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.
For the Poets: Opportunities to Pursue Poetry at Dartmouth!
For those who know me, I am a writer through and through, and when the choice between writing poetry or any other literary genre comes, I'm likely to choose poetry each time. For any soon-to-be college students who want to pursue their passion for poetry post-high school like me, these are just a few of the many opportunities available to the prospective poet at Dartmouth!
The amount of poetry readings hosted per year here is unbelievably generous, and no matter the week or term, there will nearly always be a poet reading their work either on-campus or at a location nearby (including Still North Books & Bar or Norwich Bookstore). This term, I have had the luxury of sitting in on live poetry performances by poets including Bill Cardy, Paul Ceballos, Clint Smith, Ross Gay, Iryna Shuvalova, and Dartmouth's very own Professor Matthew Olzmann. There are different experienced poets who travel to campus just to read their works each year, and I am excited to attend more readings next term from such talented and experienced writers.
Poet Ross Gay reading from his book "The Book of (More) Delights" at Norwich Congregational Church.
Along with poetry readings, I have had the ability to perform my own original poetry as well through joining Spilled Ink, a student-led poetry club on campus! This last week, Spilled Ink hosted their first poetry slam event since their founding last year, and I had the opportunity to perform three of my original poems alongside a plethora of other talented student poets. Along with participating in Spilled Ink's slam poetry event, there are many other options on campus to pursue poetry performance, including open mic nights hosted by the residential houses and The Stonefence Review, the oldest literary journal on campus. There will always be opportunities at Dartmouth to present your original poems to an audience of peers if you are eager to get your talents recognized!
Me performing my original poetry at Spilled Ink's first poetry slam event!
While there are multiple poetry-related extracurricular activities that students can participate in, there are also an abundance of poetry classes students can take with Dartmouth's English/Creative Writing Department. I had the privilege of taking CRWT 12: Writing and Reading Poetry with Professor Vievee Francis this term, and I cannot emphasize my love for this class enough!
I am incredibly grateful to have been surrounded by the multitude of poetic possibilities that have been available to me this term, and I encourage anyone interested in pursuing poetry in any aspect to take advantage of the options I mentioned above!
What kind of classes do you take in a subject-based Foreign Study Program? Here's a rundown of my classes in the Music FSP in London to give you an idea of what academic life is like in the program!
After returning from an enriching study abroad program, I'm diving into a bustling spring semester here at Dartmouth. Here are my four courses I'm taking this term!
Dartmouth's liberal arts curriculum pushes students to explore new departments and draw connections between seemingly disparate disciplines. Come explore my Economics, Physics, and Asian, Societies, Cultures, and Languages classes!
