My name is Anna Meisenheimer and I am studying Psychology at St. Lawrence University. I enjoy it because I love working with people and I am interested in exploring what makes people “tick.” In addition, I feel that positive human interaction is very gratifying for me and humanity as a whole. With that said, my plans after graduation include obtaining a graduate’s degree in Clinical Psychology, so that I may help people on a daily basis (or so I hope).

My first English course that I took in college was during my first semester freshman year. Unfortunately I decided to major in other extracurricular activities besides academics, and my grades, especially the grade of this course took a toll. My second and final (until now) English course was actually my second semester freshman year. It was called “Creative Fiction Writing,” or something of the sort. During that semester I decided to focus more on academics, and it turned out I thoroughly enjoyed the class. Though it was writing intensive, it allowed me to draw on my imagination and even fond memories and tie it into a humorous, serious or off-the-wall story. To add, it surprisingly harnessed my writing skills for future courses that required analytical, fictional or scientific writing.

The liberal arts education of St. Lawrence University has allowed me to explore many areas of education that I would have shied away from if it wasn’t mandatory to fulfill distribution requirements. Gender and Society with Prof. Hornsby-Minor happened to be one of these courses. I have to say that it was one of the most meaningful courses that I have taken thus far. We learned about gender roles, sexuality and race on a macro and micro level, and our individual place in these socially constructed domains. This class actually drew me to Survey of African American Literature, and I hope that I may learn more about these contentious topics from perhaps a more historical perspective.

If I was to provide a census with my subject positionality, I would say that I am a white, female, upper-middle class American who is a full-time student living in Upstate New York. Though on paper this may provide the census with valuable statistics, I find this sort of information to be rather minimal in my own personal identity, and even superficial to humanity at large. If a friend or acquaintance was to ask me the same question, I would answer that I am a spirited 21 year old female that loves her family, friends, and the outdoors. I am unwavering in my ideals and truly believe that nature is the medicine for almost all of life’s ailments. Optimism is an important quality to me as well. I find that my family and greatest friends share these beliefs too and I am most drawn to those sorts of people, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or socioeconomic status. Basic human connection is organic and universal. I found this statement to hold true when I studied abroad in Europe and realized that I could still establish meaningful connections despite language barriers, history or place of origin. With that said, I feel like an insider when my ideals of family, friends and the outdoors coincide with those around me. I may be similar to others simply by one ideal or by all. Nonetheless, any sort of commonality gives me that basic human connection that I strive for. On the contrary, I feel a bit of an outsider when I have nothing in common with those around me. However, if I search hard enough, I often do find a commonality in something and can obtain a connection on those grounds.

Though this is how I identify myself, I feel that society at large has different standards that are based on the superficial, socially constructed criteria such as race, gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status. This saddens me that so many social issues/wrongdoings throughout history have been justified by these constructs, and whose consequences are long-lived in today’s society. Fortunately for me, because of my skin color I have not had to endure any of these hardships, and I think this is in part why my own personal identity has nothing to do with skin color or other societal constructs mentioned above. I look forward to this class to hopefully gain a better perceptive on what makes society “tick” in regards to these topics.