One of my favorite memories of being an English major was when Irene Wilson gifted myself and my fellow classmates a book of funny and profound quotes from Dr. Mack collected throughout the semester of our Drama Intensive. I will always cherish it!
Also, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to every member of the English department. I will always appreciate my decision to attend CUA specifically because of the passion and support this department has offered us. The English faculty members create an environment that made me feel cool for loving literature, and I am grateful for all the ways they pushed us to be our very best and shared their knowledge, wisdom, and humor with us. I don't believe any other English program at any other school would have helped me in the ways the CUA program did.
- Kate Lorio
Favorite Memories:
- I really loved our English Major dinner at the Pryz Chick-fil-A.
- Dr. Auerbach once dedicated half a class to taking "Which Bronte sister are you?" quizzes, and it was awesome. Everyone wants to be an Emily but let's face it... most of us are Annes.
- Dr. Mack's unique Rome program extra credit assignment. We had to recite Mark Antony's "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." at the Forum. Togas optional. See picture below.
Advice:
Join English Society! Also keep your 231/232 notes. :)
Message to English Department:
Thank you so very much to all the English students and faculty! Engaging with this department was the highlight of my time at CUA. It has been a privilege to be part of a community that is so welcoming, humorous, and kind. I'm incredibly grateful.
- Maddie Allard
Favorite Memories:
One of my favorite memories from my time as an English major here at CUA is taking Narrative with Dr. Okuma. A particularly special memory from that class was the last day of class. We had just finished our final discussion of the semester and were supposed to go on our way, but no one moved — we all kept sitting there because we didn’t want the class to end! Our thoughtful discussions and close readings of everything from Pamela to Jane Eyre and Mrs. Dalloway in that class brightened each and every Monday and Wednesday morning of the semester and is a memory which I will treasure long after leaving Catholic U this May.
English major dinners are also definitely a favorite memory! Whether planned in advance or organized on the spot, it was always wonderful to take some time to have dinner and talk about literature and life with fellow English majors in the midst of a busy semester.
Exploring Washington D.C. with fellow English majors over the past four years has also been special. During our Sophomore year, Rachel Wood and I actually had the chance to go to a White House Staff Christmas party and we were able to see the White House library!
Take the time to really immerse yourself in all of the wonderful opportunities for learning and fellowship that the English Department has to offer! Go to English society meetings and hike up to the Annex for office hours and meetings with professors to talk through paper ideas and drafts. Although they may seem small in the moment, these events and meetings will be some of the most meaningful experiences of your time in college!
To the CUA English Department:
Thank you so very much for making these past four years as an English major at CUA so special! From English Society events and office hour meetings to paper conferences and discussions about literature and life in the Annex, time spent with all of you in the English Department has filled my time at CUA with so much joy. Thank you for always challenging me to improve as a close reader and writer and for encouraging me along the way, and thank you for your tireless dedication to sharing your enthusiasm and love of literature with all of us each day!
- Anna Stephens
So many of my fondest English memories cannot be captured in words...all those times reading and discussing literature in the fellowship of wonderful friends and professors, but particularly those moments in which a veil was lifted and a truth suddenly glimpsed that filled us all with awe or pain or delight. These memories are surely the sweetest, and they will never be forgotten.
Right: Dr. Auerbach's Senior Seminar class
All the same, there were many more light-hearted memories too, and here are a few, stream-of-consciousness style: all of our pre-discussion discussion sections with Mr. Djain, the “spot of blood” on the final review PowerPoint in English 231, Mr. Djain pretending to fall off a cliff when trying to explain the sublime to our English 231 class, all of Mr. Djain’s dramatic poetry readings—although “Ozymandias” particularly comes to mind, all the English major dinners, all the Mack-isms, all the times Dr. Mack would take in-class polls to learn our opinions on popular topics, the haiku that Elizabeth and I almost submitted instead of our last Inventio letter to the editor, all of the times Dr. Auerbach brought us cookies, and Jackie’s dog’s participation in the discussion on the last day of our Bronte seminar.
Quotes:
From Dr. Mack’s Shakespeare class:
“We’re going into dark places…does anyone here kind of like that?”
“You need to rebel, then we can talk”
“If you refer to yourself in the third person, then you deserve to die”
“You’re allowed to stuff socks in the mouths of people who misuse the word ‘literally’”
“You guys, I’m sorry, it’s tough…but not as bad as it was for Caesar”
“It doesn’t have to be a thunderbolt, it could be a bus! …You know, the Lord works in mysterious ways”
From Mr. Djain’s discussion section in English 232:
“As far as I’m aware, literature isn’t three-dimensional and I can’t jump into it”
(on a particularly blustery day) “No wind could keep the right, noble, and virtuous course of literature at bay”
- Rachel Wood