Rubin in her famous article, “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex.” By sketching out Rubin’s themes and showing how they play out in Kincaid’s novel, I also attempted to provide a starting point for women to examine their own acculturation within the sex/gender system. I started with three questions—one from the novel, one from the article, and one of my own: “How does a person get to be that way?” “What are the relationships by which a female becomes an oppressed woman?” and “How does a female get to be an oppressed woman through her relationships?” Through Lucy’s eyes and experience, I worked to answer these questions.

My thesis topic grew organically out of my studies within the senior LC. I was reading the novel Lucy for class while laid up sick in bed, giving me extra time to appreciate its complexities, when I realized that a presentation I had done on Rubin’s “Traffic in Women” article applied to much of Kincaid’s novel. In an “aha!” moment, I changed my entire topic and began to scour the book as I thought Rubin would have.

I think my experience with journalism allows me to bring a special emphasis on hard facts (think succinct citations!) rather than length. So I’ve had to lose some of that special English major “B.S.-O-Matic” talent for endlessly embellishing in order to fulfill a length requirement, in favor of picking apart my text and source line by line to prove my point. I was surprised at the positive reaction to my paper from Dr. Johnson and Dr. Schotter, and realized that I may have a place in literature grad school some day if I put my mind to it.

I also used that same kind of dedication in writing my honors program thesis this semester, entitled, “Church and State: Religion’s Role in Presidential Elections,” which examines the obstacles and opportunities religion poses for the primary campaigns of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. While this thesis was written from my passion for all things news and politics, as well as my background in religious research through my religion minor, I used the skills I learned as an English major to complete it.