Shorter than most...

...mostly because I can't find much to say. Right now. We'll see how this fills out by the time this post is through. Anyway, I figured I would use this space to recount this week's experiences and/or general thoughts. Of course, if anything hits me while I'm writing, you'll be sure to hear about it.

But yeah. Do any of you sometimes get the feeling that the universe/public discourse/voices in your head try to tell you things? I'll sidestep the forthcoming barbs thusly: I'm on my medication right now, so we're all... I'M alright. All I have to worry about right now is oily discharge.

More on-topic: our in-class conversation yesterday about levying more troops into the Writing Corps got me thinking about student involvement (this is the operative word here) in university programs. The sense of "involvement" I'd like to work with here is complicated, involving a sense of accomplishment through the Writing Center, academic, and professional channels coupled with a kind of emotional investment in one's work that, when the two are combined, result in a far happier and more productive student. The true sense of being involved in one's work comes from doing what one loves and what one believes is useful to the surrounding environment (and personal wealth, that cackling demon, enters in here somewhere as well, if I'm being truly honest, ha ha). Of course, everyone knows the maxim "do what you love", but maybe it's in the pursuit of the end of that journey that people stumble along the path and forget where one was going in the first place. The actions and thinking of being "involved" must take place in the present time, of course; one must be happy and involved WHILE working towards a better future. In a perfect world, there would be no need or feeling of "suffering" through grad or undergrad to get to some promised land of professorship and tenured tranquility.

"Involvement", for me, then, consists of not simply "being involved" in the passive sense (being-there, doing-that, and just barely staying-awake), but rather a most-active sense of being invested in one's education and development as a member of the academic sphere. This includes the undergrad, but I have a feeling that many of us at this point in time have forgotten what it is to be a member of this university as an active subject and one who remembers why, exactly, we are still here.

There is a general malaise this time of year. For seniors, it is of course rightly deserved, but the unrest stirring in the hearts of students seeps through and sweats out the skin, evaporates into the air, and mists into the eyes and ears and throats and minds of others. The fact that we're "almost done" and that we "just want to get out of here" is too on-hand to ignore. It is a mad dash for the finish. For summer, yes, for us all; for seniors, a degree and most likely a job (or in the case of myself next year, grad school).

The fact of the matter is this: the quest for "education" has become commodified; the diploma, the Associate's, the Bachelor's and higher have all become end products meant to be purchased. Yes, they are earned through our hard labor, but this is because we as students by the time we finish our 4-or-so years of education at a Public Ivy university, perhaps, would like to think that we have learned something. But the truth is that we are thought of as Student Credit Hours, and processed, not taught.

Right after ENG 391, I have a class on the modern novel which I adore. I had a presentation to make that day, but our discussion for the day was halted, and instead the class entered into issues concerning the rather poor state of the English department at MSU which took the entirety of the class period. I could see that I wasn't alone in my sentiments; almost all of the class seemed to share the belief that the university seems to think of us as less than human. We are "products", yes; boomerang-type vessels meant to go out into the world and send back endowment money once we have achieved some level of success. But also, we are "consumers", and at this stage before we become truly "useful" to the university (other than tuition, of course), we must be dehumanized and stripped of all familiarity before we have earned our keep. Literally, it's an investment model coupled with pure capitalist greed that has gone overboard and allowed this university to increase class sizes, heighten tuition, and even target students as enemies of the public (East Lansing's rhetoric against us students was a cause of Cedar Fest, I believe, not a resulting from it; although correlation does not equal causation).

Also, I could blame the Bush Administration. For Everything. Everything that has gone Wrong. Including the previous eight years of cutting funding to the National Endowment for the Arts, etc. I could and I will. I often do. Just not now. I think it's pretty obvious that the ultimate top-down crunch has come down on our deans and provosts, and while I should not heap all the blame on those who are fighting to keep this university alive, I am still allowed, as a student at this University, as a member of the academic community, and as a fellow human being the right to get pissed off when my and our education suffers.

And I believe we all know this. I believe we all feel this. I believe this is why we're so tired of this school, of this state, of this nation. We aren't people anymore. Heaven/Hell knows if we ever were. This is the source of the malaise, of the doubt, and of the resigned state that we students feel everyday. But we are not blameless. We do nothing to fight it. We do nothing to make sure our voices are heard. How many posters and fliers are up for concert tickets, books, tutors, distractions rather than for the important things? Where's our student government in all this? Our representatives? Why are we not invited to planning the cirriculum, to discussing things that for all intents and purposes affect us more than anybody else at this university? We are not being informed, yes, but we are not informing ourselves. We are not, in a sense of the word, "involved". We just want to get out. Those who come after us will pay the price as a result. Hell, perhaps it won't even take that long.

I could go on, and given the time and energy I probably would; and hence, this will probably see the light of day again as one of my final pieces. But for now, I will belay the incendiary call for action on the part of students. Only so much can change at a time. Perhaps getting students excited about writing is the first part? Maybe sparked by a CRG about a Jesuit model of recruitment where students can get excited about talking to one another about writing. Then we shall take to the streets. I have a feeling I've missed a few middle steps.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the way; who knew "Garfield" was so much better without the namesake cat? A few gems:






Imagine Jon Arbuckle a schizophrenic and all is fine.