By 6 p.m. Sunday, April 4, each group should post 1) its theme and 2) what each member of the group is doing -- that is, writing -- in pursuit of the theme. The posts should be done by group, with each member and his or her topic listed and, as necessary, explained.
22 comments:
BOOZE AND DRUGS: Our group is going to post our ideas separately for what we want to do because we don’t have the contact information of everyone. The story I am going to be writing will be the last one in the sequence of our stories. The theme of my story is the hangover day. On a Sunday when everyone has to pull themselves together to try to get their work done after a crazy weekend of drinking and drug use, students often resort to more drastic options then spending the day cooped up in the library. But so many of these drug reliant college students have become so dependent on different substances that they even turn to drugs to help them study. Adderall. Vivance. Concerta. Ritalin. These study drugs are rough on our young teenage bodies. A good majority of the student population become psychologically and even physically reliant on these “study drugs” that they believe that they are incapable of doing any school work without them. I have a lot of “slices” of this story that I can tell, and haven’t yet decided which one I want to focus on.
BOOZIN' 'N DRUGGIN'.
I suspect if my group were to categorize our stories as "the good, the bad, and the ugly," mine would ultimately fall under the ugly.
Actually, make that the very ugly.
Late last semester semester, I went out to a party with a few of my suitemates. No surprise, there was some drinking involved at this partying locale. Alas, I was tired and opted to leave the party early. So, off I went to bed. About an hour later, I was awoken by some rumblings out in the common room. One of my suitemates/friends had returned from the party quite inebriated. Actually, make that completely fucking plastered. The next thing I hear, he opens the door to his room and a fight brews.
I go out into the common room, and my friend is in a drunken rage, lashing out at his roommate. (Apparently, his roommate was in the room making out w/ his girlfriend or something, and these two guys practically loathe each other to begin with). My friend then kicks a garbage pail across the room, motions to slam his door shut, and....this ain't for the queasy....he gets his finger jammed in the door. The sight then before me is blood gushing all over the common room, even somehow making its' way to the ceiling. After the horror of that scene, we of course wound up calling an ambulance, and, for me and my fellow suitemates, the rest of the evening was spent cleaning up his drunken, gory mess.
Gotta love college.
Gender/Men and Women
I am going to describe to the best of my ability what we are all writing about. I think I have a pretty good idea.
Suzann is writing about the complexities of the male/female friendship. Can a true friendship really exist between a male and a female, or does young adulthood not allow for such a thing? My story is going to reveal a series of female/male encounters throughout a typical college night.
Josh's scene takes place in a bar. He is writing about "fake friends", people one socializes with, and will go out and drink with. He doesn't talk to these men and women about anything important. In reality, what do these people really know about him?
Kellie is writing about going out into the world as a woman and trying to find a job in a male dominated field--the talk radio industry.
Maria is going to write a scene about the trials of being a transgendered student at college. I think she is going to take a classroom scene approach.
Basically two of us are writing about the trials of a specific gender, and two of us are writing about the complexities of friendship relationships.
ACADEMICS
As a group, it was interesting for us to approach this topic after the first class discussion about this project, which revealed that often times academics can be the last thing on the college student’s mind. When we began discussing what kind of scenes we could write that wouldn’t sound repetitive, we started to talk about things that bothered us about academic life, ultimately arriving on an overarching theme of “misconceptions.” Each of our stories will explore certain people and elements associated with academic life, - the professor, the advisor, the students and technology, - ultimately revealing that they may not always fall into a certain role or function the way they are “supposed” to. I think the story dieas explain the theme best. Here is a brief run-down of our ideas (with mine explained last), which I am sure each member will explain further in their own post:
- Jaime was thinking of writing a story about the stereotypically intellectual student. This is the person who repeats what the professor is saying or tries to talk about abstract concepts on a regular basis. As we know, these people sometimes have no idea what they are talking about and are attempting to simply impress a teacher or upstage their classmates. I think a story that reveals this sort of ignorant vanity could prove to be pretty funny, and I am excited to read what Jaime will come up with!
- Advising seems to be an academic mainstay that every student has a complaint about, and Michelle was thinking of writing a story about this issue. The whole “is-advising-actually-helpful-?” debate is one that comes up constantly, making this a relevant topic when It comes to academics.
- After our brief discussion about the dying breed of physics majors, Jennifer proposed to write a story about one of the few left on our campus. Many of us communication and media students admitted that day that we know very little about these students, what their schedules and workload are like and how they deal with being a part of a dying program; however, Jenn’s story could break stereotypes that we have of the hardworking science student, as she plans to explore her friend’s lack of a busy schedule in spite of his rigorous field of study.
- Pam was interested in possibly writing a story that reveals how technology sometimes slows down the learning process rather than facilitating it. On a campus filled with projectors, television screens and computers, this subject matter is something students are faced with everyday.
CONTINUED...
Now, for my story…I wanted to explore the roles of professors, since they are obviously a big part of academic life that I don’t think should be ignored in the grand scheme of this sort of project. There are dozens of professors on this campus and others like it across the country that lecture at students from a podium, causing them to be perceived as these exalted figures whose lives revolve around the subject they babble about for three hours at a clip. Of course, those of us who have been fortunate enough to have teachers who facilitate discussion and take the time to help students learn according to their personal needs know that this isn’t always the case. I wanted to dispel this age-old stereotype about professors by writing a story about a Women’s Studies professor I took a class with during my freshman year. She appeared before the large lecture hall during the first class, speaking as the sort of “lead” professor of the 5 that taught the course, directing how things would go. My friends and I immediately developed a certain perception of what kind of grader she would be, that the class would be dull and we’d end up regretting taking it. But once each professor broke off into their group’s discussion circle, my teacher revealed that she is actually a full-time bartender. The difference in the way students acted and treated her was subtly shocking, so I think this situation could lend itself to an interesting piece. I may run into some trouble when it comes to how I should organize it, but I guess that’s another blog post discussion.
Money Group:
Our group is writing about the different dimensions of dealing with money in college: the responsibility of maintaining your own finances for the first time, paying for school, employment in college, and how whenever one tends to come into money they usually lose it or are forced to spend it very quickly.
I’ll allow each of my groupmates to expand more specifically on their vignettes in their posts.
I’m not exactly sure what specific scene I’m focusing my story on yet, but I was planning on writing about my experiences of juggling school and employment. Specifically, I was planning on writing about how working this job seems counterproductive to going to school and trying to get a degree, but at the same time it’s completely necessary in order for me to afford living in New Paltz. It seems broad and that’s why I’m having trouble narrowing down a scene that could capture this attitude about money in a short space.
Kim has already explained the goal of our group so I will just explain my scene. I plan to write about the time I found out I would have to pay for college all by myself with no financial aid or grants.It was kind of a life changing moment for me knowing I would have to step up and be responsible for myself. I think in this day and age this happens more often and other students will be able to relate to this.
for those of you struggling to narrow your topic, think of a specific day or hour or incident. it doesn't have to be inclusive or comprehensive; it just has to be suggestive or evocative of your themes & concerns.
My group (Men and Women) were unaware that I was in the group since I joined very last minute and without much fanfare, so I'm posting my ideas separately.
I was thinking about writing about a conversation I had with my friend about how society is more accepting of a heterosexual female atheist than a homosexual member of a church, and about the taboos of the different characteristics, stemming back to gender and how one identifies themselves
ACADEMICS: Like Julie already said, I would like to write about how technology can affect a student's work process. I think I'm not the only who can say that the computer or television had encouraged their procrastination. There have been many instances where because of facebook, it takes me hours to finish a simple paper.
Another topic that was brought to my attention was the mentality of a lot of professors on campus who believe that "they know everything." For example, there are professors who will assume that an unfamiliar term in their student's paper is used incorrectly, or doesn't exist. My friend recently told me that teachers told him a term he used didn't exist. Rather than asking him where he found the term or what it means, they quickly assumed that he made it up. I think that this is a serious problem which intimidates a lot of students.
BOOZE and DRUGS
My story is going to be a sort of scene shot from a party. While it wasn't a large party at all (maybe ten people if that)the amount of partying and drug use was insane. Anything anyone could have wanted was there. A friend of the birthday boy came and his girlfriend was the one who went to pick him up. Unbeknown to her, the guy had a satchel that was just full of different drugs, so many in fact that he didn't even know what some of them were. I'll be writing a little scene from that party that sums up the whole night and maybe a little bit of how one's drug use can effect another.
My group is doing Drugs & Booze.
When we first met up as a group, I was surprised that the rest of my group members had such dark stories to contribute. My contribution is significantly lighter than say, Andrew’s piece about his drunken friend’s finger being cut off or Maria’s story about waking up to a naked friend who is behaving wildly after consuming a synergy of substances.
My piece is about my 21st birthday, which I believe every American who is or has been my age can relate to after having waited 21 years to legally drink alcohol. Although I went to many places that night, my piece will focus on the end of the night where my large group of friends and I finish off the night at a club. I was wearing a bulky king’s crown and because my headpiece identified me as the birthday boy, I was given many drinks by many strangers. I drank them all. And as I got increasingly inebriated, I met an array of characters who further encouraged me to drink.
Although the plot isn’t really that great, plenty of shenanigans occur such as a drag queen trying to steal my crown and me stumbling into a large man’s lap. There’s a lot for me to write about. I’ll probably stick my piece somewhere in the middle because it will give the readers a break before and after reading some of the messed up stories that my group members have to tell.
make sure your stories are representative. the experience you're relating should shed light on what it's like to be a college student in 2010 -- or a young adult.
Booze and Drugs:
Like Justin said and I think I have told you this story topic before (Howie), my topic is about a friend of mine who decided to take sleeping pills and finish a bottle of vodka by himself after a few of us returned to from the bar and went to bed. I would place my story/postcard between Justin and Sarah Fine as it is at the end of the night but not quite the day after. I feel like this story is a good analysis of the college life that exists in 2010 in the sense that there is never just one altering substance that students tend to latch on to anymore... there seems to be an influx of students who take on more than they can handle under the pressures of their school work, home life, self placed pressures about meeting their goals... etc.
Money:
For my scene,I'll be dealing with balancing my money when here at school, without having a job. Although I am not sure what my specific scene is, it is going to be about creating a budget for myself and managing my money properly.
think in scenes. don't think in themes. think in scenes. let the scene define the theme, not vice versa. basic lesson.
As Kim said earlier I’m writing about how college forces us to assume financial responsibility and how someone [me] can fuck that up. I’m going to illustrate this through an account of earlier this year when I over drew my checking account multiple times thinking I was safe from any repercussions because of a program my bank runs, misleadingly named “overdraft protection.”
I'm late I'm very sorry!!
Within the topic of "Money" I'm going to write about something that happened a few years back when I won a lot of much needed money on the 2008 Giants superbowl win. And the subsiquent loosing of that money due to my own foolishness. And all the emotions that go along with having to grow up, and pay for your own shananagans.
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