New Year's 1991
Dear beloved family and cherished friends,
Every year, since before I was born, my parents sent generic New Year's greetings, just like this one, to all their friends and family as it was the only way to keep in touch with so many people and express their good wishes. Now that I am on my own, so to speak, I would like to follow in their footsteps, sending my sincere wishes to all of you. There are some people receiving this letter who I have not seen nor heard from in a long time and I would really love to hear from you. Know this: you would not be receiving this letter if you were not in my thoughts often. My address, for anyone who does not have it, is as follows:
While I hope 1990 was a peaceful and productive year for you, I cannot say exactly the same, as my blessings were mixed with tragedies. (But that is what life is about, is it not? What can we do but take it as it comes?) 1990, for me, could easily be divided into two parts: pre and post May 27, the date of my graduation from Rollins College, where I majored in Classics and minored in Politics.
The pre-May period was very exciting for me, finishing up my last year, enjoying seniority as a writing consultant at the Rollins Writing Center where I not only assisted other students in writing papers, but also represented some of the best that Rollins could be by speaking to the faculty, the parents on Parents Weekend, and also to writing center directors at regional conferences in New York City and Washington DC. I grew so much in the Writing Center, learning about writing, teaching, and community, and I treasure the experience dearly. I was glad that I could give something back to the Writing Center community, as I edited their newsletter, Echoes, and made a training video for future consultants. The video was a major project which took over a year from conception--I had to edit down fourteen hours of raw footage into a 22 minute documentary; I learned quite a lot of technical information and got many compliments on the final result.
Most of my classes were fun that term, with the exception of struggling through second year Latin, which I might not have passed were it not for the help of my parents in translating Ovid's Metamorphosis. I found my other Classics courses easier, such as my Senior Seminar in which I studied topics such as the ancient novel, the Iliad, Tacitus and bias in history, social activity in Rome, and other fun stuff. My senior thesis was a creative interpretation of the Roman Emperor Caligula.
The best class I took that term was journal writing where a professor, two other students, and I shared personal journals to study deep writing. I grew so much in that class as I not only learned about different styles of deep writing, but how to challenge myself into trying things I've never done before, such as writing poetry, stream-of-consciousness, and about "forbidden" topics like death and sex. I learned the true value of journal writing, as it is a way to teach yourself about life and about yourself as well. It was one of the most valuable classes I ever took at Rollins and I will always treasure the three very good friends I made among my fellow journalers.
In other activities, I spent some of my last term co-chairing the Nuclear Free Zone committee, which worked to promote understanding of nuclear issues, and also applying to and getting rejected from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Due to an unfortunate automobile accident, one of my professors could not teach her Science Fiction class, so she asked me to fill in for her because I had taken the class before and had pedagogical experience in the Writing Center. Though quite nervous, I made it through the day and was so proud of myself when some of the students proved they actually learned something.
Commencement on May 27, and the period immediately before it, was a very emotional time for me, saying goodbye to the life I had created at Rollins. But as I walked across that stage and President Seymour shook my hand and gave me the AB degree that I worked so hard for, for the past four years, I was all smiles. I smiled even brighter the next morning when I saw a picture of myself in the Orlando Sentinel marching in cap and gown to receive my diploma.
The post-May period of 1990 brought depression with the absence of friends and the death of my grandfather on July 16 after a long and hard illness. We flew up to New Jersey to bury him and had an emotional family reunion; but we were glad that so many of our northern friends came to the funeral to comfort us. For the next seven days, we "sat shiva," holding the traditional mourning period during which I personally lead the religious service and spoke of my grandfather's views on his own immortality.
I spent the early part of the summer house-sitting for a professor, but then moved back in with my parents. In August, my grandmother moved into a comfortable living facility which takes good care of her, so my sister Judi and I moved into the house my grandparents vacated which is down the block from my parents.
Thanks to the experience I had co-editing my school's newspaper the previous year, I got a job with the Heritage, our local Jewish newspaper, which lasted about five months. I was paid very poorly and wrote only what they wanted me to write with the exception of two editorials they agreed to print--one on censorship of pornography, the other reflections on my grandfather's death. I'm thankful for the experience because it taught me that journalism is not the career that I want.
I'm taking advantage of the free time now to go out and live life--I go to parks, meet people, and drive to places I've never been like St. Augustine and Gainesville. I've gone on longer trips with my family such as to visit my sister Sarah in Vermont during the Jewish High Holidays, visiting friends and family in New Jersey, and have just gotten back from a cruise to the Bahamas. I've also auditioned for a play, written a few short stories, and am beginning to get involved in the peace movement, as I have already participated in a local march protesting the troop build-up in Saudi Arabia.
The biggest thing of all that I have done is finally decided what to do with the next few years of my life. I'm going to apply to graduate schools for an MFA program in creative writing. From a list of about 80 or 90, I've researched and narrowed it down to nine schools: American University, George Mason University, Georgia State University, Louisiana State University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of Iowa, University of Virginia, and Virginia Commonwealth University. If anyone has any information about any of these schools that might help me in my decision of where to go, please let me know. You know I'd love to hear from you. And even if you don't, I'd love to hear from you, anyway.
As for my immediate future, I'll be taking a writing class at the local community college and will be making trips to visit campuses. Until I'm accepted into a full time program again, I expect I'll continue living life the best I can.
I'm thinking of all of you and wish you all that you want out of 1991.
Peace on Earth,
Jonathan Chisdes