Hello, friends! My name is Neko Smart and I am a second year Arts student. I grew up in Victoria, B.C., and am now residing in Vancouver with my cat, Gremlin, an adorable yet thoroughly messy roommate. I am an avid reader and writer; in high school, I started a slam poetry team on a whim. Since then, I’ve been sucked into the world of spoken word poetry, which has taken me to various cities, even to the States once, to compete or perform. I’m also a big music lover, and rely heavily on my guitar and ukulele to decompress between classes and bouts of studying.

I decided to take this course because I had room in my schedule and it looked interesting. Also, the literature credits don’t hurt at all. I grew up with my French stepmother as an active presence in my life and development, so she had myself and my siblings speaking the language from a young age. I was in the French immersion program for all of my schooling, which helped me maintain my French over the years. I’m looking forward to reading literature by authors of various romance languages. Because the works we’re studying have been translated into English, I’m curious to see whether the nuances of the unique languages are evident despite this. I am entering this course with an open mind, ready to learn whatever comes my way.

The course structure definitely caught me off guard. However, I actually really like the concept of contract grades. I think it’s good skill building to anticipate your capacity throughout the semester and hold yourself to that capacity/expectation. Everyone so far seems lovely and keen, and I’m hoping we’re able to get to know one another face to face at some point this semester. 🙂