"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"
So... this blog may turn into me venting about my life a little more than I intended. I will try to keep the focus on books and reading, which isn't too difficult since I am an English major. Which I am kind of questioning right now. I loved English in high school. I looked forward to the class every day, liked the reading, writing, all of it. But now, I am beginning to question that. Was it because I had amazing teachers? They made me want to learn and now I am just not getting inspired by my dull professors? I seriously have had only two professors so far that actually made me truly interested in their class. All of the others, not really that exciting. Is that how college is supposed to be? I don't know. I just feel like I am waiting for a class and professor that actually makes me fall in love with education again. I loved high school. That was part of the reason that I wanted to be a high school English teacher. It just made sense to me.
Anyways, that was a long rant. The point was that I have 432 pages of American Literature to get through today. I have been sick and in the hospital for the past month (really, really long story) so I am really behind. And my professor wants me to take an incomplete for his class even though I am completely capable of making up the work if he gives me alternative assignments. Which he would have to do if I took an incomplete anyways. I don't even know. It is so frustrating. I am not the "take an incomplete" type of person, if you know what I mean. I am used to perfect. I am not saying that I am perfect by any means; I am so far from it. But in school, it is the only thing that I can do perfectly. I can get good grades if I try really hard. It makes up for not being perfect in every other aspect of my life. Ugh being a perfectionist sucks.
I am just going on and on and not getting to the point of this post. I am meeting with my professor tomorrow to talk about how I am going to finish his class and I haven't done the reading for the past few weeks. So, that is why I have to read all 432 pages in order to prove that I actually can finish his pointless class before Christmas. And as an English major, I feel like I should be enjoying what I am forced to read. I'm not really. And that makes me question everything all over again.
Here is the reading list for today:
Walden by Thoreau
Narrative of Life by Douglass
Young Goodman Brown by Hawthorne
The Birthmark by Hawthorne
The Philosophy of Composition by Poe
The Raven by Poe
The Fall of the House of Usher by Poe
William Wilson by Poe
Bartleby the Scrivener by Melville
Leaves of Grass by Whitman
I will update later with reviews of all of these. Hopefully, they will get better. So far, Walden was not a success for me. Granted, I only read the first two chapters, but it did drag on for a while. I really liked his main message for the simplicity of life and that mankind needs a connection with nature, but some of his examples and explanations were too long. Overall, the chapters made me think, which is always a good sign after reading something profound. Thoreau definitely got his message through and left me thinking about the vanity of my own life. Especially after going shopping yesterday when I have more than enough clothes.
Back to reading.
9 comments:
I don't actually have time to read everything you're writing but I will later. This isn't supposed to be my down time. That's supposed to be tonight. I need to do spanish. But I really like your layout and background and whatnot. I wish I could have something cool for my blog :( We're not "allowed" because it distracts from the pictures. You're supposed to show pictures on a solid background color like black or white. It's sad.
that is really sad. you should make another one just about your life. then you could make it pretty. but that would probably take a lot of time that you dont have lol. hope you get back to school okay :]
aw Karissa. I know all of this reading is probably discouraging, just because it's probably not the subject matter that your interested in. And you have to rush through it so fast so you can't really enjoy it anyway. But when you're finally a teacher someday, even though you have a curriculum to follow, you can teach the class however you want. Like you said, you liked high school because you had amazing english teachers. Someday, some kid will be talking about how he had this awesome english teacher and that'll be you! Keep your head up, this is just some annoying crap you have to get through to get to what you actually wanna do. I hope your english professor/advisor gets smart and lets you make up the work now rather than give you an incomplete. He sounds like a fail. lol
So is the blog part of your assignment for school?
Ben and I tried to read Walden together - I found it really hard to get through. We bought the book though as I think it is good to have in our library. I'm all for more simplicity though. That is my motto!
"Just enough and not too much" . . . a great children's picture book you may like to read - in your spare time :).
Love your blog! It is fun to be a part of your life in little ways!
Aunt Judi :)
thanks laura :] he is such a fail. ugh i will let you know how the meeting goes. im pretty nervous about it.
aunt judi- haha no its not a part of my assignment for class. i just decided to talk about my never ending reading in my blog. yeah walden was long. the first two chapters were enough for me haha.
I'm glad I have a nother blog to follow thanks for the coment on my blog!
I will uptate it! I have three blogs! you can check them all if you like!
three blogs? wow! i only saw one! where are the other two??
so now that I read this. we've already discussed the whole being a teacher thing. but I feel the same way about the math professors as you do about the english ones. they are mathematicians. ugh. not inspiring, not fun. but I hope it gets better? I feel like the people who have the personality teach high school and those who don't teach college. you know? but I do agree with what Laura said - I think you'll be a great english teacher and kids will love you. it just upsets me that you may be teaching english in south carolina, that is so far.
and I am amazed that those books interest you at all. they sound miserable.
oh, liz. some of them are miserable. it depends. and i totally agree about the personality thing. my parents have been bugging me the past week about teaching college because i would make way more money but there is no way i would do that. it is so boring. there is no fun at all. high school is so much better :]
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