Scott Brewer, secondary education junior, takes classes, participates in campus activities and sometimes reads poetry to people in The Commons.
“It’s really cool to be able to have a captive audience,” Brewer said. “You are able to act crazy, and they’ll pay you to do it. Despite being heavily regulated these days, it’s still fun even as an institution.”
Brewer said he originally decided to attend IU Southeast because of the low tuition. However, he said the school began to grow on him.
“People don’t notice that IU Southeast is a very intellectual campus because it is so small, but every level and program of IU Southeast is great,” Brewer said. “I’ve loved all of the wonderful discussions I’ve had in my upper-level courses, and the language programs are also great.”
In addition to school, Brewer is involved in the Work-Study Program and has worked in the Food Court for more than two years.
“It is getting better each year,” Brewer said. “The new chef, Dylan Starkey, makes it extremely fun to work because he and I share many similar interests.”
Along with taking courses and working, Brewer is also the secretary of the IUS English club.
Since attending IU Southeast, Brewer has been in the last two issues of the annual publication The IUS Review and has also been made an editor this semester.
“We have a very good, tight-knit group of avid writers in the English club,” Brewer said. “Despite our workloads, everyone is able to get very good work in. We could stand to have a few more entry students join though.”
Brewer said one of his favorite forms of writing is slam poetry. He said slam poetry is a specific kind of free verse driven by internal rhyme and rhythm, which is what he has read during lunchtime.
“Slam poetry has a musical quality to it, similar to rap, but is not actually put to music,” Brewer said.
He said his favorite slam poem is “What teachers make” by Taylor Mali.
Kasceio Niles, biology junior and friend of Brewer for seven years, attended Floyd Central High School and now IU Southeast with Brewer.
Niles said Brewer’s poetry exposes who he really is.
“He has his own quirky voice that his writing subtly reveals, but, if you want the full experience, you have to listen to his poetry,” Niles said. “It may make no sense and seem completely illogical, but you’ll hear things you identify with or things you know he’s referencing, and it allows you to think about yourself and draw your own meanings that pertain to you.”
Besides writing, Brewer said he also enjoys editing the works of others and his own creations. He said he believes writing is much more difficult than editing.
“I do like to write, but I’m not that awesome yet,” Brewer said. “I would like to be at Ray Bradbury’s level of short story writing.”
Because editing is an important hobby for him, he said his primary motto also stems from this passion.
“I think that every writer should kill all adverbs,” Brewer said. “If it ends in a ‘ly,’ it must die. Adverbs do nothing but hurt writing. Readers like definitive, strong voices. Adverbs diminish that.”
By COURTNEY
MCKINLEY
Staff
comckinl@imail.iu.edu