The Highs and Lows of My First Year Teaching College Composition
The Highs and Lows of My First Year Teaching College Composition

For those of you who don't know, I entered Minnesota State University's MFA in Creative Writing program this past fall and to pay my way, I've served as an instructor of one section of ENG 101 - Composition. Next week, I'll wrap up my first entire academic year teaching this course and this Thursday, I'll say goodbye to my spring semester kiddos—and let me tell you, I have all the feelings! This year of teaching Composition has been one of the most rewarding and challenging of my life, so I thought I'd highlight some highs and lows of this journey for you.

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EducationHannah Schultzteaching, composition, freshman comp, Minnesota State University, msu, mnsu, instructor, graduate teaching assistant, grading, writing, mfa, student, cellphone, activity, grade, critical thinking, disrespectComment
What Not to Do at a Movie Theater—Sincerely, a Former Theater Employee
What Not to Do at a Movie Theater—Sincerely, a Former Theater Employee

I applied to Amstar Cinemas the summer after my freshman year of college. I stayed there, working with an amazing group of people at this mind numbingly boring job, until the spring of my junior year. I was recently going through my old files on my computer, and I stumbled upon some stories I wrote as an undergrad about my time as a movie theater employee based on a pet peeve prompt. And let me tell you—that job generated a lot of material. So here is a list of what not do next time you're at a movie theater from your friendly neighborhood former-theater employee.

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Thoughts on: [Things]Hannah Schultzamstar cinemas, movie theater, employee, former, ticket, sales, concessions, price, up-sell, seats, sold out, tips, what not to do, sneak, food, candy, drink, PDAComment
The Care and Keeping of Introverts
The Care and Keeping of Introverts

My junior year of college, I studied abroad with one of my best friends. It was one of the best experiences of my life, but also very difficult. Not because of Kayla or homesickness or missing my then-boyfriend—but because I didn't truly understand one of the core aspects of my identity: my introversion. 

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Life, Thoughts on: [Things]Hannah Schultzintroversion, introvert, oxford, INFJ, personality, personal space, alone time, myers briggs, physical, signals, drain, energy, recharge, self careComment
Wind Cave National Park: Touring the world's densest cave and seeing 95 percent of the earth's boxwork
Wind Cave National Park: Touring the world's densest cave and seeing 95 percent of the earth's boxwork

According to Lakota tradition, Wind Cave is where their people's souls emerged from the earth before their creation event. They held the site as sacred, aware of its existence long before brothers Tom and Jesse Bingham stumbled upon the natural entrance, an inexplicably windy hole in the ground, in 1881. By 1903, it had become America's first cave designated as a national park.

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Travel, NatureHannah Schultzsouth dakota, lakota, wind cave, national park, boxwork, 95, percent, cave, badlands, black hills, custer state park, garden of eden, popcorn, formation, bison, prairie dogs, flowstone, calcite, limestone, explorerComment
Mount Rushmore & Winter Hiking in Custer State Park
Mount Rushmore & Winter Hiking in Custer State Park

"On this towering wall of Rushmore, in the heart of the Black Hills, is to be inscribed a memorial which will represent some of the outstanding features of four of our Presidents, laid on by the hand of a great artist in sculpture," said President Calvin Coolidge in his Mount Rushmore Dedication Speech in 1927. At the age of 57, sculptor Gutzon Borglum began the project of carving into the Black Hills. The monumental project would be finished after his death in 1941, the finishing touches overseen by his son, Lincoln. In the end, the delicate sculpture became an icon of American history, four presidents—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt—forever wrought in stone.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzsouth dakota, mount rushmore, national park, national memorial, national monument, custer state park, black hills national forest, calvin coolidge, george washington, abraham lincoln, thomas jefferson, theodore roosevelt, gutzon borglum, sculpture, black elk peak, harney peak, little devil's tower, hiking, hike, snow, ice, rock climbing, nature loop drive, scenic drive, turkeys, pronghorn antelope, bisonComment
Succulents: A Year of Co-Habitating with Nature (A Collection Update)
Succulents: A Year of Co-Habitating with Nature (A Collection Update)

About a year ago, I bought my first succulents on a whim. I wanted a little piece of one of my favorite places on earth (the Oxford Botanical Garden) in my undergrad dorm room and purchased six succulents in two terra-cotta window planters. Since then, I've learned a lot about succulents, had some ups and downs, and expanded my collection. I'm living my 10-year-old self's dream and slowly accumulating a jungle inside my apartment. 

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NatureHannah SchultzSucculents, collection, panda plant, baby toes, ghost plant, blue giant, drunkard's dream, moon cactus, burro's tail, golden goddess, aloe vera, sedeveria, hybrid, prickly pear cactus, bunny ears, propagationComment
Thoughts on: [Getting Married Young]
Thoughts on: [Getting Married Young]

In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to pick a topic for today's post based on love. In particular, I wanted to address a question about love that comes up in my own life a lot: How do you know you're ready to be married when you're so young? (Usually preceded by, "You have a fiancé??? How old are you??? And followed by, "But you've got so much of your life ahead of you." [I always like how this comment equates marriage with a premature death. It's particularly encouraging when it is then followed by a congratulations on my engagement.]) So today, I'm going to talk about the ways I knew I had found my future husband at 21 years old and why I feel only joy and excitement at the prospect of marrying him at 24 years old.

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Thoughts on: [Things], LifeHannah Schultzmarry, married, engaged, engagement, young, christian, dating, ring by spring, long distance, history, inside jokes, laugh, divorce, reflectionComment
Paris: Une Affaire du Coeur
Paris: Une Affaire du Coeur

Thomas Jefferson wrote in his autobiography, "So ask the travelled inhabitant of any nation, In what country on earth would you rather live?—Certainly in my own, where are all my friends, my relations, and the earliest & sweetest affections and recollections of my life. Which would be your second choice? France."

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TravelHannah Schultzparis, france, travel, International travel, thomas jefferson, heart, history, louvre, musee d'orsay, sacré coeur, l'arc de triopmhe, notre dame, cathedralComment
The Five People You Encounter on Every Flight
The Five People You Encounter on Every Flight

I've been on ten flights in the past year—a mixture of international and continental, large airlines and budget airlines, small planes and airbuses. Around the fifth flight, I began to notice patterns in the people sitting around me, and so, like the good writer I am, I started to people watch. And I realized, though the specifics changed, many of the fellow travelers I saw on these flights could be cookie-cutter replicas of one another. These are the five types of flyers I noticed most frequently:

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TravelHannah Schultzfive, people, encounter, flight, airplane, toddler, kicking, armrest, stealer, personal space, grandma, family, coach, first classComment
First Impressions of a Minnesota Blizzard
First Impressions of a Minnesota Blizzard

That brings us to this message that popped up on my phone last weekend: the forecast for my first Minnesota blizzard. And folks, it was a good one. As promised, it snowed bucketfuls overnight Sunday into Monday. Before I fell asleep, MSU called off classes for Monday for severe weather conditions (whiteouts are no joke). When I awoke, everything outside my window was a blindingly bright pure white. The roads were untouched, yards blanketed in smooth marshmallow fluff—that oddly satisfying vision of unblemished perfection. 

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NatureHannah Schultzfirst, impressions, minnesota, blizzard, snow, snowstorm, kentucky, february, 2015, march, january, mankato, Minnesota State University, msu, mnsu, plow, snow dayComment
Luna the Bully: Life as the Alpha Dog
Luna the Bully: Life as the Alpha Dog

In my household, our female dogs have always been the boss. Diamond, our border collie mix, was the first alpha, always trying to herd our other dogs (or even us kids). When she passed away, Tinkerbell, our feisty Chihuahua, became the top dog (no pun intended). Tinkerbell had secretly been waiting for this moment to seize power, like a teeny tiny dictator. She reveled in her absolute power over Coco, our cairn terrier, constantly yapping in poor Coco's face when she committed the ultimate sin of trotting out the door before Her Majesty. But soon enough, Tinkerbell was once again forced to slink into the shadows by a new alpha: Luna the Great Pyrenees. 

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PuppiesHannah Schultzgreat pyrenees, luna, alpha, dog, puppy, toys, food, bedComment