Guys, I feel like I’ve been neglecting you. It’s for good reasons, I promise. Can I give you a rundown? Just so that we’re caught up? Okay. Let’s.

Classes

I am only taking four classes this semester because I’m doing an internship for credit. One of them is my politics capstone seminar, “Witnessing War, Occupation, and Displacement. It’s seriously depressing, and when you spend this much time reading about the Palestine/Israeli conflict(s), you kind of start to hate everyone. It’s a good class, and it’s forcing me out of my domestic politics love-hate affair. Refreshing, it is not. Necessary? Very. This class has an average of 150 pages of reading a week. At least that is what my professor said. My calculations have it more around 200, which is getting close to tear-inducing.

I am taking creative writing with a whole bunch of freshmen. Because it is a 9am class and they are still shocked to be in college at all, they are kind of an unenthusiastic bunch. And then there is me, the old kid who comes in wet, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed from practice and is just happy to be taking a class that feels FUN to me. Also, it has also brought to my attention that I find having to plan out plots irritating.

Then there is “Power: Race, Sex, and Class,” which is absolutely rocking my world. It’s taught by Zillah Eisenstein, who’s kind of a big deal. It is also depressing, and will probably turn me into a Marxist.

Finally, there’s “History of Life on Earth,” my joke of a science class. It’s taught by a paleontologist and definitely has its interesting moments, but I still feel inexplicably embarrassed anytime there is a flashy illustration of an angry dinosaur thrown in on the powerpoint. Also, Land Before Time and all its hundreds of sequels were totally inaccurate, even excluding all the talking-singing dinosaur bit.

Internship

Here’s where life gets crazy. I’m interning at an advocacy center for people with disabilities and have about four on-going projects. I go to meetings because it literally is my job. These are sometimes extremely boring (the panel on the Tompkins County Budget) and really interesting (planning a voter education event). Another one of my responsibilities is setting up a blog for this special-needs families organization. I set up a meeting for that yesterday. It went well. I was very prepared and had many ideas, but I didn’t realize I’d…have to explain how a blog works. I’m also working with Aging groups on campus, and have to attend meetings for THAT. How the heck did I become that kid? Anyway, at the end of the day I hang out with a lot of really Ithaca natives who probably live off the grid and dress entirely in organic fabrics. They are extremely nice people and I’m learning from them. Local politics are a world away from Washington, that’s for sure. 

Crew

We are currently banned from rowing because the invasive species hydrilla is taking over our inlet. Which is a huge problem. I believe the term "environmental disaster" was used. Yesterday Becky threw Tessa and me back into a double, and we managed to stay dry. That is not to say that it was a good row by any standards. I am in charge of steering, and this basically meant I panicked for 2 hours and practically hyperventillated every time we went under a bridge. It is likely that we doubled our mileage because we swerved so damn much. 

And that is all. I have no idea how to end this thought explosion/update, so, I guess...Yeah.