A Blog on McConnell Center Life

Victoria Allen, Class of 2016 As a member of the ethnically ambiguous army--those Americans who do not fit on the linear color palette of common vernacular--my place within academia is somewhat ill defined. I have focused my academic trajectory on the social sciences and historical surveys, particularly of the American South. As someone who possesses both the “Master” and the “Slave” in their genealogy, this has set me in a precarious and rare position. I lean more heavily towards history, and as I proceed with the latter half of my degrees, (in History and Political Science, respectively), I am applying the tools of my supplementary social science education to projects that are both recreational and school related. When I say minority, keep in mind that I am referring to my specific status, that is to say not wholly one race, majority or otherwise. I am beige, and as such, I serve as the personal liaison between the histories of my Blackness and Whiteness. I am not interested in ...

Connor Tracy, Class of 2016 When I chose to attend college, I had no clue what I was getting into. The last two years as a student at the University of Louisville have completely changed my life. The assumptions and preconceived notions I had when I first stepped on campus were quickly challenged and ultimately replaced with the realities of college life. After reflecting upon my experiences during my freshman and sophomore years, I have come to many realizations. These have helped to shape who I am, who I strive to be, and how I’d like to live my life when I leave here. First of all, work hard play hard. While you’re in college, if you want to be successful, you’ll take more notes than you ever thought possible. The term “all-nighter” will haunt your dreams during the small amount of sleep that you actually get. You’ll spend countless hours making study guides, reading books, and asking for help. Living up to your potential and making good grades in college requires so much more t...

Natalie Smith, Class of 2016 A few weekends ago, I attended the Front Porch Republic’s conference entitled, “Making a Home Fit for Humans: Localism Beyond Food.” Although I was originally drawn to the conference because of its guest speaker, Wendell Berry (an author I have come to greatly enjoy since first introduced to him my freshman year), I found the panels with other distinguished speakers, including McConnell Center fellow Dr. John Kleber, very insightful and enjoyable. While some academic conferences tend to drum in the idea that “the world is doomed or corrupt for reasons X and Y,” this conference didn’t, and many of the conversations discussed the ways in which we can continue and teach the virtues of community and localism. In fact, as a whole, I left feeling very hopeful. Although several of the speakers touched on the dangers facing localism and community today, involving the corruption of education, money, nationalism, and the notion of “upward mobility,” to name a ...

Arsh Haque, Class of 2015   You called her the Firestarter   "How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!" - Alexander Pope We were at a coffee shop on Bardstown Road.
 I was Joel and you were Clementine and we had nothing but tapes. It was our second second date. You got a vegan cookie 
and I sat outside sucking 
on second-hand smoke. Then we walked 
through certain 
half-deserted streets
 and I didn't mention Eliot once. Then I looked at you
 and said Sirens bellowed, the crashing roar of a city against 
the sky. A pre-Copernican time
 and we were at the center 
gods aloft a polis
 a stone bunker abandoned
 in the eighties and converted
 into a religious center
 Death at every cardinal 
direction. There was nothing but you and short hair
 and a palm by my side. There were clocks everywhere,
 ticking like insecurities.
 A church, a family, a wall,
 Steve Carrell and the
 apocalypse. Every moment a deathnote in a dirge, and we wore...