Some context...
I have taken many classes during my time at the University of Denver, in the realm of music, writing, and more. To help situate and provide some perspective on my work, I wanted to share the courses from which they stemmed from:
Applied Writing 2040:
Memoir and Personal Writing
This writing course required me to explore multiple different genres in the realm of personal writing. Not just memoir, but autobiography, diaries, journals, blogs, and letters. Through close reading and analysis of multiple examples of these, I learned how to effectively draw from my experiences to construct a story in a compelling way. I think this was my favorite writing course that I completed in my time at DU. It helped me realize that creative nonfiction was one of my strongest genres and I gained a lot of confidence as a writer from this course.
In my memoir “The Little Things," I tell the story of my grandpa’s passing when I was a child and reflect on the ways his absence hit me in the later years of my life.
Musicology 2055:
Romantic Music
As a music major, I am required to take a sequence of Musicology courses that explore the various periods of music: Medieval, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and so on. In this course, I studied important vocal and instrumental works of Western Europe from 1830-1890 and explored the musical styles, performance practice issues, and historical context of the time.
In my research paper, “A Dream of Love: Franz Liszt and Princess Carolyne Sayn-Wittgenstein,” I contextualize a piece of music (Liebestraume No. 3 in A flat Major) in a historical moment in time and investigate the possible origins behind of one of the most beloved piano pieces of all time (and my favorite piece to play!).
Theories of Writing 2000:
Theories of Writing
This course helped answer a variety of basic, but crucial questions: What is writing? Where did it originate and how did it develop? How does writing differ amongst cultures? What are the different types of writing and how does our writing change in different situations? I explored the unique modalities of writing - experimenting with art, images, film, and sound in a quarter-long digital journal.
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To me this class was all about one thing...voice. I was encouraged to write in my own voice, my home voice. This class really opened my eyes and challenged me to explore my assumptions about what I thought writing in college was supposed to be. In my poem, “Beauty in the Beast,” I explore a deeply personal journey in my life, one that seemingly never ends.
​Theory, History, and Research 2555:
Diverse Rhetorics
This class was an in-depth journey through the history of rhetoric, exploring everything from Greek, Dharmic, African-American, to Women’s Rhetoric, and even more. This exploration of rhetoric through a diverse lense helped to shape my overall idea of what rhetoric aims to do, and how I can shape my own writing to be as effective and moving as possible. One of the main goals of this course was fixated on bridging three important facets of this art: writer, purpose, and audience.
My rhetorical analysis, “More Than Just a Girl,” allowed me to elaborate on my newfound understanding of various rhetorical strategies through music. I focus on the lyrics and musical intent of the song, analyzing the rhetorical effectiveness behind it all.
ASEM 2448:
Letters to the History of Photography
ASEM is a required course of all undergraduates that allows students to explore areas outside of their major. As each week focused on different photographers and a variety of monumental photographs, this course explored the multidisciplinary impact of photography and gave way to greater discussion on its impacts throughout American history. The class was focused on writing letters to photographers and short stories from personal and new photographs, showcasing our greater understanding of the art of photography in our own voice.
In my short story, “Labor Day: 1983” I was challenged to create a fictional narrative from a family photo. But here’s the catch - it had to be a family photo I didn’t know the history of. Through an intricate process of picture mapping, I draw from the littlest details of the picture and implement those as creative source material to tell a bigger story.
Writing Design and Circulation 3500:
Capstone
As the final course in the writing minor, this capstone requires students to create a portfolio showcasing all their work, synthesizing their university writing experiences in one digital platform. It allowed for reflective insight into how I have grown as a writer and where else I plan to go. I explored the fundamentals of design and how to best arrange my portfolio to reach my intended audiences.
One of the core assignments of this class was the Revision. I was challenged to take a piece from my past and revise it for a new rhetorical situation. My piece “Confessions of a Classical Musician,” is a metamorphosis of a literature review I composed three years prior, “The Well being of Classical Musicians.” It takes on a much more personal tone as I share my experiences as a classical pianist through a series of short stories.
