English

Karuna Khatri is graduating this June with an English literature major and minors in professional writing and honors. “I became an English major because I wanted to read books and get credit for doing it,” she said recently. “I thought it would be home to a community of like-minded individuals who saw the world differently and wanted to talk about it. I didn’t really know what I wanted to be, but I figured I needed to start with something. And I’ve stuck with it.”

Many students find in an English major at SPU this same sense of community, and perhaps fellow students “who saw the world differently,” as Karuna writes. “The English Department is so small that you really get to know your professors and classmates.”

Karuna singles out creative-writing courses as one place where size was especially beneficial. “These classes were usually made up of fewer than ten students, which lent to a strengthened sense of community and trust.”

She summarizes her experience with the literature major this way: “Studying English literature as an undergraduate feels like barely scratching the surface of the literary world. I feel that I haven’t read enough old classics or new rising authors. I wish I’d written more papers that I cared about and had more feedback about ways to improve. But I guess it’s this kind of insatiable dissatisfaction that makes people English majors in the first place.”

Luisa LaMagra is graduating next month with triple majors in honors, political science, and English with a creative-writing concentration. In looking back on her time spent in English, Lu says that “Every English professor has had their own unique impact on me—I really appreciated the ability to learn and discuss with such diverse opinions and outlooks. I’ve always liked reading, but the way I was engaging the texts in my English classes took it to another level.

“The best thing about the English Department and being an English major is how accepting everyone is,” says Lu. “I have never felt left out when discussing in classes and I’ve always felt that my opinions were listened to—like really listened to and considered by every professor and peer.”

Her view seems summarized by this statement: “There’s really something for everyone in the English Department.”

After graduation, Lu plans to attend law school but only after a gap year during which she plans to use her college-earned skills to satisfy herself. “I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot reading, but one thing I want to try to focus on is writing outside of the university setting. Then again, I’ve learned that life is very unpredictable, so I’m trying to be flexible in my plans.”

Congratulations and best wishes, Lu!

Associate Professor of English Peter Wayne Moe has published “Proper Poetical Education” in The Millions, an online literary magazine. Follow this link to the essay: https://themillions.com/2022/04/proper-poetical-education.html.

English alum Lauren Pattie ’09 sat down recently with the host of SPU Voices Podcast to talk about her work as a content manager with Pivot Northwest, a Lilly-grant-funded research effort based at SPU that’s finding ways to make the church a place more welcoming to twenty-something adults. Find Lauren’s interview online at https://stories.spu.edu/articles/why-arent-young-people-going-to-church-with-lauren-pattie-2 or wherever you access podcasts.