“Letters”

Location: My Home

Mood: Accomplished

Song: Fighter by: Christina Aguilera

Marlen,

          So I’m sitting here in my room, midterm paper is all complete and just before I go to bed I decide to write a letter to you. Well how are you doing? Well since you asked I am doing well and I figured I’d take some time to get some things off my chest. First and foremost, I have to commend you on definitely running a class like no other professor I’ve ever met in my life. You are truly unique and that’s very noteworthy. Ok, so now that I have gotten the accolades out of the way, let’s chat! Well, so far in the class I have written tons of poems, blogs, and papers about this monomythic journey. I have to say that before this class I had no idea how to formulate my life. I mean this to say, I have gone through so much that I simply had no way of organizing this journey. When you introduced Carl Jung’s ideas of Archetypes I was immediately intrigued. I began to place people in their perspective archetypes and then suddenly things began to make sense.  You then introduced the idea of a monomythic journey and I just couldn’t believe that there was actually a format for life and all its trials/tribulations.  At this point I’m excited! Thus boring the hell out my boyfriend about all monomythic/archetypes hoopla!! As time passed, I really got into the books and this by far had to be the best part. I feel as though you took different kinds of books and showed that in some way they all were interconnected. I mean I never in a million years thought I would juxtapose WaterShip Down and Siddhartha. That to me was amazing.

 I also really enjoyed your juxtaposition of different ideas and themes via Youtube. I am an avid Youtuber, so it was refreshing to have a teacher use it is a learning device this really made me comfortable and more excited about classes. I also like the fact that you do not use a conventional row seating setup in the class. I like interaction with people and being able to discuss things in a group as oppose to struggling with an idea all by myself. For the next half of the semester I am definitely going to take time to interact with more people in the class and really try to pick the brain of a different person every day. My goal for college is ultimately to receive as much knowledge as possible so since there is strength in numbers I am going to make use of my classmates knowledge and in return share my own. So, as I am nearing the close of my letter I reflect on this quote…

”A Hero’s journey is never complete, because there is always a battle to be won”….So please, follow me on my last train to Paris its sure to be an exciting ride.

                                                                   Respectfully Yours,

                                                                             Miss Lyrica R. Thomas

Final Letter:

Location: Leonard Lab

Mood: Chilled

Song: Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody

Marlen,

                So this is it!! The end! The cut off the end all be all! How you feeling? Brain dead I know, but good right?? Yea same here! Man I got to say I am most proud of the work I have done in this class I am just bursting with this sense of pride, and what better way to earn my very first A in college than with by far one of the greatest professors at IUP. So as I’m sitting here in this lab reflecting, I can’t help but go back to the very first day I stepped foot in your class. So let’s take a trip down memory lane shall we?? We shall? So I remember the day just like it was yesterday I walked into Leonard and immediately remembered that I had forgotten my schedule, therefore I had no clue where your class was. So I go to the office and ask and of course they tell me! So as I’m walking up the stairs my boyfriend Dean Text me and goes “did you find it yet”…I said “yes and the guys name is Harrison” so he text me back immediately and goes “ohh shit good luck”. Immediately I was so inclined to turn right back around and go home, but I still went on. As I entered the class room, I was immediately intrigued by what I saw. I saw probably one of the flyest professors I’ve ever seen, with music playing on Pandora and a ton of students sitting in the class in a rather unconventional style. Immediately I go up to he and I request a syllabus and instead he tells me its online and that since I was new maybe I should consult a Course assistant to see whether this course was for me. Immediately the thought of walking out seemed better and better. I was presented with a full list of books, online instructions to start a blog, and we even had a quiz! Yikes! Which I’ll have you know I passed!! So as I started to come to the class you started talking about this monomythic journey and the idea of archetypes really intrigued me. I found that I was a magician and I like that. I also realized that I used to be the orphan and that now I am a caregiver. I immediately thought that there was hope, but I never thought I’d get an A. The work was so demanding I was doing more work in this class than in my four credit classes. I even broke down into tears a few times because I really didn’t think I would make it. As time went on I began participating and saying things in class and guess what…YOU LIKED ME! Ha! This was the jackpot apparently you love participation and boy do I love to talk. From that day on I knew we would be perfect!!! I learned so much this semester just from your class it’s like you take all the things I went through this semester and taught a class on it. It’s not even like an English class it’s more of a “Life course”: The Do’s and Don’ts of living. Simply amazing! I found myself being able to understand life more because I know had a template (so to speak) to live by. You completely knocked down all barriers of unconventional teaching and totally made me feel like I can really excel in a course. Your funny ridiculously blunt, stern, motivated, and sometimes pushy and I love that about you! You gave me a chance to take a journey I will never forget. So when I went back to Dean and told him how well I was doing in the class. He laughed and said “I know babe it was fun seeing you all scared.” I couldn’t help but laugh he told me that if I wanted to earn an A that I could really feel proud of I would stay in the class. As of right now this is definitely a moment of Apotheosis. Now I feel like I can master any worlds! So you went on this trip with me…guess what we going on one next semester for 202! You ready?? I am!! See you soon!

                                                                                                                                Respectfully Yours,

                                                                                                                                Miss Lyrica R. Thomas