Macaulay Arts Night!

Let me first say how impressed I was with Arts Night in general - the curators really gathered some amazing pieces!

Arts Night was really special to me this year, because, about a month ago, I decided that instead of going to graduate school, I am going to pursue my dream of opening a bakery. Arts Night provided me with a sort of launch opportunity; I baked about 300 cookies over the course of 4 days, set up my exhibit, and basically got free exposure (to the Dean, nonetheless!)

I am so thrilled with how supportive and enthusiastic the Macaulay community was about my cookies, and I feel a new confidence about my work. I actually believe, for the first time, that this will actually work - that I can work with something I love and be successful with it. And I don't think that I would have received such a warm welcome in any other community. There's something different about Macaulay, and now, more than ever, I'm glad to be here. (And I was REALLY glad before, so that says something!)

Scheduling Woes

Confirmed my Fall 2010 schedule as well as the tentative outline of the next three years here as a PreMed/Bio Major. I have maybe five courses that are my electives for three years. Let's just say I'm a tad downtrodden about how fun this is going to be.

Registered

in a record 26 seconds. Yay!

Not-registration! ...and almost non-graduation

This is the good part about being a second-semester senior: whenever people tell you all about how they're trying frantically to arrange their courses for next semester, or how they really hope they get into this or that section, or how they've set up a Heartbreaking Schedule of Staggering Genius with a five-day weekend--any of this--you get to smile and gloat to yourself (or not to yourself) about how you don't have to worry about these things.

Ever again.

Never, ever, ever-

-except, of course, for next year, when you enter law school. Heh. Right.

But until then, this is total relax-y time.

Except, in my case, I had a slight hiccup with me degree audit... it seems that the course I'd put down to fulfill one of the requirements for my Creative Writing concentration did not fulfill that requirement. The requirement in question being "African American, Asian American, Latino American, Caribbean, Transnational or Post-Colonial Literature," the course in question being Eng 256, Gender and Genre in Asian-American Literature. The problem being that that requirement actually calls for a 300-level or higher course, which Eng 256, naturally, is not. How do I not notice these things? No clue. At any rate, I ran panicking to a department advisor first thing after my internship today, confirmed that another course on my transcript does fulfill the req, and got a lovely letter saying that that course is to be substituted for the previous one. Yay!

In other news, I've actually been managing to do non-school stuff recently. Had a splendid time at karaoke with friends a couple weekends ago. I have made it my mission to discover the most un-karaoke-able song in the songbooks;I used to think the best example was Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues," but now I've decided it's really Johnny Mandel's "Suicide is Painless." (yes, I also sing songs that aren't depressing. But those aren't as funny).

Also: can someone please explain to me who comes up with the music videos that go with karaoke songs? Because I've seen "Mack the Knife" accompanied by a Japanese girl playing with a shark hand puppet,and "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" with women in swimsuits on the beach.

Incidentally, I linked to the Bobby Darrin/Louis Armstrong version of "Mack the Knife" because it's all well-known and stuff, but really, the best English rendition is the Manheim/Willett translation--seen here performed by Nick Cave with somewhat corny theatricality--which captures the simple brutality of Brecht's original lyrics

REGISTRATION!!!

Wow, this semester flew by really quickly, and registration for the fall semester is just tomorrow! Any of you Freshman-to-be: get ready for your first Hunter registration experience :) It only gets more hectic from here on out... Although I have high hopes for a smoother registration this time around since I'm done with CHC and most Honors classes, which are the ones that really close out fast.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Choosing classes and the awkward sophomore to junior transition

I'm quite excited about registration this time because for the first time in three semesters I have leeway to choose some fun classes. I've learned a thing or two about balancing one's life since I started college, and I definitely think it's a good idea to mix up heavy semesters and light one. In that vein, having taken a mere 12.5 credits this spring, I'll be jumping back in with five classes (and theoretically working at a psych or bio lab) this fall, which means that after the calculus, chemistry lab, and statistical methods in psychology classes that I need tot take, I've still got two spots to fill. Yay!

Deciding how to fill those spots is not so simple though - too many choices, and I'm trying to fulfill as many distribution requirements as possible. Macaulay is offering an honors section of Cultural Anthropology 101 with a past Honors Seminar professor of mine who I got along with particularly well, so that is a strong candidate. And I was all set to take one of two possible introductory philosophy classes, until the German department announced its classes for the fall, which include temptations such as "German Children's and Adolescent Literature" and "German Radio Plays." After four straight semesters of German to meet my foreign language requirement, the department is one of my favorite at Hunter because of the light hearted class environment and the consistent quality of the professors.

The other appealing thing about taking a German class is that I can take classes beyond the introductory level. Looking to my junior year, it suddenly seems like it's time to get serious about... something. I only have two short years left to finish my major, write an honors thesis, and generally ensure that I've gotten a good education, all of which leaves me wondering what exactly happened to the past two years. When I think hard I realize that the first year was spent mostly taking cool classes and some distribution requirements and generally having a good time, while this year has been devoted entirely to prerequisites for my major. College is somewhat frustrating in that everyone tells you that you shouldn't rush in deciding what you want to do, but once you've figured it out there numerous hoops in your way and you have very little time to do it. Take home message: have fun with your classes, but get serious quickly.

Gee, there's a lack of updates

and right when the readers need them most!

To be honest, we're all super busy. Classes end in 2 or 3 weeks, finals are SOON, and workloads are becoming more and more daunting.

Some things I'm considering this week:

1. Weekly op-eds for my Critical Perspective class, plus a paper on A Modest Proposal this week and a paper on Mark Twain next week.
2. A creative project (a short story, for me), plus two more books and STILL trying to figure out Michel Foucault for Sexuality and American Culture.
3. My final group project for CHC, which involves profiling and proposing changes for developing areas of NYC.
4. 3 or 4 more of Freud's works, plus a final, the format of which is still a mystery.
5. A German final in a few weeks.
6. Internship applications for the Fall, which I should submit before I leave for Germany.
7. LEAVING FOR GERMANY IN A MONTH AND A HALF
8. Baking 12 or so dozen cookies for Macaulay Arts Night.

The cookies are sort of unique to me, but this is pretty typical. But it's also fun work. I won't be too burnt out...

Cookies will help.

- Katharine

Allergies, Work, and Allergies

Achoooo!
Achooo!
Achoo!
Oh, how I hate being sick. I suddenly came down with a cold and allergy duo that has been plaguing me for the past several days, and, for some reason, my vitamin C tablets have done nothing for me. That said, it has been a pain trying to get work done... especially reading. The scent of the pages causes me to sneeze and punctuate every other sentence with a slew of "achoos." When will it go away?
It has recently dawned on my that my first year of college is drawing to an end, and quickly at that. The time gently flew by as I basked in the new found freedom and reveled in the continuous company of friends. All this will have to go into a three month stasis come May 28th, which is the day I must pack my belongings and resume life at home, a place in which I now feel out-of-place. I guess I'll just have to get used to the idea. Hopefully, my allergies subside so that I can work in peace and enjoy the remaining of my stay at the Brookdale Dormitory. Happy reading 'til next time.

-Chevon

Bouncing off of what Kaitlyn said...

I went home for Easter after an amazing spring break in England and Ireland, opened my closet, and got rid of half of my possessions. I realized that I've evolved in the almost 2 years I've been in New York City, and I really don't need a box of incense, or an Edward Scissorhands sweatshirt. (My Pokemon games are staying right where they are though, until I get an apartment, at which point they'll find a new nook in a new closet.)

Buried on one of my shelves was a Franklin & Marshall course catalog that I'd taken when I visited and, admittedly, fell in love with the school. I remember poring over the pages as a high school senior, waiting for my acceptance letters, dreaming of living in Lancaster and taking English courses at F&M. (I had no idea whether or not I'd actually get into Macaulay, considering how few are accepted.) Well, acceptance letters came, and, even with a merit scholarship of a whopping $7000, Franklin and Marshall was totally unaffordable. I didn't mind so much; my excitement over my acceptance to Macaulay at Hunter totally trumped whatever sadness I had about F&M, but I wasn't quite ready to recycle the course catalog for whatever reason. So, into the closet it went.

When I dug the catalog out on Monday, I felt like I was 17 again. The heavy, navy blue stock and the embossed gold crest made me giddy, and I leafed through the pages once more. What I found, though, was that I had made the right choice in coming to Hunter.

Since coming here, I've taken half a dozen advanced literature courses and four writing workshops, and I have tons more options available. I will not be bored over the next two years - Hunter's faculty and course diversity will allow me to study, in depth, any time period or genre I could imagine. The English offerings in the Franklin and Marshall catalog took up two or so pages - maybe 30 courses? Maybe? And forget about my German studies. The German department there is minuscule, and while I could have majored in German, I'd have blown through every course offered by Junior year.

So, as everyone is making their decisions over the next month, I suggest they forget names for a second and take a look at the courses that each of the schools offers. You might be shocked to find that the best education doesn't necessarily lie where you think it does.

Textbook lost and found

Yesterday I had an interesting first experience - I somehow managed to completely lose one of my textbooks. Like many college students, I'm in the habit of carrying large, heavy books around with me pretty much at all times. Yesterday the book of choice was a big green one aptly, if un-creatively, titled "Chemistry," and apparently it objected to my constant highlighting, marking, post-it-ing, and other abuse, because somewhere in the course of my day it completely jumped ship.

It all started while I was waiting to meet my research mentor, a psychology professor at NYU, down in NYU territory. He was a bit late so naturally I occupied myself studying. When he arrived we headed off to get lunch at a nearby deli, sat outside some big fancy looking NYU building for our meeting, and an hour or so later I headed off back to Hunter. The whole thing seemed entirely straightforward, except that when I got on the train and went to get my chem book out of my backpack to resume my studying, it suddenly occurred to me that the book had actually not been in my backpack. A quick check confirmed that indeed, I was chemistry-book-less. Hrm...

Since I had another class at Hunter I continued uptown, then as soon as my last class let out last night I hurried back down to the NYU, which thankfully is in the same direction as my house. There was no textbook outside the big fancy building... But, returning to the deli across the street, I found it there waiting for me - "with a pen inside," as the cashier who had been holding it for me pointed out - sitting right by the counter where I had inadvertently abandoned it several hours before. Crisis averted!

Clearly, this is the danger of hyper-active studying...

New Jersey Disappears

On Monday, coming home from Legal Aid, I looked down the street and saw that either A) New Jersey was dissolving and wafting over to Manhattan in a misty cloud of its component molecules, or B) there was a lot of fog on the Hudson. Either way, I took pretty pictures:

View from Gansevoort St:


Ooh Spooky!


You'll notice the fog is very clumpy and localized-like (mostly around the piers in the distance):


Oh no, it's spreading! Not only has Jersey City just about sunk all the way, but one of our piers has dissolved, leaving behind only these rotting wood pilings!


The Village, foggy-style:


Christopher St Pier:


Oh wow, do I always look this serious?