"[Saucin'], I do this often." - Post Malone, "White Iverson"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you haven't yet, I'd recommend you read "I don't need no introduction," my reflection on fall term of my sophomore year in college published in November 2015.
AUTHOR'S EDIT (3/28/16): Upon getting my grade summation for the term, I'm proud (and almost entirely astonished) to say that, for the first time in my life, I've gotten straight A's, with A-'s in both sex, gender, and sexuality and introduction to new media to complement the A in News Editing). I end winter term with a 3.8 GPA, the highest GPA I've ever merited in college or high school.
AUTHOR'S EDIT (3/28/16): Upon getting my grade summation for the term, I'm proud (and almost entirely astonished) to say that, for the first time in my life, I've gotten straight A's, with A-'s in both sex, gender, and sexuality and introduction to new media to complement the A in News Editing). I end winter term with a 3.8 GPA, the highest GPA I've ever merited in college or high school.
[....]
Winter term 2016 at North Central College was unique for one reason and that is because I couldn't find a single person having a good time or enjoying their term. Whether I'd engage in passing conversation with people before or after class, during class, or during my lunch-break, everyone seemed to be neck-deep in work, completely exhausted, and overwhelmed all at once.
When you run on a trimester system, you expect this kind of flood of pessimistic emotions coming after week eight, when final projects are beginning to come to fruition, final exams are on the horizon, and the hectic rush of getting all your things turned in on time becomes a very real issue for time and sanity. However, I began noticing this kind of pressure on my peers as early as week two or three, regardless of their respective major. Everyone was overworked, undernourished, and most noticeably of all, was sleep-deprived.
I'd be lying if I said I was the sole exception, despite the appearance I give off. While I wear my emotions on my sleeves most of the time, I often mask how much stress and pressure I really have. Occasionally, I have bouts where I go off the rails and unintentionally snap at somebody or something, but most of the time, especially when I'm on campus, I try to let the unrelenting weight of papers, projects, presentations, analyses, essays, films, reviews, and work not noticeably wear me down.
Winter term 2015 seemed to be fairly similar too, but perhaps not as prevalent because I didn't regularly socialize with as many people as I did this term. I feel it's the combination of the miserable weather and the short days that get people in these kind of moods. With short, overcast days come feelings of not being as productive or just general lethargy, which makes people behind and always in a panic mode.
Winter term 2016 was the hardest term I've had thus far, in terms of workload and stress, despite it being my last term where I go two days a week, at least as far as I can see. My Tuesdays and Thursdays would often see me on campus from roughly 9am to about 10 or 11pm, with some of my Sunday mornings and all of my Monday mornings being reserved for homework and other things. Thursdays wouldn't see in bed till about 1 or 2am before being up by 9am the next day to catch a movie and then go to work.
My classes - sex, gender, and sexuality, news editing, and introduction to new media - all came with a laundry list of things I needed to do. For sex, gender, and sexuality, I was required to read roughly three scholarly articles for every class with the possibility of one of five pop quizzes being given the next class meeting on those particular readings. When working with a system that's predicated upon fear, you don't have much room to maneuver or try and cheat the system, so thankfully most of the material covered - everything from the concepts of "doing gender/difference," to female stalkers being more violent than male ones, to even the politics and gendered idea of poverty - was largely interesting. The class was even taught by Dr. Stephen Maynard Caliendo, a published author and the political science analyst for CBS 2 in Chicago. I couldn't have asked for a more decorated, intelligent, and charismatic professor. I ended the course with a solid B overall.
News editing was the laidback course of the term, sort of the "sequel class," as I dubbed it, to newsgathering, the class I took in fall term. Four of the nine students in news editing were in newsgathering, including the inimitable and always fascinating Marissa, and most of the work was done in class, save for the occasional packet we needed to complete outside of class. While it may seem like it got lost in the shuffle in terms of relevance and importance between two more hectic classes, it was still something I definitely needed, for I'll be writing for North Central's Chronicle newspaper come next month. The class revolved around grammatical mechanics and the interworkings of editing in a newsroom setting. It was tight-knit and personal, and the hands on experience with editing raw copy will undoubtedly go down as some of the most fun memories of my sophomore year. I should end the course with an A overall.
Furthermore, introduction to new media was the back-breaking straw for me this term. Trying to navigate a rather nonlinear grading system was already enough of a struggle, but trying to keep up with weekly essays, biweekly submissions of edited essays, three big papers, a book report presentation/paper, two exams, and classwork was a nightmare of information overload. While the class did indeed present some intriguing theoretical, almost psychological, explanations to define the contemporary idea of media, which is largely based around interactivity, synchronicity, and the concept of "the user," I feel I would've enjoyed the class more had I actually had time to digest the information and not have to continuously run around trying to make sure I completed every small assignment that was thrown my way throughout the term. It was tireless and the prime contributor to my stress this term. I should end the course with a B+, but there is a considerable chance I could eek out an A-. If I do get the A-, I'll more than like make dean's list for the second time in a row and the third time overall. Time will tell.
Other than that, I continued to try and further myself as a social force this term and found more success doing so. For one, the Steve Pulaski t-shirts (pictured above) helped me build stronger bonds with people. Throughout the term, I was either running over to my middle school or high school to sell shirts to my old teachers, waiting for old classmates and friends to come over and get their shirt, or selling shirts out of my trunk at school. To date, I've sold over forty shirts and still have quite a few on hand I'll get rid of in due time. I can't believe what a huge success they were, and the fact that I could successfully sell/market them during the busiest term in school I've had thus far and during the month of February, where I did "Steve Pulaski Sees It" and watched films people recommended me, was absolutely nuts.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I tried to keep things simple after my new media class after 6pm. I found myself going to dinner with Maria at least once a week, and afterwards trying to show and explain to her the genius of Clerks and Mallrats, or even going out with my friend Haley and her girlfriend (adorably named Hailey, as well) so they could endure me imploring them to watch 99 Homes, 2015's best film. My lunch breaks were, once again, complimented by the loquacious and thoughtful presence of my friend Joceline, whom I hadn't seen since the start of summer last year, and I also got to see my friend Sarah quite frequently during her final term before she graduates and goes off to bigger and (hopefully) better things.
I found this balance about as delicate as I could coming off of a perfectly structured fall term, which saw two back-to-back, two hour classes from 8am to noon, before a lunch break till 2pm, and then another class until 4pm. After that, I'd spend about two hours working on homework or writing a review before going to dinner with someone.
This term, I had to adjust to getting most of my work done at home, which has always been a challenge for me. Even my friend Lizzie, who I got to talk to for about a half an hour on the last day of the term, confirmed the same thing. It's as if you spend an upwards of ten or eleven hours on campus each day you're there and still have to get more done when you get home; that's enough to drive you insane.
Somehow, someway, through persistency and a competent work ethic, I managed to get through this hellish term, which was unsurprisingly buoyed by more friends, more conversation, and more acquaintances than this time last year. It was a rough winter term for different reasons compared to winter term last year, but these rough circumstances were still infinitely more attractive.
Next term begins March 28th, where I will be going five days a week again (something I haven't done since fall term 2015). My classes are English literature to 1660, introduction to visual literacy, and professional writing on digital platforms, along with writing for The Chronicle. Along with a pleasant, three-day vacation to Wisconsin/Minnesota with my buddy Nick awaiting me over spring break, I'll also be hard at work trying to secure some internships over the next couple months with local digital marketing firms, as well as continuing my output of reviews and blogs. Just because the term ends doesn't mean the workload ceases.
KEY SONGS OF THE TERM (FIVE SONGS THAT WERE A PART OF MY DAILY PLAYLIST THIS TERM IN COLLEGE):
READ MY OTHER COLLEGE BLOGS:
Comments
Post a Comment