Last semester I had the privilege to present a paper on Pablo Neruda at the Pablo Neruda Symposium held at Muhlenberg. Before then, I had known some basic information about Pablo Neruda from prior classes, but nothing very extensive. Profesora Buitrago incorporated a lot of Neruda’s works into her lesson plans that allowed me to gain an appreciation for Neruda as a man and a writer. I choose Pablo Neruda as the topic for my final project and had the task of summarizing the important events of his life. Presenting my paper at the Symposium was a nerve-racking experience because I hadn’t had much experience in presenting anything, much less a paper in Spanish.
Later that night poet and Neruda critic Marjorie Agosín presented some of her works, powerful with Neruda as her inspiration. She explained the admiration that people have for Neruda not only in Spanish speaking countries but all over the world. I feel that researching and presenting the paper on Neruda, as well as hearing Marjorie Agosín’s presentation, was one of the most memorable experiences of my time at Muhlenberg.
--Dan Skoczylas, ‘06