Introductory Post - 09/12/2026

 

    Hello, everyone! My name is Lily Lantin, and I am looking forward to reading and discussing the books in this class! This is my second year in the UBC Arts department, and I am also in the B+MM program to earn a master's in management. I've always wanted to study the Arts, but I am quite indecisive about which medium to pursue. Part of the reason I enrolled in this class was to try something slightly different and perhaps develop a passion along the way!

    I was born in Washington, and I lived a ferry ride away from Seattle on Bainbridge Island for eighteen years.  I developed my love for baking and cooking by helping my mother in the kitchen as a child, dreaming of attending cooking school as she did in her twenties.  I was fortunate to spend a year in London attending that same cooking school for my gap year before studying at UBC.  I studied French techniques in both cuisine and pastry, but candy-making was my favorite thing to learn!  While I currently work in food service and as a private chef, I hope to use my skills in my future career.  Hopefully, I will combine them with management and writing to work in food media or event planning/catering.  Besides cooking, my hobbies include fitness and the outdoors (Running, hiking; I had great experiences rowing on the UBC novice team last year!), music/piano, and reading/writing.  I've always loved reading the classics, but I find I get more out of them when I read and discuss them in a classroom setting.  On my own time, I have recently enjoyed memoirs and historical non-fiction.

    I am intrigued by this class's grading system, and I think it will be rewarding to set my own pace; achieving the grade will be a goal I set for myself.  I also know this class will push me to read and annotate, which will hopefully strengthen my attention span for my other courses.  Many of the books we will read are on my 'to read' list, such as Madame Bovary and Don Quixote, and I have read some once but am excited to read them again, like Voltaire's Candide and Dante's The Inferno.  Finally, I hope to improve my discussion skills in larger groups.  While I love sharing opinions and getting to know people in small groups, I struggle to speak and ask questions in full-class discussions.  I believe it comes down to the people in a class to foster an environment where we all feel comfortable sharing, and I noticed that even on the first day, which makes me hopeful.

    Our discussion of modernity on Thursday made me curious: Do you think modern architecture and design is/can be beautiful?