English

Oh guys. I'm in such a weird mood. All full of contradictions. I promise I'll be back to my overly-optimistic self shortly. In the meantime, bear with me!

I feel like such a bad style blogger. Today, I put together an outfit, got distracted for a mere five minutes, and then decided I hated what I was wearing so much that only sweatpants would suffice for today. When you're planning on writing and sewing and not touching the door handle all day, it's pretty difficult to find motivation to look cute.

Writing, you say? Yes, indeed. Back in November, right before Thanksgiving, I turned in the second research paper I'd ever written (on text messaging and its influence on grammar, our language, and our communication as a society) after a three week stretch of torturous late nights from working on other projects for different classes. I was stressed out, I'd kind of, sadly, thrown most of the paper together at the last minute, and to boot, I turned it in late (don't scold, I knew it was a Bad Thing when I did it). I expected a C.

When I got my graded paper back with a much better grade than I expected, I was stunned. I seriously almost cried, I was that shocked and grateful and flattered. My professor had this to say:

"This is an intelligent, beautifully written paper. As I’m sure you would expect, it’s a subject after my own heart. Your argument is an elegant one; it makes a strong case for the survival of good grammar, but it acknowledges language’s ability to change. The fact that you contextualize your thesis by examining it in light of language’s transitive properties makes your ultimate conclusion even more powerful. I urge you to consider submitting this to [the university's] undergraduate research journal. If you’re interested in that, talk to me. There are a few areas in which the paper could grow, but that’s only if you’re thinking about publishing it. This is a remarkable essay even as it is."

I don't intend to toot my own horn here, and even now, I'm uncertain this praise is fully deserved. But regardless, I jumped at the chance to get it published. Now, the last date for submissions is the 15th and of course I'm not done reworking the thing. I'm worried it's not the kind of material the journal will publish--I don't go to a liberal arts school, and there's way less emphasis on Humanities.

But anyway. I'm working on a paper I turned in almost two months ago, how amusing. I do love taking English classes, though! I am seriously considering adding an English minor, just for kicks. It wouldn't contribute to my major at all, but since I'm already at school and it's something I'm interested in, why not?



Enough academic chatter. Just so that this isn't a text-only post, here are some things of interest:



Our Apparel Society had an event where you could have a mini-class with upperclassmen on various fashion-related topics. I signed up for the Fashion Photography one, and my friend Lindsay signed up for Styling. Nicely enough, ours collaborated; after her group styled, our group photographed. These two images were my favorites of the ones I took.



This girl was awesome. The tape idea was completely hers, and I think it's just crazy enough to work. And, group photo of the stylists & photographers: