The Conference

By: Paige Kleinfelder '14

This past week was extremely busy for me because on top of my typical class work I was preparing for the Pennsylvania College English Association Conference. A few weeks prior I had submitted an abstract proposition for the conference with little belief that I would be chosen to present; but after a couple weeks my name appeared on the list of presenters. This meant I had to read my 20 page freshman writing paper again, cut it down, and present it to a group of professors, English enthusiasts, graduate and a few undergraduate students. So of course my fear of presenting to these people caused me to put it off. Last weekend I realized I really needed to get prepared. Eight revisions and nine excursions to the library later I had a finalized, or so I thought, paper.

As I road in the car to Erie Friday morning I was still crossing out words and writing out pronunciations next to some of the names. At 8:45am I walked into the building, went on three elevators and eventually found my way to the correct conference. I signed in, received my name tag, and was directed to the room I was to present in. I walked in and saw the chairs sitting at the front of the room. One of them was for me, I was going to have to sit there facing everyone, and wait for my chance to speak. I made my way to the front and took a seat next to my fellow presenters for that session. Two graduate students. They went first and finally I was introduced and began reading. Surprisingly my fifteen minute talk about women in Ancient Greek literature was well received and I breathed a sigh of relief. I attended another session after mine about Southern Fiction; focusing on the works of William Faulkner, Eudora Wetly, Flannery O’Connor and others. This of course made me want to find these authors stories to read. (As I write this I am thinking to myself that I would rather go look for a Flannery O’Connor book in the library than work on my nine page paper due Friday). I attended one session the following day about technology in education and how students and professors can best use the resources that are becoming available daily.

Now that I am back at Elmira College I have a new appreciation for the education I am receiving and even the long papers that I sometimes dread writing. It is always interesting to find out how other people view things that you also have a passion for such as English and literature. The conference forced me to face my fear of speaking in front of crowds and showed me the value of listening to the many different perspectives on a single subject.