As I sit in a lecture hall filled with minds comprehending the combination and combustion of chemicals, my mind is elsewhere. I count down the seconds until I am able to put my earphones back in and walk to Williams Hall while listening to “Nothing’s Gonna Change My World.” That small classroom is where I belong. Learning to appreciate the beauty of natural sunlight streaming in through large windows, different types of trees, and confusion. Gabe Gudding (pudding with a G) passes on his vast knowledge of the literary world. Questions are crucial. It turns out that being confused while reading is a good thing. A great thing! There is more to learning than multiple choice questions, such as learning through posting a blog and reading other’s thoughts on the same strange novels and essays read. I have learned that there are different styles of reading and writing through books like Gertrude Stein’s How To Write and Nabokov’s Pale Fire (what a cool name for a band.) Also, I have learned that the theory ‘things aren’t always what they seem’ applies to novels as well. For example, this book that appears as commentary is really a fiction. Sentences do not have to be structured subject then verb. Variation never hurt anyone. Gabe has shown us that while breathing recycled air, role calling does not have to be looked at as a tedious, boring routine. Instead, the calling of attendance should be seen as a beautiful call and response poem. All in all, English 100 has turned out to be quite the experience, one I could have never imagined.
-Lauren Teeter
