Yesterday was my last official day of student teaching.
(I'm still here, of course, because the concert is Tuesday, but I don't have to be here anymore. And that makes all the difference.)
It seems like the official end of my undergraduate education should have some level of contemplation attached, but I'm not feeling terribly pensive. I graduate Sunday, but I really don't care all that much. Everyone's acting like it's such a big deal that I'm graduating Magna Cum Laude, but I feel stupid for it because I slacked a lot sometimes and easily could have been Summa Cum Laude. Everyone acts like this is a major accomplishment, but it isn't, because I've been slated to graduate from college since I was six.
It's not any great accomplishment. It's just a stepping stone, a hoop I had to jump through before I could have any real impact on the world. It's not worth recognizing. It was a completely selfish endeavor--I was too preoccupied with the things I had to do to do anything worthwhile.
The reason I graduated can be basically broken down into things that have nothing whatsoever to do with anything I've done.
1) I'm white, and an American citizen.
2) I have been given immense cultural capital by my family, enabling me to navigate the world and find funds, even when we didn't have any.
3) I have an above-average brain, meaning I can understand and accomplish things without a lot of work.
4) I have been given endless love and support.
5) "Coincidences" in my life, bringing me close to Shirley and trumpet and those around me.
How can we be arrogant? There is nothing in me that is because of me. Everything I am, everything I've done, is because of God. Anything good in me is God's. All the talent, the coincidences, the people who love me...I had as much say in that as I do in tomorrow's weather.
So people congratulate me, and I'm not sure what to say, because none of it's me. Yes, I'm graduating. Yes, I'm glad.
But I'm not proud. I haven't done anything to be proud of.
Showing posts with label academia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label academia. Show all posts
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
What's so special about 2008?
This was a pretty major year for me. But then again, at this stage of life, what year isn't major? We're in pretty formative times, you know.
Instead of trying to recap, I'm just going to put in some random journal quotes. They're basically chronological, and it was more fun than re-musing.
Fun quotes from Amanda's journal in 2008:
"I don't think I'm going to talk very much. I say that, but I lack a natural "shut-the-hell-up" gene."
About a dream: "I got to the end and he was there, and my double, the one who put me up to all this, maybe me and maybe not, stayed behind. And I knew that I was going to die, leave the real one behind. And I didn't speak, but I made him promise to never tell. And he didn't speak, but I knew he wouldn't. And I suddenly realized what made him look so serious--he was the one who knew, who always knew, would never speak, just carry it."
"I chilled out in BeansTalk, and Amanda Smith came and joined me. It was so nice--a very chill time to just be, relax and doodle in the thick book and not worry about things for awhile."
"What's more important? The absolute deity of Jesus? Or the way people treat each other?
I know my answer. And I don't think it's such a terrible one."
"We played a game--a person would ask any question, and everyone would answer it. It was so awesome, just to be free with answers and life and being outside and not too cold, moon and stars occasionally revealing themselves behind a thin curtain of cloud. It was a really amazing night of connection."
In an education class: "We are now discussing what mermaids sound like. For at least three minutes. I'm not really here, am I?"
"Currently, Lilac and Sean have hypothermia, Naomi is in a coma, Endeath is winning, Gaia's somewhere in Maine, and Carlos is the lone person hanging onto consciousness. Quite fun, in all honesty."
"We are the secrets of the world, we are the pieces of life, we are formed enigmas wrapped in cotton. We are silence and fire and creation and destruction, the closest thing to God seen on earth."
"The other night John and I went up and snuck into Howard's Knob. It was remarkable and it was real, and with the wind so fierce looking over Boone's valley I just felt intense and unstoppable and powerful, human, whole, real. And it doesn't matter what the core of humanity is--what matters is being alive."
"Flying out on a Wednesday offers a much different dynamic than flying out on a weekend. Instead of vacationers, businessmen take up most of the space. Surrounded by them all, with their suits and Blackberries, zooming impatiently in their BMWs and Mercedes, always in a rush, I am so grateful that will never be me."
"I get the impression a lot of them feel sorry for me. It's weird...I want to shout, "Really, I am happy! I am well-adjusted! I have goals and dreams and plans that are going to happen--don't feel bad for me!" Sigh. Just the silly Christian again."
"Wither is done! First draft--about 2 months, one of which was February. Pretty good for me."
Dream: "I nearly got caught by one (booby trap) on the way to the front porch. I asked the girl up there how she got through, and she said, "I had faith in God." My response was basically, "Huh. Yeah, well, I'm gonna go disable these."
"Word of the class--paradox! Whatever it is, it's a paradox. Bonus points because it has an "x" in it."
"I'm voting for Clinton in the primaries. If Obama gets the nomination, I'll vote for him in the general, because if he is the anti-Christ, maybe he can fix the economy."
"Difference between last semester and this semester--last semester, I couldn't get my head above water. This semester, I just don't give a shit."
"You've won, College of Ed! You have officially killed any excitement I had about teaching with pointless discussions of things that don't matter, ignoring the actualities of what a classroom requires. You have aided me losing my drive to do anything worthwhile. You have successfully turned me into another half-assed, effort-free college student that I used to despise. Thank you for helping me understand, through worthless discussion classes, that the goal is not to know your subject area, but just to sound like you know what you're talking about.
While you're reading this, I'm going to go get wasted with my fellow classmates (even though in a past life I would be studying my subject matter) because I don't give a shit anymore.
Love, me."
"Maybe if I get hit by a car they won't make me come back. Maybe an earthquake will strike Boone. Maybe a fire will start that burns down only campus buildings. I should just shoulder it and go on like always, but you know? I'm just not that good. Sorry. I am bitchy and short-term and personal. I can't take the high road about this."
"Yeah. No worries. I'll just slip back into spiritually bankrupt, honors-student experience.
I am tired of these games. How am I supposed to fix myself when everyone around thinks I should stay broken?"
At a private singing session in Ireland: "It's almost like a pause in time. No one was in a hurry to leave, or glancing at their watches every few seconds. People weren't antsy--this was the most important thing in the world. While they were there, nothing mattered except the voices, filling and connecting the space inside. There are two or three women whose voices are so pure, so beautiful, who sing with such heart-wrenching feeling it seems impossible the world outside could still exist."
"God is breaking me. Because I am in a pathetic stage now, a stage of doubt and self importance and organized chaos. I am in selfishness, self-righteousness, pride beyond pride.
And he's breaking me from it."
"So much drama over a freakin' pussy."
"Oh yeah, yesterday we took the kids swimming. I got tackled and stomped in the face. Hooray."
"Dani is not at all afraid to include perfect strangers into our conversations and games. Starbucks--"What if three hot guys want to sit with her?"
"God's voice...is it deep, echoing off the mountains and valleys He created? Would it be high, ethereal and sweeping as the purest soprano, free of vibrato and sounding like clear crystal? Would it make the strongest tremble, or weep?"
"THIS IS YOUR LIFE. This is not a study in human behavior! This is not a series of books or poems! Hike! Breathe! Laugh! Play! God is EVERYWHERE singing! A voice so full of joy and pain and endless, endless love.
You cannot observe that. You cannot meta-cognate that. You are only in it.
You wouldn't think it would be so easy to forget."
"I have to have faith.
I have to believe that God is leading me.
So I will. Even though sometimes I'm scared and thinking things like, after this season I may never go to a football game.
I'm way more scared than I thought I was. But there was a great quote at Convocation: "Almost anything worth doing is scary."
But I wasn't expecting it. It's so real, so soon."
"My recital is terrifyingly soon. Stop. Breathe.
(Um, prior to breathing let's learn your music.)"
"I really, really suck at this game, by the way. And everything is foggier while extremely sleep deprived. Part of me is saying no. Part of me is saying if you don't break it you'll be like this forever."
"You'd think we'd bring out the worst in each other, but it's like two negatives make a positive. As long as we're good for each other, I guess I'll leave it alone."
"Have I mentioned this is fun? Because this is a lot of fun, this whole dating-someone thing. I almost forgot it was worth it."
"'Cause this is THRILLER!"
"I am a junkie.
Success is my heroin. A little taste of it--the attention, the acclaim, the pride--and I'm looking at potential relapse.
But what do you do when your smack is something you want to work for? How do you survive when the only way your soul can live is to fail?"
Quote from John: "Why do I feel like at the end of next semester we're going to be eating ice cream and watching sad movies together?"
"I need school to be over. Really. It will suck to be away from here a little bit, but it won't be snowing. And I won't be sitting through bullshit classes anymore."
"More, I think this is part of the peeling, part of the me to become more who I am. I feel like another artificial piece has been taken off, getting me a little more to the center."
(BTW, I'm tagging Connie in this because even though she wasn't mentioned by name, she played a HUGE role in my thinking and loving in 2008, and she's one of the two people I am unspeakably grateful to have grown closer to.)
That says much more about what I thought through the year than what I did. I did a lot--went to Ireland, New York twice, preformed the Concerto, had my recital, started dating someone for the first time in three years. (Actually, started for the first time in seven years.) I got close to HannaH again, in spurts. I went Geocaching and saw Danielle Hall and played the waltz at my high school. I met people and made enemies, drifted away from people and permanently knit towards others.
I've never been so happy, looking back over becoming.
Instead of trying to recap, I'm just going to put in some random journal quotes. They're basically chronological, and it was more fun than re-musing.
Fun quotes from Amanda's journal in 2008:
"I don't think I'm going to talk very much. I say that, but I lack a natural "shut-the-hell-up" gene."
About a dream: "I got to the end and he was there, and my double, the one who put me up to all this, maybe me and maybe not, stayed behind. And I knew that I was going to die, leave the real one behind. And I didn't speak, but I made him promise to never tell. And he didn't speak, but I knew he wouldn't. And I suddenly realized what made him look so serious--he was the one who knew, who always knew, would never speak, just carry it."
"I chilled out in BeansTalk, and Amanda Smith came and joined me. It was so nice--a very chill time to just be, relax and doodle in the thick book and not worry about things for awhile."
"What's more important? The absolute deity of Jesus? Or the way people treat each other?
I know my answer. And I don't think it's such a terrible one."
"We played a game--a person would ask any question, and everyone would answer it. It was so awesome, just to be free with answers and life and being outside and not too cold, moon and stars occasionally revealing themselves behind a thin curtain of cloud. It was a really amazing night of connection."
In an education class: "We are now discussing what mermaids sound like. For at least three minutes. I'm not really here, am I?"
"Currently, Lilac and Sean have hypothermia, Naomi is in a coma, Endeath is winning, Gaia's somewhere in Maine, and Carlos is the lone person hanging onto consciousness. Quite fun, in all honesty."
"We are the secrets of the world, we are the pieces of life, we are formed enigmas wrapped in cotton. We are silence and fire and creation and destruction, the closest thing to God seen on earth."
"The other night John and I went up and snuck into Howard's Knob. It was remarkable and it was real, and with the wind so fierce looking over Boone's valley I just felt intense and unstoppable and powerful, human, whole, real. And it doesn't matter what the core of humanity is--what matters is being alive."
"Flying out on a Wednesday offers a much different dynamic than flying out on a weekend. Instead of vacationers, businessmen take up most of the space. Surrounded by them all, with their suits and Blackberries, zooming impatiently in their BMWs and Mercedes, always in a rush, I am so grateful that will never be me."
"I get the impression a lot of them feel sorry for me. It's weird...I want to shout, "Really, I am happy! I am well-adjusted! I have goals and dreams and plans that are going to happen--don't feel bad for me!" Sigh. Just the silly Christian again."
"Wither is done! First draft--about 2 months, one of which was February. Pretty good for me."
Dream: "I nearly got caught by one (booby trap) on the way to the front porch. I asked the girl up there how she got through, and she said, "I had faith in God." My response was basically, "Huh. Yeah, well, I'm gonna go disable these."
"Word of the class--paradox! Whatever it is, it's a paradox. Bonus points because it has an "x" in it."
"I'm voting for Clinton in the primaries. If Obama gets the nomination, I'll vote for him in the general, because if he is the anti-Christ, maybe he can fix the economy."
"Difference between last semester and this semester--last semester, I couldn't get my head above water. This semester, I just don't give a shit."
"You've won, College of Ed! You have officially killed any excitement I had about teaching with pointless discussions of things that don't matter, ignoring the actualities of what a classroom requires. You have aided me losing my drive to do anything worthwhile. You have successfully turned me into another half-assed, effort-free college student that I used to despise. Thank you for helping me understand, through worthless discussion classes, that the goal is not to know your subject area, but just to sound like you know what you're talking about.
While you're reading this, I'm going to go get wasted with my fellow classmates (even though in a past life I would be studying my subject matter) because I don't give a shit anymore.
Love, me."
"Maybe if I get hit by a car they won't make me come back. Maybe an earthquake will strike Boone. Maybe a fire will start that burns down only campus buildings. I should just shoulder it and go on like always, but you know? I'm just not that good. Sorry. I am bitchy and short-term and personal. I can't take the high road about this."
"Yeah. No worries. I'll just slip back into spiritually bankrupt, honors-student experience.
I am tired of these games. How am I supposed to fix myself when everyone around thinks I should stay broken?"
At a private singing session in Ireland: "It's almost like a pause in time. No one was in a hurry to leave, or glancing at their watches every few seconds. People weren't antsy--this was the most important thing in the world. While they were there, nothing mattered except the voices, filling and connecting the space inside. There are two or three women whose voices are so pure, so beautiful, who sing with such heart-wrenching feeling it seems impossible the world outside could still exist."
"God is breaking me. Because I am in a pathetic stage now, a stage of doubt and self importance and organized chaos. I am in selfishness, self-righteousness, pride beyond pride.
And he's breaking me from it."
"So much drama over a freakin' pussy."
"Oh yeah, yesterday we took the kids swimming. I got tackled and stomped in the face. Hooray."
"Dani is not at all afraid to include perfect strangers into our conversations and games. Starbucks--"What if three hot guys want to sit with her?"
"God's voice...is it deep, echoing off the mountains and valleys He created? Would it be high, ethereal and sweeping as the purest soprano, free of vibrato and sounding like clear crystal? Would it make the strongest tremble, or weep?"
"THIS IS YOUR LIFE. This is not a study in human behavior! This is not a series of books or poems! Hike! Breathe! Laugh! Play! God is EVERYWHERE singing! A voice so full of joy and pain and endless, endless love.
You cannot observe that. You cannot meta-cognate that. You are only in it.
You wouldn't think it would be so easy to forget."
"I have to have faith.
I have to believe that God is leading me.
So I will. Even though sometimes I'm scared and thinking things like, after this season I may never go to a football game.
I'm way more scared than I thought I was. But there was a great quote at Convocation: "Almost anything worth doing is scary."
But I wasn't expecting it. It's so real, so soon."
"My recital is terrifyingly soon. Stop. Breathe.
(Um, prior to breathing let's learn your music.)"
"I really, really suck at this game, by the way. And everything is foggier while extremely sleep deprived. Part of me is saying no. Part of me is saying if you don't break it you'll be like this forever."
"You'd think we'd bring out the worst in each other, but it's like two negatives make a positive. As long as we're good for each other, I guess I'll leave it alone."
"Have I mentioned this is fun? Because this is a lot of fun, this whole dating-someone thing. I almost forgot it was worth it."
"'Cause this is THRILLER!"
"I am a junkie.
Success is my heroin. A little taste of it--the attention, the acclaim, the pride--and I'm looking at potential relapse.
But what do you do when your smack is something you want to work for? How do you survive when the only way your soul can live is to fail?"
Quote from John: "Why do I feel like at the end of next semester we're going to be eating ice cream and watching sad movies together?"
"I need school to be over. Really. It will suck to be away from here a little bit, but it won't be snowing. And I won't be sitting through bullshit classes anymore."
"More, I think this is part of the peeling, part of the me to become more who I am. I feel like another artificial piece has been taken off, getting me a little more to the center."
(BTW, I'm tagging Connie in this because even though she wasn't mentioned by name, she played a HUGE role in my thinking and loving in 2008, and she's one of the two people I am unspeakably grateful to have grown closer to.)
That says much more about what I thought through the year than what I did. I did a lot--went to Ireland, New York twice, preformed the Concerto, had my recital, started dating someone for the first time in three years. (Actually, started for the first time in seven years.) I got close to HannaH again, in spurts. I went Geocaching and saw Danielle Hall and played the waltz at my high school. I met people and made enemies, drifted away from people and permanently knit towards others.
I've never been so happy, looking back over becoming.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Are we there yet?
4.5 more classes, and then my college career is OVER!
ASU lost on Saturday, which was pretty depressing. I was really hoping to go for four. At least my toes will stay attached next weekend, but still. After ending the season at the championship game for the past three years, it was quite unpoetic to finish my marching band career with such a pathetic loss. Eh. So it goes. I was trying very hard not to care after the fourth interception.
My new fervent hope--please, please, not JMU...anyone but JMU...I just couldn't handle it.
On a completely different note...there was a span of time last week where I was completely bummed. It was a combination of weather and crap going on and everything else. I wasn't sure exactly why I was getting so down, so much more than I have this semester (especially since I've started dating Derek.) I took an afternoon to just relax and hang around Derek, and try to piece my brain back together. I finally figured out what it was that was getting me so down.
I started taking everything too seriously again, all this shit in university that doesn't matter. I forgot how absurd it all is, the hoops we have the jump through and the games we have to play to get the accreditation we need to have an affect on the world in the way we hope. Everything became so important again, the rubbish papers and the endless memorization.
As soon as we stop laughing at the ridiculous it holds power over us. When we don't recognize the insane we begin to think it holds credence. We have to always hold in our hearts what really matters--who we are, the people we love, centering on God, finding ourselves in the mess we have to wrap up in to get through this world. You have follow the rules of this world and keep it from touching you, play their games and don't let it in your soul.
So laugh at some authority figure, even while you're writing a paper. Celebrate that you see how inane the busywork is. This is your life, your soul. They can make you stay up all night studying. They can force you to piece together stuff you'll never use again.
But as long as you're laughing, they can't touch your heart.
ASU lost on Saturday, which was pretty depressing. I was really hoping to go for four. At least my toes will stay attached next weekend, but still. After ending the season at the championship game for the past three years, it was quite unpoetic to finish my marching band career with such a pathetic loss. Eh. So it goes. I was trying very hard not to care after the fourth interception.
My new fervent hope--please, please, not JMU...anyone but JMU...I just couldn't handle it.
On a completely different note...there was a span of time last week where I was completely bummed. It was a combination of weather and crap going on and everything else. I wasn't sure exactly why I was getting so down, so much more than I have this semester (especially since I've started dating Derek.) I took an afternoon to just relax and hang around Derek, and try to piece my brain back together. I finally figured out what it was that was getting me so down.
I started taking everything too seriously again, all this shit in university that doesn't matter. I forgot how absurd it all is, the hoops we have the jump through and the games we have to play to get the accreditation we need to have an affect on the world in the way we hope. Everything became so important again, the rubbish papers and the endless memorization.
As soon as we stop laughing at the ridiculous it holds power over us. When we don't recognize the insane we begin to think it holds credence. We have to always hold in our hearts what really matters--who we are, the people we love, centering on God, finding ourselves in the mess we have to wrap up in to get through this world. You have follow the rules of this world and keep it from touching you, play their games and don't let it in your soul.
So laugh at some authority figure, even while you're writing a paper. Celebrate that you see how inane the busywork is. This is your life, your soul. They can make you stay up all night studying. They can force you to piece together stuff you'll never use again.
But as long as you're laughing, they can't touch your heart.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Not really hard, just soul-crushingly lame
"What do you think?After completing this module write a 500-word (one page, single spaced) response addressing these questions (below).For full credit, summarize/refer to the module content in your own words and take time to brew up a thoughtful answer.
- How can I articulate how a theatre performance affects me?
- What do all works of theatre have in common?
- How does my past experience shape my perception of a theatre performance?"
I need a degree...I need a degree...
- How can I articulate how a theatre performance affects me?
- What do all works of theatre have in common?
- How does my past experience shape my perception of a theatre performance?"
I need a degree...I need a degree...
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