Tereza is an English major, who is enrolled in the 4+1 program. She will be taking her one year of Masters work for secondary education. She has considered a psychology minor. Her hobbies include writing. In high school, Tereza was a soccer and basketball athlete: "High school was my time to shine is sports life", she laughs. She also enjoys movies and the outdoors.
I choose to interview Tereza because, she is a person almost too similar to myself in personality. She is personable, humorous, and silly. I wanted to see if I could see a match in our style of writing. I was satisfied not say the least, which lasted for a few moments because my stomach hurt from laughter.
MM: "What are your origins as a writer?"
TP: "I remember growing up, I would write stories with my friends. We would do this thing where we would pick out words and give them to each other. We would have to make a story out of them. That is where my little stories started. It was nothing major. I have always enjoyed English classes, and literature, and the poetry that we did read, and what not. It wasn't until high school that I took an actual creative writing class; l think it was my senior year. My one teacher really helped us start expanding our creativity on what we wrote on. So I started writing more poetry and short stories. It was at that time that I entered one of my short stories into the Cleveland Clinic Expressions Program at the Cleveland Art Museum. It won a blue ribbon. I was like, "okay" (laughs). That is where I got my knack for writing short stories. Then, I realized that I getting better at writing poetry as well. The next level was just writing for myself then and finding it as a way to express myself. I originally didn't use writing as a way to express myself. Basically, it grew over time"
MM: "How did you find LUMEN?"
TP: "LUMEN was actually introduced to me in my freshman year at Mercyhurst by Dr. Gregory Brown. I took his Research and Writing with him and he spoke highly about (LUMEN). I also saw signs up around campus as well. As a freshman, I worked in the writing center clerically - a sort of secretary for the writing center. I knew of other people who would submit their content to LUMEN as well."
MM: "Have you submitted to LUMEN before?"
TP: "I sure have, I submitted to LUMEN every year here. Three years in counting. My first year, I submitted amateur poetry that didn't get in. Last year one of my poems did get accepted. It was called "Broken". It was one I actually wrote in a class taught by Dr. Brown (laughs), once again. This year, I had another one accepted, which was called "Nothing", (pauses for dramatic effect, and laughs). I'm also an editor for LUMEN, as are you."
MM: "What Does LUMEN Mean to You?"
TP: "Well, as I said earlier, poetry is a way to express myself. Sometimes you can't speak the things you feel deep down inside yourself. I know for me, myself, it is hard to communicate with my voice rather than when I really sit down with a pencil and a piece of paper. That is when my true self emerges. I use poetry an even deeper way of communicating because you can use literary elements and all these things to point at different methods of self description. You can make poetry what ever you want, honestly. I don't like most formal and structure methods of poetry. I appreciate sonnets, and all those things, and legendary poets, but I like to discover different methods of how people word their poetry. Free verse for example. Whatever you want to write, you can write it in the way that you want. People don't have to understand in the way that you do. You have to understand it, yourself, which is up for interpretation".
I was pleased to discover that we both have similar origins in writing and taste in poetry structures. Our taste in laugh out loud signals and facial expressions towards one another were spot on as well. Now, I just need to cure my belly laughs.
Fun Facts
Her favorite movie is Pride and Prejudice.
Her favorite book is The Catcher in the Rye.
She is a self proclaimed, "meme-loving f*ck"
*You can follow Tereza on Instagram and Facebook below*
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