澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录

Theodor 鈥淭eddy鈥� Hamstra is not your typical English student or 澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录 graduate. Naturally, no students are 鈥渢ypical,鈥� but Hamstra took a particularly unusual path to his graduation ceremony, in which he marched this past Dec. 16, and is certain to distinguish himself even further as he pursues his goal of becoming a future professor of English literature.

Hamstra sat for nearly two hours earlier this month, during which time he discussed, among many topics, his Denver childhood, his taste in music, the online blog he keeps 鈥渏ust to write about movies to spark conversation with friends,鈥� his 鈥渕ind-blowing鈥� semester abroad in Cuba, the many books he鈥檚 read and is reading, as well as how he arrived at his early chosen career to join the priesthood and the Hollywood film he encountered at the just the right time to inspire him to change course and embark on a life in academia instead.

As of today, Hamstra will one day be an ecocriticism scholar for an English department not unlike the one here at 澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录, 鈥渙r maybe this exact one,鈥� said Hamstra.

When he first started at 澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录, Hamstra was a member of the President鈥檚 Leadership Class (PLC). While most freshman see their early college days as an opportunity to let loose, Hamstra, already 鈥渂urned out on the typical high-school behavior,鈥� went in the opposite direction. 鈥淚 just sort of fell in with the Catholic crowd and I was like, all right, I鈥檓 going to become a priest. I鈥檓 interested in intellectual history, so I was really drawn to the theology.鈥�

Asked what had initially attracted him to seminary study, Hamstra said he had arbitrarily gone to a Catholic high school, but while there, he endured a major family event that sent him on a quest for life鈥檚 greater meaning.

鈥淭here happened to be a priest there who I could talk to,鈥� said Hamstra. 鈥淐atholicism just seemed so total. It says, 鈥榟ere are the answers to every question in life.鈥� As someone who didn鈥檛 grow up with any religion at all, and all the rituals and formality鈥� it was very interesting to me.鈥�

It was around his junior year when he felt himself pulled more toward the direction of the classroom than the clergy. 鈥淭hen this movie came out that talked about the church a little critically 鈥� or very critically,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I felt freer to look at things differently.鈥�

He was speaking of the 2015 film, Spotlight, which depicts The Boston Globe鈥檚 investigation of child abuse within the Catholic Archdiocese. Having already begun to rethink his direction, after that, said Hamstra, 鈥淭he academic life just made more sense to me.鈥�

Hamstra is well-mannered and an engaging speaker. Clean-cut and very funny, he has a disarming nature about him. He discusses ideas, even abstract ones, confidently. When talking to him, one quickly learns he has a great deal of experience and even wisdom for a man 22 years of age.

鈥淪ometimes I think I want to write a comic novel about a Jewish kid in the priesthood, because it鈥檚 like something totally out of Larry David鈥檚 mind,鈥� said Hamstra, imagining himself, deservedly, as a character written by the Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator.

鈥淚 would love to teach a class about Jewish comedy.鈥� Hamstra, himself, is half-Jewish; no one in his family is Catholic. 鈥淚鈥檇 love to do Larry David and (Portnoy鈥檚 Complaint author) Philip Roth,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e read The Metamorphosis in class. A lot my classmates thought it was bleak and depressing. I said to them, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 understand. Kafka鈥檚 Jewish. The entire plot is basically, what a schlep it is on everyone that Gregor鈥檚 now a bug! Everyone has to work harder, later. There鈥檚 no sense of, 'what鈥檚 going on behind that bedroom door?鈥� I think it鈥檚 a hysterical story. It鈥檚 Jewish humor. How do we cope in a world of constant misunderstanding?鈥�

Hamstra ran cross-country at Mullen High in Denver, where he gained an encyclopedic knowledge of hip-hop. 鈥淚鈥檓 a vinyl junky,鈥� he said. So, when asked what he listens to now, he fires off John Coltrane鈥檚 name immediately, followed by, among others, Nick Cave, Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen, whose novel, Beautiful Losers, he recommends with enthusiasm. 鈥淭hat is a wild, wild ride,鈥� grinned Hamstra.

An insatiable reader, he described many cherished books this way, such as Robert Coover鈥檚 The Public Burning, a Cold War satire narrated by a fictitious Richard Nixon about the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, which he read this past summer.

Hamstra was an English major his entire time at 澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录, though, for a brief period, he nearly double-majored in art history. He described an epiphany he鈥檇 had last spring when 鈥渆verything came together, and the timeline through art came into focus for me. Reading all the experimental stuff from the 鈥�20s made more sense to me after I took a class about Picasso.鈥�

At the same time, he was organizing the material he鈥檇 later explore in his English honors thesis: an ecocritical, or environmental, reading of Thomas Pynchon鈥檚 Mason & Dixon.

鈥淓cocriticism is the humanities鈥� response to the environmental crisis,鈥� said Hamstra. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about environmental issues by examining literary texts, so that responses to these problems are not just coming from the sciences.鈥�

Speaking of his first experience with Pynchon, 鈥淚 read Gravity鈥檚 Rainbow in high school, and the vision in that is crazy. I had no idea what was going on,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I knew there was something profound there鈥� I think what I loved about it is that it was funny. The guy can make you laugh. He鈥檚 got these amazing love scenes that are just so intimate, but then also just like really kind of disgusting. I fell in love with his range. The standard reading of Pynchon,鈥� he continued, 鈥渋s that he talks about technology, paranoia and pop culture in modern life, right? So, people view him as postmodern. But there鈥檚 a lot more to him. He writes about environmentalism, the climate crisis, all that stuff. I would argue that Pynchon deserves to be regarded in the same sphere as people like Thoreau. But for some reason he鈥檚 been overlooked in this field.鈥�

鈥淪o I wanted to take Mason & Dixon and say, 鈥楥an you look at that environmentally?鈥� So, Gravity鈥檚 Rainbow has that famous line, 鈥榚verything is connected,鈥� and people say, that鈥檚 a paranoid concept. But if you look at ecology, that鈥檚 sort of what they鈥檙e all about, that a volcano in Iceland does affect people around the world, and that global systems are connected. And to see that his interests and aesthetics actually are very environmentally applicable, that鈥檚 really the short of it.鈥�

As he prepared to leave campus, both for the day and as an undergraduate, Hamstra felt compelled to say something about the professors who had impacted him while at CU. 鈥淜arim Mattar was my thesis advisor,鈥� he began. 鈥淲orking with him was wonderful. I had him for a class last year. We did the modern novel, and that was one of the best classes I took here鈥� I had a lot of great teachers,鈥� he went on:

鈥淭he first was probably Ed Rivers, who taught my literary analysis class. I met with him in his office about a paper, and we just started talking about what he studies, and he鈥檚 a Nabokov scholar. I had just read Pale Fire the summer before, and wanted to know more. He was just an inspiration to read widely鈥� Ben Robertson was great. I took a theory of science fiction class with him, and that blew me out of the water. I never thought sci-fi had so much depth. It was just a lot of fun to read all these intense German thinkers who usually scare me but you鈥檙e doing it in a way that鈥檚 accessible. Now, when I watch sci-fi movies, like that Interstellar with Matthew McConaughey, I don鈥檛 know if they鈥檙e actually going for it, but I can see what Adorno would say.鈥�

But today, Hamstra is a college graduate and an English honors scholar, with his sights set on further academic achievement. He has applied to doctoral programs throughout the West, and said of 澳门开奖结果2023开奖记录, 鈥淚鈥檇 love to teach here in the future,鈥� hoping to begin his graduate study somewhere in the fall.

鈥淪o, I have the spring to myself,鈥� said Hamstra. But he hasn鈥檛 thought much about the immediate future. 鈥淚鈥檝e got too much on my mind right now. I might just find a shop to work at for six months, while I wait to hear back. I鈥檇 like to travel with my girlfriend,鈥� he mused. 鈥淚 seem drawn to Ireland and Scotland. I鈥檇 like to go to Japan. I don鈥檛 know why. It鈥檚 intriguing to me. We鈥檒l see what that looks like in the spring.鈥�

听