EL 227

A Fantastic Voyage Into Dr. Arnzen's Mind

Renee DeFloria (EL 227)

GREENSBURG, Penn. - - “Neither, none, never,” Dr. Michael Arnzen replied when I questioned him about whether he always wanted to be a writer and a professor. Teaching in a variety of courses like The Art of Film, The Writing of Poetry, Thinking and Writing, and The Practice of Journalism, one would ask, “What does this contemplative professor do during his day?” You may (or may not) be shocked to know!

I don’t think I’ve heard the word tea mentioned so many times during a shadowing of a professor. Arnzen admits to starting his day with a steaming cup of tea. Between a wooden table, a stack of unidentifiable magazines, and (you guessed it) a cup of tea, I sat down with Mike Arnzen to find out what goes on in that questionable mind of his.

While most of us are dragging out butts to get ready for school, Arnzen sits to write for roughly 2 hours in the morning. With his cup of tea (or coffee if he’s pressed for a deadline) at hand he can be found either constructing a new poem, proofreading and correcting his current work, adding to his weblog, or thinking of new and sometimes odd things to fill the blank page. “There’s always something to write about,” he replied enthusiastically. In fact, he prefers to write in the morning because he is fresh and he may be able to reminisce on any dreams he had the night before.

At Seton Hill University (SHU), Arnzen enters at his office in St. Joseph’s 402. When I arrived, I was anxious to find out what goes on in that mind of his. As I expected, a stack of tea bags sat by his computer waiting to be used. It seems I’m not the only one with doubts about the content in his mind. Jen Cilia believes, “I think he’s just how he is because he’s trying to be himself, and not someone he isn’t.” Amy Slade’s opinion was, “I have no clue what Dr. Arnzen thinks about. From being a student in his classes I can tell that he is a very dynamic person.” And although she has never experienced a course taught by Arnzen, Amanda Cochran said, “He is a very interesting man. His blog is an excellent source for insight into his mind.”

During my time with Arnzen, first we had to meet with Dr. Spurlock to discuss the possible mock poetry contest between Seton Hill University and The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. The meeting lasted for a brief 5 minutes and Arnzen and I were on our way to The Greensburg Room. But not before he threw some loose change from his table drawer into his pocket accompanied with a chuckle and a response that he always keeps loose change on hand. As he opened his table drawer, he resembled a kid at their second grade show and tell as he pulled out a picture of a bloody rabbit and showed it to me with pride and a sinister grin.

In The Greensburg Room I sat down with him to find out his motivations and what makes him tick. Anyone who knows Arnzen knows that he is an avid lover of the horror genre. The reason is simply that he finds humor from it. He finds it funny although many people do not for the simple fact that it is about death. Arnzen likes to be surprised and thus surprise his readers with his own writing. “I am deathly afraid of boring people,” he confessed. It’s clear he likes to keep his own readers on the edge of their seats.

In fact, if you’ve read any of his works you may be left a little flabbergasted and questioning his motives. When asked if he would ever explain his inspiration behind a piece of his work or the main premise of it, he simply said that he’ll usually tell people what he was going for but he will never give them a straight answer. He’ll most likely tell you to re-read through it too to get a different spin on it. Finally, I just had to know what usually swims around in that mind of his. Using the plot of the film Fantastic Voyage, I attempted to delve into a sea of uncertainty: his mind. He actually admitted to being quite a paranoid, nervous person, always questioning when the next earthquake will hit, anticipating horror, and humorously enough: wondering when the food he ate will catch up with him.

Afterwards, Arnzen returned to his office to prep himself for his 3:30 Writing of Poetry class followed by heading home where he usually strives to complete his work before his favorite shows hit the television waves. Arnzen also likes to watch TV with his wife and spend time with his family.

Renee DeFloriais a sophomore journalism major also minoring in corporate comminications.

Posted by Reporter at November 21, 2003 10:30 AM