Over the course of this semester, we’ve read, listened to, and watched a wide range of things. Come fifteen years from now, I won’t remember the texts as much as I will the new perspectives and concepts that they showed me.

Since I started this class, I’ve done a pretty good amount of pleasure reading in my spare time. Nabokov taught me the value of rereading and the importance of reading with an open mind. Most of all, he taught me the power of the imagination with Lolita. The close reading techniques I learned in this class I applied to the books I read in my leisure. From e.e. cummings to The Wire, this class taught me to close read and those skills will stick with me through the years.

Blue Velvet will stick in my mind as the movie that made me distrust movies. I can’t help but overanalyze any movie I see now. All those hours spent watching and re-watching it and constantly thinking about it have just changed the way I watch movies. I certainly drink more Pabst Blue Ribbon than I used to (though I was a fan prior to Blue Velvet).

The details may fade, but the new perspectives and ways of thinking I picked up in this class will stick with my through the years.