I Wish I Could Have Been the Love Child of Amy Poehler & Tina Fey

I just started reading Yes Please by Amy Poehler and honestly think that it is hilarious, as is anything to be touched by such a goddess. Her hilarity is obviously not something that I'll ever be able to accomplish, but I love how she uses comedy so effectively. (I wish I could say I want to use Tina Fey's book Bossy Pants, but it just didn't catch my eye like Yes Please.)

I also really enjoyed Dan Harris's 10% Happier, and really think that it influenced me to set out to write about the anxiety and other struggles surrounding being so close to the collegiate finish line. He discusses stress and his journey to being more at peace with the (asshole) voice inside his head so elegantly. I would love to look at what moves he makes rhetorically to do this without looking like a psycho with an anxiety disorder.

Right now Yes Please and 10% Happier are where I am starting with my mentor texts. I am sure this collection will grow by the end of the semester, but at least it is a start.

Athletic Stance

My stance toward my topic is easy for me to define. It is that of exposure and highlighting.
Senior year is hard and confusing and thought provoking and weird. I want to illustrate all of the aspects of it that I experience and that my peers may experience as well.

Honestly, I expect this piece to have quite a bit of self-depricating humor in it. This expectation comes from my experience with dealing with emotions of any kind. My coping mechanism is to joke or laugh stressful situations off. I also think that this type of humor will help make the topic more relatable. There are all sorts of Buzzfeed articles, gifs, and memes about how many of us feel when we're asked the inevitable question of "What are you doing after graduation?" My response is usually similar to that of George Michael in the following meme:

Shared Google Doc

This is the link to my Google Drive Folder where I will be posting all of my narcissistic thoughts and writing! Struggle through the final semester of college with me as I deal with Middle Class Caucasian Guilt and the anxiety brought on by not having a plan after May 9th.

You can also find this link again by clicking the link underneath the "Love Me" tab on the right hand side of this page.

Eyes on the Crisis

I am Cicily Webb and I am in my final semester as an English Major. I was born in Chicago, but grew up in beautiful Butte Montana, so I certainly consider the Montanan Rocky Mountains my home. I grew up as a competitive dancer in tap, jazz, lyrical, ballet, etc. and miss it more than anything. Spending so much time indoors fostered an incredible appreciation for the peaks right outside my window.  That said, I have always had a love for spending as much time in the mountains as I can. I have always been a passionate skier and have picked up trail running in the past few years. I work at the Ask Us desk on campus and at Bridger Bowl as a ski instructor. I love to keep myself busy so two jobs, school, and other hobbies certainly fill my days.

I began my career here at Montana State as a student in the Mechanical Engineering department. As much as I love calculus and physics, I felt I needed a more broad based major before I signed my life away as an engineer. Somehow (but luckily), I landed in the English department. I refer to myself as an a-typical Writing major for two reasons: First, I have never particularly enjoyed reading. However, as I have less and less assigned reading, I find myself sitting down with a good book now and again. Second, I have never had the desire to be a published author in any way. I have always been incredibly interested in how we communicate with one another and how textual interactions play into that. The ability to write well has always been important to me as well, so this major has really been an excellent fit.

When I do get around to reading, I love young adult novels, especially after a long semester of dense theoretical readings. My favorite novel is undoubtably The Great Gatsby. I also like to read things that relate easily to my own life. I have recently found myself struggling with a great deal of anxiety, so I just began reading 10% Happier by Dan Harris and I am enjoying taking my time with it.

The narcissist in me comes out when I write as I enjoy most writing about my own life and experiences. Throw what you know, amiright? The process of writing about, workshopping, proofreading, editing, and reworking these types of pieces is incredibly therapeutic for me as I begin to figure out where I exist in this world and how my role interacts with other peoples'. I am very excited to get to work in this class and see what I am capable of producing.