I stayed with the Scandinavian Studies Dept. because I found a community. As a small, tight-knit department, Scand. offers ample support and opportunities for individualizing your education experience. I got to study mythology, the Vikings and their complex civilizations, international politics, and Norwegian language and culture. I made friends with my classmates, teachers, and advisers, and even got to go abroad with them (see Year 3: Sommar i Stockholm). I got to combine many of my interests into a variety of projects, including two Honors Ad. Hoc. projects on translation, play writing, and media analysis.
If you had told me four years ago that I would be graduating with a degree in Scandinavian Studies and not Aeronautics, I would have been skeptical to say the least. But, as I stand now, I am confident in my choices and feel prepared and ready to enter the "real world". |
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This year I had the wonderfully unique opportunity to write a full length play that was produced by the UW Undergraduate Theater Society. Check This Shhh... Out was/is based on my experiences over the years of working at the Gallagher Law Library.
As I said in my Playwright's Note, "My ultimate goal for this show, other than to create an ode to the library as a fantastic and invaluable public institution, is to remind folks how hilarious real life can be. You may not think of a library as a place where "funny" happens, but I'm here to assure you that it is. As are schools, orthodontic offices, DMVs, sidewalks, etc. All you have to do is slow down and pay attention". Getting to work with several amazing undergraduate actors, directors, designers, stage managers, and crew members, to put together a show from conception to back-to-back sold out shows has been, without a doubt, the highlight of undergraduate career. I am also lucky enough to have a group of family members, friends, coworkers (even bosses), teachers, and advisers, who all showed up to support me in this endeavor. Though incredibly, incredibly difficult at times, pulling this show off and hearing the audience laugh at writing is my proudest accomplishment to date and has encouraged me to continue with my creative pursuits. |
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As I say in my Experiential Reflection to the right, finishing "Happy Endings for Whom? A Narrative Analysis of Bisexual Erasure in Lesbian Romantic Comedies" has been incredibly difficult. Writing a thesis on its own is a daunting task, but Spring 2020 has made it almost impossible with an international pandemic and county-wide civil rights movement against police brutality. As I say in my reflection, "among everything else going on, it almost feels like nothing is less important than a 30 page paper on romantic comedies".
That's not to say I've completely forgotten the merit of my work nor the passion I have for positive and accurate media representation for bisexual people, but with different anxieties piling on top of each other, it's been a struggle to keep up with my deadlines. That being said, "Happy Endings for Whom" has given me the opportunity to dive deeply into the intersection two of greatest passions, movies and Gay Movies. Media Analysis has been a thread connecting my academic across the various years and disciplines of my college career, so it feels very fitting to cap it all off with "Happy Endings for Whom?" as my final and biggest academic achievement. |
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