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I would describe myself as a Scandinavian-American biology nerd and track athlete. I find that that strongest feelings I have about my self described identity are related to my choice of athletics and study of science as activities that I associate with. Though there are many other traits that I can use to categorize myself, I find that I usually describe myself by the essence of my scholar athlete involvement. I have always worked to find a balance between these two areas of my life. In many places, these traits can seem incongruous- the extreme social sketches of each the scholar and the athletes paint different images. Pop culture may brand an athlete with certain social perceptions; as someone involved in the physical and not bound to examining the details of the world around them. Meanwhile, the most studious and successful student is perceived as absorbed in the microcosm of their field and work, atrophied and bound to a lab or desk. While I certainly do not see myself as either, and know few people who would fit these almost garishly simplistic sketches, I do realize that parts of me do not cross between these different worlds. For ease of getting through practice, I do not consider the flow of blood through my body as I feel my heart pump- I only see my feet move or hear the dull thud against my ribs. When studying, my body ceases to be a tool in my progress; the world becomes solely a miasma of images that are formed from layering page after page of text. In both worlds, I am an insider when I have centered myself to be so; but it would be just as simple to become an outsider in each as well, lapsing into the wrong plane of thought and becoming stranded from the reality of that situation. I identify still with my Scandinavian grandparents; my mother’s parents lived in Denmark for many years, spending their youth there and moving back to Germany in middle age for several years. However, by being American born and raised, and unable to do more than mimic the names and placed of the pieces of Danish culture passed through my family, I am forever separated form being recognized as more than of Danish descendance by my relatives in Denmark.

The juxtaposition of being an athlete and a student helps to motivate me to do more; the constant banter and switch between these parts of myself keeps fresh viewpoints on how to learn material, and allows me different perspectives on material. When I was in Techniques of Fiction, my only prior experience with English courses at St. Lawrence, these two view points were useful in blending and creating new characters for stories, that were less flat than had I needed to write them with only one lens of experience. I had a great experience in that class, and it helped me to find a love of writing that can often be worn thin by overuse in scholarly assignments. However, I do love what I study. I am I biology major, on the health career track. I settled on my major since it is situated at the confluence of everything I have enjoyed learning until now. The engineering classes at my hometown community college, the people skills from volunteering at schools, the level headedness from sports competition, all of it eventually finds an eddy to add to what I’ve learned in biology and form the basis of knowledge I would like to build my future on. I hope that in this class I can improve my analysis of literature; I have always been a voracious reader, and the chance to get a variety of new opinions on books is always interesting. No matter how many readings I could do of a book, I can only look at the text with one frame of experiences, my own. Class examination of readings offer new reference frames to examine the literature. Also, to look at the genra as a whole, the alternate experiences of people are important to consider. If I do end up being able to become a health care worker, I would interact on a regular basis with others who have an uncountable number of backgrounds. Since literature often puts the reader mentally into another person’s shoes, exposure to a genre of literature that describes the experiences of others can provide valuable insight.