Call me Jesmond.
I am a Lao-American in their fourth year of majoring in English. There’s not much to this post since I am a quiet person and not really experienced in writing long posts but I’ll try to introduce myself as best as I can.
I am a neurodivergent person (austistic) who loves to read and game. I used to read a lot of books in middle school and high school, and I am especially interested in monsters such as vampires, zombies, and ghosts. Since I am taking this class along with ECL 305, my monster curiosity is beginning to expand to those of the deep: mermaids, sharks, whales, and the great unknown.
I initially chose this class to fulfill a requirement for my major, but when I learned that it was about Moby-Dick from an email from the professor, it resparked a memory. I have tried reading Moby-Dick in the past, but I wasn’t able to make it past the first chapter because it’s that dense. But when I learned that there are other classmates here who are facing similar struggles regarding this book, I knew I wasn’t alone. So, I am taking this opportunity to learn more about Moby-Dick and hopefully the reason whales are involved in this novel by the notorious Herman Melville himself.
As always, I am looking forward to hearing from you all and getting to know you more. For now, here’s a selfie I took at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on the month of July.
Hey Jesmond,
I think this is our third class together – we had the LGBT class with Dr. Howard, the Vampire class with Prof. Guthrie, and this one. It’s good to see you again! What kinds of monster books and games do you like? Do you have any favorites? For me, I think one of my favorites is a really great series of books by Rick Yancey; the first book of the series is called The Monstrumologist, which is told from the perspective of the assistant to a man who studies monsters as his career. I can offer more suggestions if you find that one interesting, this was just the first one that came to mind.
I can definitely see how our work might be cut out for us with this class – stopping on the first chapter makes it sound rough. If you ever want to talk through ideas – online or in person – feel free to reach out, I’m happy to help and I’m sure it’ll be mutually beneficial for our learning. Like I said before, it’s good to see you again!
Take care,
Kit
Great to have you here, Jesmond, and thanks for your introduction. I am thrilled to see you making connections between our classes based upon concepts of monsters. Let’s definitely pursue that!