New Major profiles | Farewell to Solvei | Senior Spotlight
Meet the New Majors!
The class of 2028 has declared and we have a slew of new English majors to introduce to you. We asked, “Where should an English department OCS go?” and “What word or punctuation makes the most frequent appearances in your writing?”
Leonardo De Alba
I would love to drop an OCS program full of Carleton English students into Subterraneous Earth from Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” or Cornwall, England from Daphne du Maurier’s “The Birds” when all the birds are out and about. It’s hard to choose just one!
If, my, professors, aren’t, falling, into, a, comma, coma, and, my, sentences, aren’t, running, on, and, on, and, on, and, on, then, I’m, not, doing, it, right,
Jordyn Richter
Gotham City in LEGO Batman in 2017. It would be great.
Definitely a semicolon!
Sara Alvarenga
Delaford Estate in Dorset, England during the 1790s (the house looked nice in the Sense and Sensibility film!)
My favorite word to overuse is “however”!
Annika Getz
Prince Edward Island from the Anne of Green Gables books.
Em dash all the way.
Nick Chou
Middle-earth but only during the Second Age when they banished Morgoth.
…
Clare O’Connor
Timbuktu in the late 15th century
Em dash
Septimus Chen
Lusitania from Speaker for the Dead.
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Precilia “PK” Kangni
Wakanda in the year 2050.
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Noelle Paek
Castalia from The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse.
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Kian Quinn-Calabrese
The planet of Scadrial from the Mistborn series.
“Amazing,” “spectacular,” “incredible,” and “truly.”
Cole Urban
Is the easy answer somewhere from Lord of the Rings? Yes. Am I going to take the easy answer? Yes. The Shire or Rivendell would both be nice.
If em dashes have a million fans, I’m one of them.
If em dashes have five fans, I’m one of them.
If em dashes have one fan, that one is me.
If em dashes have no fans, I am no longer alive.
I loveee em dashes so so so much and I am SO mad that AI is stealing the beauty of the em dash away from us.
A Fond Farewell to Solvei Robertson
The 2LM is saying goodbye to our beloved administrative assistant, Solvei Robertson, as she moves downstairs to work in the Office of the President! We asked Solvei to reflect back on her time with the English Department.
Looking back on your time with the English Department, what is an event that stood out as especially fun for you?
I really enjoy the new major event, just to see the seniors and juniors welcoming those sophomores. It’s always fun to see how they interact with faculty too.
I would also say something very similar is comps. It’s really nice to meet with Juniors in Spring and have it seem a little overwhelming with the comps symposium only a couple days later, seeing them overwhelmed at the prospect of them being a Senior. Then just seeing that stress being relieved at commencement, it’s just really enjoyable to me.
Anything you’ll miss about the English Department?
It’s just a cool group of people. The space is wonderful. I’ve enjoyed working with three different chairs during my time with the English Department. The first was Greg Hewett, George Shuffleton, and then Peter Balaam. It’s been nice to see how they each bring their own styles.
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
I work closely with some people on first Laird, helping out with their schedules. You know, I’m learning new aspects of the campus. I knew the academic side of things and I tried to know the student side of things as much as I could, so it’s just been interesting to meet a whole different group of people.
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We at the 2LM are so grateful for the work Solvei has done for both our beloved publication and the Carleton English Department as a whole. Thank you so much for all the effort you’ve put in for us! We are excited to see what you’ll accomplish in the Office of the President!
-Your loyal Miscellany editors
Senior Spotlight: Sophia Morse-deBrier
It’s that time again—wondering what our creative writing seniors are up to? Read on to find out.
What are your current post-graduation aspirations?
I’m going to work as a researcher at UCLA next year before hopefully heading to medical school, although I may find that that is not the right field for me. Ultimately I want to be in a field where I can leverage what I have learned to help people.
What was your favorite class you ever took?
A creative writing class with Gregory Hewett. We were challenged to write two poems each week of distinct form. It was the first time I’d been introduced to many types of poetry that I ended up loving, such as sestinas and villanelles. I continue to experiment with the poetry forms he introduced me to all those years ago.
What advice would you give to future creative writing minors?
Really enjoy the process of writing, and choose the medium that you feel best in. Don’t judge your work for the material quality or what you think others may think of it but based on how you felt producing it. Don’t be afraid to let your emotions show through in what you produce and the process you took to create. Also, there is no shame in writing a poem that rhymes.
Favorite book of all time?
The Art of Racing in the Rain was the first book that brought me to tears simply through the words on the page, getting to see the human condition through the lens of a character who isn’t human inspired a lot of perspective work I did in my early poems.
What’s your most “creative writing minor” trait?
I’ve been known to sometimes speak in strange ways about benign topics. I described my middle school fashion as wearing “long shorts that fall below the knees with socks that come up to meet them” which I have since been told is not the typical way to describe it.
What’s your comps topic/thesis?
My chemistry comps was a deep dive into a chemist, Dr. Squire Booker. Our presentation title was “What a Cluster! An analysis of three radical SAM enzymes” in which we discussed radical chemistry, organic synthesis, iron sulfur clusters, and the application of this research in counteracting antibiotic resistance.