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FALL 2011 . ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 13
daunting title implied. Paul Graham ’99,
who allowed us to call him “PG,” told
us the course was equivalent to the most
challenging mathematics course SLU
ofers: Bridge to Higher Math. “Let’s call
this Bridge to Higher English, then,’”
Graham announced.
Te course met at 8:30 a.m. three times
a week. Needless to say, it was a hurdle
to be ready to discuss William Faulkner’s
Light in August, the only literary work we
would study all semester. Having acknowl-
edged this challenge, PG implemented
reveilles every morning: one student
would need to prepare an energy booster
the frst fve minutes to engage every-
one for the day’s agenda. We all became
dependent on Dunkin’ Donuts cofee,
various pastries and assorted high-energy
breakfast snacks.
I quickly found myself jumping through
the arcane hoops of post-structuralist anal-
ysis and dancing around reader response
Newswriting and my other three courses,
I quickly realized that this was the type
of writing I wanted to do. Prof. Grant’s
positive feedback and the opportunity to
formulate our own story ideas from the
goings-on in the St. Lawrence community
let me hone my skills.
For our frst real story, outside of those
provided in our course workbook, I inter-
viewed President Sullivan on his signing
of the Amethyst Initiative, a document
signed by several college presidents in an
efort to persuade people to discuss the
possibility of lowering the drinking age to
18. For once I didn’t necessarily feel like
“just” a college student. Not every student
gets to walk into the president’s ofce and
sit down with him in casual conversation.
I felt more like a professional, and was
treated as such.
As I was putting together the story,
incorporating President Sullivan’s quotes,
I e-mailed my advisor to let her know my
major was changing, again. Tis course
was the turning point for me, for I became
acquainted with a genre of writing that I
had always seen as out of reach, because
no one had ever taught me how to do it.
I plan to move on to a master’s program
at Canisius College, where I will work
toward a sports administration degree
in hopes of applying my sports writing
dream to the college or professional sports
information feld.
Haley Bourke ’12
Major: English
Hometown: Northborough, Mass.
Favorite Course: Methods of Critical
Analysis
It’s so ofen the same: wake up, go to
class, take notes, take the test, repeat.
Sometimes, though, one course breaks
that routine and awakens us to the pros-
pect of becoming bright thinkers, efective
communicators and enlightened individu-
als. For me, that course was a requirement
for all English majors: Methods of Critical
Analysis.
Incredibly intimidated on my frst day
in Methods, I walked into the third-foor
classroom in Richardson Hall, the fall of
my sophomore year, wondering what that
Sometimes, one course awakens us
to the prospect of becoming bright
thinkers, efective communicators
and enlightened individuals.
theory. We 16 English majors learned how
to approach and dissect literature using
a fexible analytical lens. PG’s decision to
teach the course using one literary work
allowed us to relate, evaluate, combine and
contrast every method, from feminism to
psychoanalysis to semiotics to Marxism.
In the process, we refned our ability to
recognize scholarly methods to approach
any problem in a well-rounded manner,
inside and outside of literature.
For me, the course instilled a height-
ened level of self-motivation, for the
material was not a walk in the park. I
found myself caring more about Faulkner’s
characters—Joe Christmas, Lena Grove,
Joanna Burden—far more than I did the
cast of “Gossip Girl,” which I’d been so
prone to following every Monday night.
College students become accustomed
to complaining about class material,
avoiding entire academic disciplines,
and even resenting specifc courses. I lef
Paul Graham’s course feeling incredibly
accomplished at the progress we, as a class,
had made through learning to approach in
diferent ways a classic and timeless novel.
I smile at my struggles and triumphs in
that course…and suggest that every 8:30
a.m. course adopt the reveille system.
Beth Spadaccini ’11, lef, and Haley Bourke ’12.