Myself: John Koerper

Hello everyone, I am excited to get to know all of you throughout this semester. To introduce myself, I am from Kentucky, although my family moved frequently as I was growing up. I have lived in Kansas City (on the Kansas side); Los Cruces, New Mexico; Billings, Montana; Ashland, Kentucky (a small town near the border of West Virginia); and finally Lexington. Through all the moves I have had my eight siblings to keep me company. I have two sisters and six brothers and all the normal fun and complications that come with a larger family: a mom that calls you two different names before she remembers yours, giant family monopoly games that start with jokes then proceed to yells followed by tears, shared rooms, there always being a family member at any time of the day to call for a pick-me-up etc . . .

I served my mission, Spanish speaking, in Fort. Lauderdale Florida.

A list of what I enjoy doing would include playing the piano (I started when I was six), singing (quality varies), films, basketball, and, of course reading and writing.

The last two hobbies came due, a large part, to my mom. She homeschooled myself and my siblings and was an English major herself. While she did teach the sciences and other subjects, I could not help but notice and be influenced by her, frankly biased, passion for literature. It was her assignments that first introduced me to Shakespeare. I have read many of the plays (Hamlet, Macbeth, Midsummer Night’s Dream etc . . .) and some of the sonnets though not recently, except in class.

Besides reading the plays, which I enjoy, I have had one other experience with him that was not so pleasurable. My mom required when I was eight or nine to memorize Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” monologue. That was the moment that I realized that, while I love reading and watching Shakespeare, I also love leaving the performance of his work to others (good luck Sarai!). Maybe that idea will change this semester, who knows?