My experiences in global haiku this semester have taught me that the most important thing haiku does is convey a specific emotion by establishing the time, place, and situation of a specific moment in time using as few words as humanly possible. The best haiku are those that can create an emotional bond with the widest audience. Oftentimes, during our class workshops, certain haiku would be discussed less favorably, not because they were poorly written, but because we as readers couldn't relate to the situation presented by the author. One of the elements said to be necessary in a haiku is the season word. After reading and writing many, many haiku by many different authors, I have found that a season word may not always be needed to make a haiku "complete". I think that the power of haiku to capture the reader in a given moment, to convey emotion, is more important than the presence of a season word that may just be a waste of words. I have written most of my haiku based on personal experience. Some of my haiku come from childhood memories of my grandma's house, while others come from more recent experiences, such as softball, Model Illinois Government, my daily run in the park, or my trip to St. Louis. Some of my haiku are based on a combination of experiences, simply meant to convey a specific emotion. While I try to include season words in my haiku, as is customary of traditional Japanese haiku, not all of them contain one. With or without a season word, I hope you enjoy my collection of haiku, drawn from the emotion of personal experience.