Worst Place to Study

On Reading Day, I probably picked the worst place to study. I figured that Torgersen Bridge and the Newman would be insanely crowded so I thought that my dorm room would suffice. I am rewarded with trucks outside backing up to the loading bay, people in my hall taking apart their lofts while yelling to each other and the floor above me moving furniture around. Three finals in the next two days. Not smart.

My Brain Hurts

Every couple of months, I will have a bout of insomnia that keeps me from sleeping for a few days. It just so happens that it is happening now. I tried to read to fall asleep. My bedtime reading last night of a paper for sociology concerning crime, rape and homicides. Tonight it will most likely be the monetary policy of the Fed, with some partial derivatives in there to mix it up.
The lack of sleep may be caused by the Vermonster my friends and I ate last night to celebrate a friend's birthday. Twenty scoops of ice cream, four bananas, four ounces of hot fudge and caramel, several toppings and whipped cream to top the monstrous vat of dairy off. I already couldn't sleep before attempting that though. Besides the lack of sleep and large work load (three exams next week), it has been a good week thus far. I feel happy. Maybe it's because the weather is changing for the better, or because participating in the Big Event made me feel somewhat accomplished or because I have Relay for Life to look forward to this weekend. Just a few more weeks left.

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

With two exams to take this week, I've been inside all day despite the beautiful weather outside. While poring over the details of how the money markets work for my economics class, it has been silent for the most part so I can commit the points to memory. Recently however, someone has been playing the piano in the crossover, which I can hear from my room. Whoever he or she is, they are amazing. The pieces they play are complicated and dramatic - it almost feels like there should be an urgency to my studying (and yes, there is). I admire them. Though I may never meet them, I'm aware of how much skill is needed to make beautiful music; I used to play the piano when I was little. Along with the violin, I felt like I was musically inclined. I wished that I had had enough commitment at the time to continue so that I could sound like this person. Simply amazing.

They Say, I Say: Ch. 5, Ex. 1

To introduce her topic, Julie Charlip quotes Marx and Engels, saying that they wrote such and such. She sets it up so that immediately following that quote, she can begin with "but" to state her opinion. She continues to do this by saying "I find..." Charlip does the essentially the same thing again, introducing a sociologist with a quote that she had garnered from him. She then states, "His definition: [...]" which allows she to go on to question the finer intricacies of the living styles between classes. Another instance where she cites a differing opinion is when she writes that "the average American will tell you he or she is 'middle class.'" Following after, she writes "but" to again state her stance.

They Say, I Say: Ch. 4, Ex. 1

Like the exercise first states, Jean Anyon first summarizes the main points of authors Bowles and Gintis, who argue that students who come from different backgrounds are rewarded for different behaviors. She then goes on to summarize the points of Berstein, Bourdieu, and Apple, who all believe that a different set of knowledge and skills are only available to certain social classes. Anyon seems to agree with both points, as she sets out to “offer tentative empirical support (and qualification) of the above arguments.” Though she says she has tentative, or uncertain, evidence of this, the purpose of the article that she is writing seems to be to prove that they are, in fact, true. Anyon hopes to accomplish this by “providing illustrative examples of student work. […] in contrasting social class communities.” From this, I concluded that she agrees with the arguments given and plans to discuss how different social class does affect students in terms of showing what they accomplish as a result of this social class dichotomy.

Exercise 7j - What Difference Does Design Make

Cassidy Trom's paper most resembles a magazine article in terms of layout and design. It is written as a sort of expose on Generation X and what is often associated with their time of youth. Like a magazine article, it incorporates pictures dispersed throughout for visual interest. Trom also captions the pictures and appropriately credits the sources. She also uses larger and a different style of font both in her title, which adorns every page, and to emphasize certain aspects of the topic and accent her paper, again adding visual interest. For instance, she explains how "artists used their popularity as a stage for their unruly behavior" and the difference in its style from the body text makes the reader stop and look at it for a second longer.

Because it looks like a magazine article, one might have more inclination to read it. Magazines typically cater to specific audiences, in that, they spend money on observing the type of people that buy their magazine so thus, the article must at least have something in it that concerns them. With an essay, the typical reader is more likely to shrug it off as something that was just assigned and written because it had to be.

I feel that because it is laid out in a more appealing way than the ordinary english paper, it would be more likely to be read by someone other than a teacher. Flipping through it, I was glad that it was five pages of text (in differing fonts) and pictures, rather than a straitlaced times new roman five paragraph essay. If reformatted to look more like a typical paper, I think it would lose that initial appeal. It would still be a well written, interesting essay but it would lose that hook of visual appeal that attracts and keeps many readers.

Back In The Daily Routine

Waking up early isn't really a problem for me. With the hum of the heater ever present and the creaks of closets making themselves heard, falling asleep was the problem. Still, after a four hour long bus ride, I was exhausted. After attempting to unsuccessfully finish my accounting homework, I moved onto art, which acts as a stress reliever for me. Currently, it is an abstract mess of scribbles, a change from my organized calendar of events. Over the next five weeks, I have seven exams.

I also have to see the bone doctor tomorrow for my fractured finger, which kept me from playing on an intramural wallyball team. I find that it only aches when the weather is like this. Otherwise, I don't have to worry about it though I think that if I hadn't tripped up the stairs at home and broken my fall with my hands, maybe it also wouldn't hurt so much sometimes. We'll see. Spring Break was the rest I needed but there is so much to do.