Friday, May 20, 2016

Things I Learned This Semester!

Well, here's the final semester Round-Up! HERE WE GO!

ACADEMICS

1. Don't write essays the night before. At least do some kind of outline beforehand. Even if you wind up getting a B- on the most important paper of the semester, what COULD you have gotten?
2. The easiest papers you will write are ones that pull in knowledge from other classes. I wrote a paper about the Canterbury Tales that looked at the sex and gender roles in two of the tales. I got the idea because the Ancient Sexualities class I was in looked at constructs of masculinity and femininity in the ancient world. Sure, the tales were written many centuries after Rome was at its peak, but gender constructs still existed in Chaucer's time.
3. Make sure you include what gender your characters are, especially if they're nonbinary. I wrote a screenplay that involves a genderfluid air spirit named Ariel ("genderfluid," for those who don't know, refers to a person whose gender identity is... wait for it... fluid!! So they're not masculine all the time, or feminine all the time, or even in the middle all the time; their gender presentation changes). For some reason, I deleted the sentence that said that Ariel was genderfluid, and in one scene referred to them as "him" (I don't know why). Despite the many other instances where Ariel was referred to as "them," many of the critiques that mentioned Ariel gendered Ariel as feminine - i.e. "Ariel is [description], maybe she [other critique]".
4. DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

SOCIAL LIFE

1. Having a roommate you're compatible with makes so much difference in your mental health. If you do not get along with your roommate, it is OKAY to talk to Residential Life (or your RA, or ask a friend to take you to Res Life or your RA) to get a roommate switch. Sure, it'll be a hassle in the short run, but you'll have so many more "crazy shenanigans" stories and so much fewer "my life was awful" stories.
2. Sometimes you need to be the one to coordinate things because nobody else is going to do it.
3. If you really liked a professor, send thank-you notes. Sometimes they'll tell you really nice things that give you really nice feelings.
4. Be nice to people. Even if it's just a smile when in passing. People will remember.
5. Don't avoid your problems on the internet. Just do it.

1 comment: