Much To Do About Everything

When I was thirteen years old, I taught myself how to read Shakespeare. It was the summer before freshman year, and I knew I would have to read Romeo and Juliet soon. I could not wait. I was flipping through sonnets and quotes and plays, reading the summarized version on a glitchy website, trying my best to figure out what each line meant, what each allusion referenced. 

And it paid off. Honestly, it did. When it came time for us to read Romeo and Juliet in my honors English class, I knew every question my teacher asked. I started being asked to help other students in my class on their essays or worksheets. It was the highlight of my young academic career. Nothing could possibly be better. 

But then it got better: it happened again, in my sophomore year honors English class, this time with Julius Caesar.

Needless to say, I was hooked. Obsessed, even. I was good at it, sure, but I also just adored the idea of understanding something that most people my age didn’t. Pretentious, yes, but it worked.

Well, all of that has led me to be exactly where I am today: a twenty-one year old English undergrad student at The University of Arizona with a classics minor who loves Shakespeare and Hemingway and everyone in between (and from before).

I recently decided I wanted to get into journaling – I thought it would be a perfect place to clear my head of pre-grad school application anxiety. Of course, I had to get the prettiest journal because that will definitely keep me motivated, and surely the only reason I haven’t consistently journaled before is because my journals weren’t pretty enough. Obviously. 

Anyway, I’ve been consistently journaling since I bought the very pretty journal, and it’s been super fun to see what I want to talk about at the end of my day. And what I’ve noticed? I never don’t want to talk about English. Whether it’s Ovid, Courtly Love, Marie de France, or Shakespeare, that’s what I want to write about. 

I also like to write about things I don’t like. For instance, King James I of England or Plato, because honestly what English major does like Plato?

But journaling is private, and I wanted to actually have my thoughts and ideas in the world, even if they’re just for me and a few English majors that care. Or just me, that’s okay, too.

So TLDR? Welcome to Poets & Parchment, my personal online journal. 

The more I thought about what I wanted this website to be, the more I got really into the idea of feeling like Carrie Bradshaw, but just a Tucson, Arizona, twenty-one year old version who talks about classical literature and not my dating life. 

To keep it honest, I’ve thought a lot about what I want for this journal, or what I think my main focus is. It’s not that I don’t have writing ideas – trust me, my brain is overrun with topics. I think in today’s time (this becoming more relevant by the minute), the whole world of classics is starting to become smaller, quieter. Yes, there are groups and niches of scholars and those in academia, and even those who have formed a TikTok community, of people who care and are interested in classical literature. But as a whole, the United States specifically has become so incredibly STEM focused, leaving out the humanities, and even beginning to deem them as unimportant. 

Which is exactly why I think the humanities have never been more important. With the rise of AI, critical thinking has dropped to a seemingly all-time low, just because people know that they can get more accomplished with less work i.e., less thinking. 

In the ever-so wise words of writer C.S. Lewis, “Literature adds to reality…it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become,” and I think that this couldn’t be more important than it is today. In the year 2025, where we can turn our phones on and immediately become discouraged about what we see, literature and history are still there. We can still read about the tragic Orpheus and Eurydice, we can open a John Steinbeck novel, or we can read warnings from those that came before us, and we can learn. We can decide that we know better than to move backwards when people have already fought so hard for us to go forward. 

As much as some people hate it, I think that the idea of “booktok,” or Book TikTok, is actually a great thing. Sure, sometimes the books recommended aren’t the absolute best of the best, but at least people are reading; at least people are expanding their vocabulary. In a world where Twitter, or X if you prefer, is giving you juxtaposing information from every which way, wouldn’t you rather read an Emily Dickinson novel instead of keeping track of who won what Grammy? 

Now, I’m saying all of this as someone who is addicted to their phone and who spends most of their screen time on Twitter keeping track of who won what Grammy. But maybe we can work on that together. I mean, if you’re reading this then both of us already seem to be taking a step in the right direction.  

Or if you’re just here to support me because I asked you to – or forced you to – read this, then that’s super cool, too. 

Just purely for “housekeeping” reasons, I want to go over a couple of things. One, this is the first website I’ve ever made. I truly do not know what I am doing, and I’m trying my best to learn as I go. Two, I will be the first to admit that I do not know everything. Like, I don’t even know half of everything. But that’s why I implemented this cool little comment box at the bottom of this post. If I get something wrong, or there’s a bug in the website, or if you just don’t agree with me, whatever it may be, please feel free to comment. You can go to the “Contact” section and message me directly, whatever you want is perfect with me. Three, thank you for reading. Even if it is just this far and you’ll never check this website again. I’m posting these purely for me – to keep myself accountable and ensure that I actually try and research and learn something new once a week outside of the classroom. With that being said, it is super cool that some people actually want to read it, so thank you. 

I would also just love to hear about new topics, too. I have a lot in mind, but I’m interested in around the 6th century to the 20th so that’s a bit of ground to cover, and a lot of literature that I am guaranteed to know absolutely nothing about. So if you know me I’d love for you to reach out, and if you don’t, that comment box is super pretty and cool and I spent a lot of time trying to make it work so I’d love for it to be used once or twice (or again, you can use the “Contact” section (I’m not picky, truly)). 

Overall, I’m super excited for what this journal can be. I believe that we need to do everything we can to not lose or forget the rich history that we have access to just on our phones. I believe that looking back is the only way we can make sure we go forward. And most importantly, I believe that the classics are fun. I don’t think it’s fair to assume they’re boring and complicated, and I think that some of the best stories are tucked away in dusty bookshelves with parchment pages. 

There is a lot more to learn from what we have, and there is a lot more to discuss about what we already understand. I never want to be on record saying that William Shakespeare was wrong, but truly? I think there is so much to do about everything. 

See you next Sunday.

Lindsey Hoover