I took Faulkner Seminar Honors with Mr. Lum during the second semester of my senior year. I was already checked out, with all college applications submitted, and I had constantly heard about how difficult this class was. Suffice to say, I was not looking forward to it. But Mr. Lum, through a combination of humor, engaging lectures, and a deep care and compassion for his students, made every paper, every reading assignment, and every class discussion worth it. He helped change the way I feel about English as a field of study, gave insightful tips and helpful advice on my writing, and opened up new avenues of thought and analysis for me. Faulkner as an author and as a person is incredibly complex and difficult to understand, but Mr. Lum helped the students in his class diagnose and understand the unique form of writing and narration that Faulkner employs, and he encouraged us all to continue studying Faulkner and unraveling his mysteries as we continue diving deeper into our study of literature. Don't let the "honors" title scare you off, or the idea that Faulkner will be too difficult to understand, or that "it's my senior year and I deserve a break. " You will be studying and learning with the best English teacher at Bellarmine, and the bonds formed within your Faulkner class are lifelong. Despite the occasional procrastination on a reading assignment or the difficulty in thesis formation on The Sound and the Fury paper, I cannot emphasize enough what a valuable experience this class was for me, and I strongly, strongly encourage every rising senior at Bellarmine to take it.

I cannot stress enough how important it is for each senior at Bellarmine to try their luck at getting into the Faulkner Seminar. The course is extremely easy and wildly invigorating for anyone with an interest in American literature and classical themes, and in my opinion should be taken by every literate eighteen-year-old male to graduate from Bell or any such institution. Mr. Lum is knowledgeable and fervently passionate about the material, clearly having read every piece numerous times, and wants more than anything for each student to get involved and feel as strongly about Faulkner's work as he does. I only wish I could take it again.

If you make the most of your experience in his Faulkner class then you will learn. A lot. Just be prepared for lots of reading and re-reading. The reread value of the material is a lot higher than other classes.