The YAWP: Villanova's Graduate English Program Blog

On Saturday, October 16th, Cynthia Estremera will be performing her original poetry, a letter entitled "And you say Beauty is skin deep..." as a part of the 2010 Hispanic Heritage Celebration. The event, called "Latinas Out Loud: Epistles," will include poet Sandra Maria Estevez as a special featured guest. Cindy is one of 20 participants who will be reading their own short, funny, dramatic, evocative, and often poetic letters to their addressee of choice. This is a family friendly event. The Newark Public Library, as well as hundreds of libraries across the country, have suffered major budget cuts recently, which means many of these wonderful cultural programs are in danger of being discontinued. Please consider supporting your classmate--and the essential work of public libraries--by attending the performance! This event will take place at the Newark Public Library, Main Library, Centennial Hall, Second Floor, we hope to see you there!

Rebecca Buckham recently sent us this update: After completing the requirements for my M.A. in English at Villanova, I began a doctoral program at The Johns Hopkins University, where I am now a second-year student. I know that my application was competitive due in large part to the rigorous coursework and dedicated faculty support at Villanova. The program provided a solid stepping-stone to the work I'm doing at Hopkins, much of which is heavily theoretical. My classes at Villanova integrated a lot of theory into the close-reading of primary literature, which helped me begin to make the transition to literary study that straddles (and hopefully bridges) the worlds of literature and theory. Other opportunities at Villanova pointed me toward further graduate study. I was fortunate to be awarded a Graduate Student Summer Fellowship, which allowed me to travel to London to present a paper at the Ninth International Milton Symposium in 2008. This looked great on my applications, and