Classes

Every semester I agonize over which classes to take. It's a largely unnecessary process -- ultimately I know that whatever I take will be rewarding/challenging/etc. At the same time, it's important to think about who I'd like to work with, the kind of scholar I want to be, and the kind of work I want to do in the field when I choose these classes. While each would be rewarding, I have to weigh a complex set of factors when ultimately choosing a class. It's a win-win situation usually, and I haven't made a major misstep yet, but still.

This coming semester I opted to take two classes -- a class on Posthumanism and SF in the Anthropocene, and Rhetorics of the Future. Both are going to be amazing, I'm sure; the latter is the one I agonized over, ultimately choosing it over another because it seemed more immediately relevant to the work I'd like to do, and the book list is pretty kickass. Speculative Everything is one of those books, and it's very interesting -- talks about everything from speculative design to bioart. I'm excited for both classes, and excited to begin a new semester.

The above, by the way, is also my new method of ensuring that I have 365 blips this year. Every morning I'm going to snap a picture of one of my books in case I get nothing else good that day; the choice will sometimes give me an opportunity to talk about something going on in my life (like today), while other times it will be truly random and I'll have nothing to add except "Yep, this is a book alright." The point is that since I'm an English major books are a major part of my life, and this method will ensure that I both reach my goal for blip, and get to reflect on my collection of books and what they may or may not say about me. I think it'll work, and I'm looking forward to documenting my year here. Should be fun!