Can I Redeem Myself?

Today's presentation was an enormous failure on my part ... I didn't come to class with something concrete from my paper to present and I whizzed through my presentation only explaining the very basics of what I'm writing about. I was followed by Lisa, Taylor, Sam, and Tai ... how intimidating! Those presentations were amazing and have given me the inspiration to structure my paper a bit differently. On to more editing.

The truth is, I only have about four good pages of material for my paper. The rest is scribbled out in notes or kicking around in my head like it has been for the better part of three weeks. I know what I want to present and how I want to present it, but I keep coming up short. How is it possible to have everything displayed perfectly in your own head and then mess it all up when it comes to actually writing the thing? Anyway, I have to begin in my end (because in my end is my beginning) and go from there. I will talk about my experiences as an English major and everything that has led up to this moment, and then I want to talk about other experiences, like those of Roethke, Hamlet, Eliot, and probably Browning and Keats. I have about four pages of analysis written up on two poems (one by Browning, one by Keats), but I don't want my paper to be completely about analysis. It needs to have more depth and more umph... !

Taylor's paper in it's entirety was inspiring... she has a way with words different from everyone else in the class. I like how she has tied her own experiences in so perfectly with authors and characters from our stories. I always love hearing Sam speak because her words are soft and subtle but the message behind them is always so powerful. Tai is always hilarious... and inappropriate, which is what I love about him. I realized during presentation, though, that while I am very nervous to present something solid, everyone in class is pretty nervous to put themselves out there with something they have created. Such is life. I need to just get it done.

I will have something to READ on Wednesday or Friday, whenever Dr. Sexson will let me go! And I will have my paper posted in it's entirety this evening or day after for everyones viewing pleasure.