November
10, 2014
Well,
this is going to be a shorter entry because I have at least eight more things
to do tonight after this. I probably shouldn’t have
spent an hour watching Avatar: The Last Airbender instead of folding my
laundry. Oh well…
I
had a pretty good weekend because I was really able to strike a balance between
schoolwork and fun things. Right after classes on Friday, I went to a meeting
for the Multicultural Engagement Living Learning Community (LLC) to discuss
plans for the rest of the term. The LLCs are new this year, although the Multicultural
theme has always been present in the hall I live in, Akin Hall. This year
it’s just more formalized. Hence, the community meeting. Anyway, the other members of
the council and I decided on some cool events to have. One thing we are doing
is hosting a discussion about misogyny and harassment in video gaming culture.
We also are having a cultural music night where people share their favorite
music videos. Another thing that might happen is a sort of story-telling
session where everyone talks about their experiences living in or traveling in
other countries. I’m pretty excited!
After
that, a bunch of my friends went down to the academic side of campus and holed
up in one of the larger lecture halls to play The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Extended Edition) on the projector. That was really
awesome. We do that a lot – we saw the first Hobbit movie earlier in the term, and last spring we watched the
third season of Sherlock. It’s so
great to be able to utilize the academic spaces however we want, even on Friday
nights!
As
I’ve mentioned before, I am taking a class called Education in a Complex World,
and I volunteer at an elementary school as a part of it. On Saturday, I met with
the kindergarten teacher I work with to interview her for one of my classes. I
took the bus to Starbucks and we just talked about her experiences in the
education system. It was really cool to talk to her! We never get the chance to
chat one-on-one in class because we’re too busy dealing with the kids, so it
was nice to get to know her more, and hear her thoughts on things like gender in the classroom, and standardized testing. In the evening, I saw an on-campus production
of Spring Awakening. Our theatre department is so cool! I wish I had the guts
and the time to be more involved with it. Afterwards, I played Cards Against
Humanity with a bunch of people in the lounge, which was a blast.
On
Sunday, I spent many hours in the library reading Paradise Lost. That was about
it. I love the text, but after I finished the assignment, my brain was just fried. It’s
so dense. What really helps me is to listen to the audio version as I read. The
Lewis and Clark library website has great resources like that. It's really helpful
for reading Milton and Shakespeare, especially because in the latter, the recording has different actors voicing each character. It’s the next best thing to watching
the play.
Well,
this turned out longer than I anticipated. I guess I’m just proud of myself for
having a weekend that was both really fun and really productive. That very
rarely happens, it seems.
If
you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu!
Jess