Imported Poems

B-Mental reads minds. I was writing my SOP , and I received an email here, asking "How's your SOP going?". How he knew I was in the midst of writing it I have no clue.

B-you aren't watching me behind some camera inside my home, are you?

This is it for any who wish to know. I can't friggin wait to submit my app today and be done with it!

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QUOTED FROM A MYSPACE ACCOUNT: “lets see i am 19 have black hair blue eyes im 5'7 i have 4 tattoos and 4 pircings. i have few friends in illinois that will always have my back i have two sisters who i love and adore and sometimes are more like friends and a sister to me. a brother who likes to drive me insane but he knows i love him any way. i have a mom who i know loves me and a dad that i cant even begin to describe in words he is just amazing he says im his lil girl and always will be i love ya dad. that sums it up for the family besides a really great cousin who i miss alot Emily”

The above quote (source: www.myspace.com) was written by a native-born American who graduated from high school and represents a significant segment of illiterate teenagers who are moving through our educational system without the basic writing skills required to form a grammatically correct sentence.

I find the current trend towards illiteracy and decay of the English language in America very alarming. Granted, America is much younger than its parent country, England, and thus cannot be held to the same standards, but the arts continue to flourish in our European counterparts whereas here they are floundering -- most likely due to the excessive emphasis on the sciences and the math of technology. SAT scores in English and analytical writing have declined - the average score reaching a new low of 422 - whereas math scores have increased to 474.

In addition to the trend towards illiteracy, cultural diversification is creating silos of minority genres that celebrate group experience at the expense of ubiquitous understanding. While there is certainly room for such exploration, there is also the implicit danger of cultural alienation: how far down do we descend in our diversity goals before we reach the point where every individual stands isolated from his peers, his fellow Americans, and from the world in general?

My goal in seeking a master’s degree is to address these dilemmas by continuing my education, ultimately attaining a PHD and teaching college while also publishing my own creative work. As a professor, I wish to be part of a movement (certainly, there must be a movement already, which I am not aware of at this present time) towards establishing higher educational goals and assisting students in reaching those goals. Ideally, I would like to ensure “text messaging” and “technical writing” are not future incarnations of the English language.

Secondly, I would like to see literature recognize global appeal by emphasizing those things common to all men, both by (hopefully) publishing my own work and by promoting those whose work realizes this aim. The hum-drum of urban life, cars, cities, cafes, politics - the sum of advanced nations - are secondary or irrelevant to those living in Africa, where AIDS is rampant, or the raped women in Darfur or those Muslim wives under the threat of being burned by their husbands. What is germane to all people is the underlying emotions of these experiences - fear, love, hate, anxiety, depression, loneliness - the totality of what it is to be alive, and the philosophy by which people come to endure their suffering, whether that includes faith in God, faith in humanity or simply faith in the self. Through the vehicles of nature and imagination, the communally held property of all races, cultures and religion, I hope to establish or further a genre of literature (perhaps a new Romantic movement) that will help unify all of us, creating a shared empathy so the pigmy in Africa and the Native American Indian can celebrate together in a mutual experience.


NOT SURE about the last two sentences - it sounds fantastical, doesn't it? - but the sentiment and ambition is there. Feedback appreciated - but quickly! In about two hours it's going forward, damn the torpedoes and all!