Hello, and welcome to my neck of the woods! My name is Brendilou Armstrong, and I am a '26 hailing from the cornfields and grassy plains of Western Nebraska. This year, I plan to involve myself in The Dartmouth, WebDCR (Dartmouth College Radio), and the Spilled Ink Poetry Club. I couldn't be more excited to set out on this expedition through college alongside all of you. Thanks for visiting my page!
Academic Program
English/Creative Writing
Favorite Thing Right Now
Binding my own journals at Dartmouth's Book Arts Workshop
If you are interested in Victorian literature in any capacity, this is the class for you! It is a course taught by the WGSS (Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) department and combines historical and political aspects into a literary seminar. The material is compelling and allows you to view female authors, including Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, and Elizabeth Gaskell, in a different perspective knowing the societal context of the time period and themes in their most popular works.
If poetic language and artistic writing styles are your forte, this is the perfect class for you! Taught by the English/Creative Writing department, Introduction to Poetry is an incredible foundation to storytelling, introducing students to poetry styles from prose to ekphrastic and written to slam. The approach to teaching the course revolved around the strategies of Robert Frost, where the Poetry Room in Sanborn Library held our class, and students' chairs were arranged in a circle rather than in rows of desks. CRWT 12 is one of the most unique and fascinating classes I have taken thus far, and as a result, has become my favorite class I have taken on campus.
Niche classes and concentrations define a Dartmouth education, and before this term, I never intended on taking an Asian art history course, let alone one with such a defined focus. Taught through both the Department of Art History and the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages by Columbia University guest lecturer Seher Agarwala, this course contextualizes sacred architectural structures of the Buddhist, Hindu, and Islamic faiths. I left this course with a newfound interest in the artistic practices of East Asian cultures and an appreciation for their diverse historical backgrounds and religions.
What an incredible term! From out-of-state travel to campus traditions, this fall term has been non-stop fun, and as I settle into my couch at home in western Nebraska for my six-week-long winter break, I reflect on the aspects that made the last two and a half months as memorable as they were.
September marked my return to campus after taking a very necessary break from classes (read all about it in my previous blog post, "Taking a Gap Year in the Middle of Winter Term"), and after moving into my single dorm and reuniting with my friends, I immediately knew this fall term would be special. Along with indulging in the renewed joys of Dartmouth, I witnessed the inauguration of Sian Beilock, Dartmouth's 19th president, and I joined a multitude of new activities, including the templating team for The Dartmouth Newspaper and Spilled Ink Poetry Club.
My friends and I on the first day of classes this term!
October proved to be one of the most exciting and eventful months of the term. On October 1st, my friend and I spontaneously decided to take a day-trip to Boston to explore and attend a Bird & Byron/Durand Jones concert (watch for a post about this in the near future)! The following weekend, another one of my friends and I hiked Gile Mountain near Norwich, Vermont to view the beautiful foliage that the east coast has to offer during the autumn season. Just a week after, yet another one of my friends and I decided to travel to Salem, Massachusetts to experience the spooky festivities, tour the historical sites of the Salem Witch Trials, and take pictures at the filming locations for the movie "Hocus Pocus!" My exciting trips, along with homecoming and Halloween, kept my October schedule packed and busy. These attractions in close proximity to Dartmouth's campus are accessible to tourists and students alike, and I am incredibly thankful to be located in such a central location of the east coast.
My friend and I at Dartmouth's homecoming bonfire!
A view of Salem's Town Hall building, one of the filming locations for the movie "Hocus Pocus."
After attending the last home football games of the season and Spilled Ink Poetry Club's slam night, the month of November slowly approaches its end. I finish out the last of my assignments for my classes while slowly sinking into my couch at home in celebration of an unbelievably successful term. I can't express in words how grateful I am to have been given the opportunities I was, and I am so excited to experience whatever winter term has in store.
My friends and I at the night home football game against Princeton University.
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
