A Reflection on My Learnng

I'm back in the quiet section of the library, where I wrote my first learning experience post, and I'm trying to think of what I've learned and how it's changed me over this semester. How have I improved? How have I grown?

Have my study habits gotten better? Well, I'm still logged into my Netflix account and I made it through four seasons of How I Met Your Mother so far despite all the finals I have. I currently have The Little Mermaid playing in the background as I write this, so I'm going to say study habit improvement is a no.
Has my depth of knowledge grown? I have certainly learned a lot of pertinent information towards my major. I've also had a lot of things retaught or elaborated on over the year, and I suppose that counts as growing in knowledge.
Do I have more direction in my life? In a sense, yes. I was able to work as a research assistant in Dr. Petursdottir's lab this semester, and it definitely opened my eyes to the role of a psychologist. I have gotten to experience research, experiment creation, and study presentation all from a first-person perspective. I have also secured a sort of internship at a camp this summer that will be using the play therapy I want to practice to help the types of children I want to work with.

Yet, I still feel like I've learned so much more than these tangible and practical things, especially in this class. It's the little tid-bits of knowledge that don't seem too important which make the biggest impact for me, and I'd like to list a few:

1. Do not use the four-letter-word that doesn't exist. I didn't really understand this rule in the beginning, but as the semester has gone on I completely agree with this ban on the word "very". Even though I slipped up a few times, not being allowed to use this word has taught me to be more descriptive not only in class but in everything I do. We live in a world full of so many rich and pungent experiences it seems to be an injustice to not use every tool we have to describe it. It, among other factors to be discussed, have also helped me reconnect with my creative side, and is something I have been missing. 
2. Use the Comic Toolbox to create a character/write a limerick/ describe the narrator of the poem/etc. This, accompanied with my new found dislike of v***, has brought out the creative side of me that I thought I had lost when it came to anything involving writing. Theatre, improvisation, book analysis, and similar things used to be how I chose to spend my time in high school. Nothing made me happier than being able to compose a scene for my acting class or write a paper discussing the themes of a famous novel, but now that I've entered college all I do is write research papers and read psychological journals on analytical experiments. Completing these creative assignments both in and out of class has forced me to brush the dust off this part of me and bring it back to the surface, and I couldn't be happier! This class has been invaluable to me because it served as a break from the mundane, systematic work I have grown used to.
3. Everything is relative. I am a fairly Type A person. I strive on routine and organization, and if things don't have an A + B = C solution, I have a hard time coming to terms with it. That being said, coming into class and being told that "everything is relative" from the first meeting made me a little nervous as to how the class was going to go. In actuality, this ended up being a benefit. I came into this semester right as I was having an internal dilemma over life being subjective, especially in my own field of study. Looking at one specific topic, in this case humor, as relative and having to study it as such has helped me gain acceptance that it is about one's background, culture, points of view, and so many other factors that shape their opinion. It's okay to not always have all the answers, that's what makes life so fun.

Learning the Basics. As a Twenty-Year-Old. Oops.

I knew I had slacked off a little bit when it came to my blog, or at least my learning experience posts. I have been at a loss for what to write about, and not because I think I am all-knowing and have nothing else to gain from observing society. I simply have not felt I have experienced anything worth writing about. However the semester is coming to a close and I knew I needed to get them done, so today I logged on to get them finished. I got onto my actual blog page to double check and make sure I had all my other posts done, and I had a moment where my stomach dropped.

I was missing almost half of my conversation posts. HALF.

I completely panicked. I probably scrolled through my pages for a solid ten minutes, just hoping that maybe they would magically appear. Maybe I had counted wrong. Sadly, this was not the case. The last few posts I had made about my conversations with Youness were no where to be seen. Now, I am new to blogging, which I  am sure is a shocking fact considering I am immersed in almost every other kind of social media. Yet despite my veteran status I have no idea how Blogger works. That being said, my search to find my missing blog posts was fairly futile for a while. It took me a solid fifteen minutes (as it usually does) to find how to create and edit a post. Once I did, however, there my posts were, sitting all pretty and typed out for the world to read. Yet on my actual blog page they did not appear, and for some reason I could not figure this out. Again, another five minutes probably passed before I finally got my slight panic to subside enough to see the little "Draft" next to the post. 

I had never hit publish, and this is why they were not showing up. 

After this realization I laughed out loud at myself in the middle of the library. I got a few stares, I wasn't ashamed. Not realizing that I had forgot to publish my blog posts made me feel like my 84-year-old grandmother trying to work the DVR. It is such a simple thing to accomplish, especially for someone who is supposed to be "young" and "hip". However, this did serve as a good learning experience. This incident did not just occur because I do not know how to navigate this site, but because I was not being careful enough. I need to more closely proof read and double check when I complete assignments because it would have been so easy for me to lose those posts and have to re-write them, as I had originally feared. For this class it would not have been the end of the world because the blog posts are based on personal opinion. If this would have happened for the twelve-page research paper I had due last week, however, my freak out would have been a little more severe. Yes, I am still learning this as a supposed 'adult', but this is just another reason why this was such a good learning experience for me. It shows we are constantly growing in life knowledge and in how we can be more successful in life. People are truly never done learning.

Anyway, the moral of the story: always double check.

Conversation Partner: Back to the Beginning

Youness and I had our final meeting in the same circumstances that we had our first: we got coffee. I wasn't able to attend his party because the time clashed with my schedule, and I was incredibly disappointed. I apologized over and over for not being able to go but Youness, being his usually kind self, assured me it was okay. We chatted like usual, just having a normal conversation and venting about college student woes. We bonded over how much work we still had left and how excited we were for the summer and getting a long, relaxing, and much needed break. I told Youness how much I was going to miss our meetings. He is an incredibly modest man and does not take flattery well, so I refrained from embarrassing him, but these hang outs and interactions have opened my mind. As I mentioned in my first post, I hate awkward situations despite the fact that I am an absolute professional at creating them. The most uncomfortable of these for me is language barriers, so these conversations seemed like they were doomed from the start for me. I cannot believe how wrong I was.

My meetings with Youness have completely changed my outlook on these supposed "awkward situations", because they do not have to be awkward at all. I always try to embrace the idea that "it's only awkward if you make it awkward". It's awkward that I've used the word 'awkward' six times in the past two and a half sentences, but I'm choosing to ignore it and BAM! no more awkward (in theory). My point is that it is the outlook that each person brings into a situation that determines how the conversation is going to go. Youness and I, from our first encounter, had a very positive disposition for how our meetings would progress, and I believe this is why we have become such good friends. What started out as an intimidating assignment has turned into a true friendship that has helped me grow as a person. I feel more ready to approach intimidating situations knowing that the best outcome is always possible, and I have a new respect for those who are brave enough to take on the challenge that people like Youness have.

At the end of our talk Youness informed me he is moving to New Jersey with his brother. Despite my disappointment, I am excited for him and again so proud at his bravery to branch out and see so many different parts of an unfamiliar country. We promised to stay in touch via text and email, and I sincerely hope this is true because I know Youness will do so many amazing things in his life in America and I would love to be a part of that.

Conversation Partner: My Commercial Debut

Wednesday, April 23, 2014 will be a day known in history as the day I got my big commercial break as a commercial star. I met Youness in the basement of the rec again to record his project assignment. There I was able to meet his partner, Brendan, who informed me he was originally from China. The boys were incredibly efficient in getting everything set up and in order. They even had a script printed out for me, and had a real video camera with a tripod ready to go. Youness showed me some lines he had added to the script to make more of a sales pitch for his product, and I have to admit I was irrationally proud. All his grammar and wording was correct and flowed naturally, and I couldn't help but have a wave of admiration come over me. The amount of work and effort Youness has put into this semester and into learning such a foreign and complicated language amazes me. I wish I had the tenacity and drive that he possesses for half of the things I apply myself to, because it is truly unrelenting.
Despite some awkward pauses waiting for bystanders to walk through the basement and a few repeated lines, we finished filming my big career-starting piece and had nothing left to do but chat for a few moments. I apologized for my short meetings with him lately due to my insanely busy schedule, and he said he could relate. Despite only being in the IEP program and not actually enrolled in TCU, Youness has quite the heavy work load. I am not sure why I ever thought his assignments and class responsibilities would not be as intensive as mine, but this was obviously my impression considering the shock I felt at hearing of his many papers and assignments. All of this on top of the commercial project he had to do? I couldn't believe how hard the IEP program is, and as I've said before my respect for Youness increased even more.
The most exciting moment of the whole interaction was Youness extending an invitation to a party at his house on Saturday. I told him to email me the details so hopefully my schedule works and I can go! What a better way to interact with people from another country than a night of hanging out!

The Final Project You've All Been Waiting For

Here, making its world debut, is the new hit single of up-and-coming artist Destiny's Parent: Poets and Prose.

Conversation Partner: La Nuit De L'Homme

I received an email from Youness last week with an interesting request. He asked if I could meet with him because he had "a homework about commercial presentation" and was hoping I could help him out. I was not 100% sure what this would entail, but I was humbled Youness was asking for my help and was happy to agree. We planned to meet Thursday in the library to tackle his assignment and I was excited to interact with him in this new situation.

When Youness walked up to me in the loud section the first thing he did was pull out a bottle of cologne from his backpack and set it in front of me. Probably being able to tell I was confused, he then took out some papers and began to explain his project. His class had been assigned to pick a product and gradually do various projects to eventually come up with a commercial to sell it. Youness and his partner had already done all the preliminary projects, such as interviewing people about the product and things like that. They had chosen to do their assignment on the cologne he put in front of me, a men's cologne named La Nuit De L'Homme (which Youness translated for me as "the night of man"). At this point in the project, he and his partner had to make a one to three minute commercial for the product, and Youness was asking for my help to write up the script. My inner high school theatre nerd came to the surface and I was thrilled to help him with this project, so we started brainstorming right away.

Youness came prepared with an idea for the commercial, and it was what we ended up using. The commercial starts with a man and a woman on a date at a bar, with the lady less than interested in being there. The man desperately tries to engage her in conversation, but to no avail. He then escapes to his friend who is also at the bar, asking for some help on how to improve his night. The friend suggests he try La Nuit De L'Homme, and after the man puts it on he heads back to try and connect with the woman again. When he does return the tables have changed, and now the women is the one interested in talking to him.

By the end of our meeting, Youness seemed excited about the script we had prepared. We ran with his idea because all he had needed was help with manifesting his ideas into the proper English words. It was exciting for me to know that I was finally able to contribute something to our friendship. This whole time I have felt like I have only been receiving learning experiences and personal enrichment from this, not contributing much to the relationship other than asking "what?" more than usual. Now I felt like I was about to give something back to Youness after everything he has given me this semester.

Also an exciting piece of news: Youness asked me to be in his commercial video so as of now I will be making my film debut sometime next week. We'll see how that goes.

Funny Situations

From looking up "How to Pronounce..." videos on YouTube to googling the original definition of "biddy", searching for things on the Internet while in class always has the ability to be very funny... or very awkward. Either way, nervous giggles will occur.

The Great American selfie provides a person to completely humiliate themselves by taking a picture in public and contorting their face in ways that were not thought humanly possible. Plus, Superiority Theory kicks in for the person who gets to safe it as black mail.

Odd things tend to happen in college dorm rooms and your friend walking in with a one-piece bathing suit over her clothes in the middle of the day makes Incongruity Theory all too applicable.

Conversation Partner: Tick, Tock

When Youness and I tried to meet last week, we had talked about both bringing a friend along so we could have the ping pong tournament we agreed on having the last time we were able to hang out. Unfortunately he was sick last week and had to cancel and Ali Rafetto, the friend I was going to bring, was not able to come because of work, so I assumed it would just be Youness and I again. When I entered the rec lounge, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find I was wrong.

Four gentlemen from the English language program waited for me around the pool table, already in the middle of a heated game. Youness introduced me to Ali and Nadir, both from Saudi Arabia, and Chan from South Korea. He informed me that since they all came to Texas for the program they had spent most of their time together, to the point where the teacher referred to them as "the foursome". They were all very gracious, trying to offer me the snacks they had brought and even restarting the game so I could begin to play right away. Nadir, Youness, and I did win two (out of five, but that's a minor detail) games of pool, and while it was an absolute blast the most interesting part of the afternoon was watching the four of them interact.

Youness, Nadir, and Ali all spoke Arab due to their backgrounds, but they spoke it very rarely while I was with them (I'm assuming so Chan and I would not feel left out). I loved watching how casually they all interacted while using a foreign language, acting like any other group of friends I see around campus. They joked with each other, trying to mess up one another's shots and teasing their technique. They even used some American slang, saying things like "come on, man" and having their own inside jokes.

When they talked about how they were going to take their shot, they would always say "tick, tock" to indicate where the ball would hit the table. At one point, and this is not an exaggeration, they have a four minute conversation that only involved these two words. The experience was so fascinating to me because it showed that even though the American culture was foreign to them and even amongst themselves they had different backgrounds, they still hung out and bonded like any group of twenty-somethings. I'm not sure why I would have expected them to interact in any other way then just average guys, but watching it happen right in front of me was a growing experience. 

Youness and I planned on meeting again and I told his friends they were more than welcome to join again. Maybe, if I'm lucky enough, I can become part of their "gang" and grow my cultural experiences even more.

Uncontrollable Laughter in the Wee Hours of the Morning

My fondest, and most dreaded, memories from college will without a doubt come from the numerous hours I have sent in the Mary Couts Burnett Library. Even as I write this I sit in a Frog Pod named "club lib life" working until the early hours of tomorrow. What makes the endless stream of readings, over-lit computer screens, and watered down coffee bearable is the fact that I sit here with friends who share my struggle and who somehow find ways to make it a little less miserable.

A few nights ago there was a large group of us crammed into a small study pod, all furiously taking notes and writing papers we waited way too long to start. Someone, I do not remember who, came out of the haze of studying long enough to realize there was a white board in the pod, and that she had brought erasable markers. It was decided that, since we would all be there until the sun came up, we would write all the funny things that were said on the board and use it as a sort of study break. What resulted was two of the most ridiculous drawings I have seen college students produce.

The first featured a drawing done by my friend Jessica of us all going on an "adventure", which quickly escalated into a story about how we were crossing a bridge to go to taco bell in Gratchet City. "Gratchet" is the nickname we gave to my friend Gretchen, combining her name with the term "rachet"(it means something is just a hot mess, basically). I somehow ended up as the bridge troll in the story where it was raining waffles and I was kept company by a bird (they all thought this was hilarious because of my fear, I was not as amused). On the picture you can also see the word "Gangle" was fabricated to describe the picture of my friend Sloan, who was drawn abnormally tall. I'm not confident where the banana came from, but at this point I was not questioning and just letting it all happen.

At midnight we decided to erase this drawing and start all over. New day, new picture! This time the pod was named "#gratchet2.0" and started out with Mary Kate, a graphic design major, drawing an elaborate typography picture of a favorite quote from New Girl. Events that happened throughout the night were added, such as the guy who passed us stealing a rolling white board and our friend Ali completely ignoring us. Some iPhone emojis got added around 2am, and I again cannot explain the pac-man or why I was drawn. Either way, it provided something to check in on and enjoy when we came up for air during our studies.

Although I know this post will not be funny to anyone else, I cannot help but look back at these pictures and find them hilarious. It was definitely one of those "you had to be there" moments, but that is exactly what makes it so special. As I talked about in my previous laughter post, inside jokes are the moments of laughter that make me laugh to the point of tears and stay with me the longest. It is the intimate connection that comes from them, in this case the shared misery, which causes them to last in my memory. These random and meaningless drawings serve as a relief from studying, and a release of all the pent up stress that being a college student can cause. Moreover, they solidify friendships and give special opportunities for bonds to be formed, which I believe is one of the most important functions that humor and laughter can have.

The real kicker of the whole experience: When I walked by the pod a week, (a whole SEVEN DAYS) later, Mary Kate's quote drawing was still on the board. 

A Real World Learning Experience

This past week I gained some learning experience not in the academic realm, but within the outside world. A group of friends and I went to Destin, Florida for spring break this past week and we thought the vacation would go off without a hitch. Only a few people in the house were of drinking age and, shocking as it may sound, the rest of us were not entirely fans of alcohol. We intended on having a week of laying on the beach and enjoying the beautiful weather and white sand before returning to the reality of school. This semester had been stressful and we all needed a break, so what is better than a week at the Gulf? Our time started off calm, walking to Henderson Beach and relaxing the hours away. Nothing could ruin our time away from school and responsibilities, just taking in the sun... the third night, however, an ordeal occurred that none of us could have prepared for.

I was in my room, talking to a friend, when another girl from our group came in. "Kiley, Jack's (we'll call him Jack) face is yellow and his lips are purple." Jack is 21 and experienced in his drinking habits, but that day he had only been on the beach with the rest of the group and had slept through the late afternoon. I walked into the kitchen to check on him and sure enough, his coloring was worrisome. I came up to the side of him and asked, "Jack, how ya doing, buddy?" Almost as if my words were a trigger he fell forward and I caught him before his head hit the counter, and immediately moved him to the ground because he stopped breathing. We got someone on the phone with 911 and someone in the house stepped up who knew CPR was ready to have to resuscitate him. We rolled him on his side and held his head as he began to convulse, and by the time the paramedics got there we had everything under control. They checked his vitals and said he was fine, advised us to go to the hospital, and 5 1/2 hours later we had a doctor tell us that he was dehydrated and just needed to watch his fluid intake.

The rest of the week actually did go off without a hitch, and we moved on from the issue fairly quickly. I watched Jack like a hawk the rest of the week, even making him sleep in my bed downstairs so I could monitor him the first night after the incident. As scary as the ordeal was, I feel like I grew not only in how I saw myself but how I saw my friends. Overall this was a traumatizing event. We were incredibly lucky to have everything turn out fine and everyone be healthy, because things could have ended in such a tragic way. What I gained from this was a respect for my friends and the calmness they maintained through the whole event. We all kept our heads and showed immense maturity in a stressful situation, and it made me realize that maybe I was more prepared for the real world than I thought I was. There has been so much talk about my honors thesis, graduate school, career paths, and all these things that are at least three years off and that I have been trying to avoid for a while because, quite frankly, the thought of growing up scares me. After that night, I realized I can handle a lot more stress and pressure than I thought I was capable of, and that I had well-rounded friends who can provide a reliable support group. The future is inevitable and scary, there is no denying that, but realizing your own potential and the resources you have around you can help you learn it's not as intimidating as it seems.

Conversation Partner: Round Two

Wednesday of this past week I received an email from Yoyo (we're on a nickname basis, it's getting pretty serious) inviting me to play ping pong with him in the Rec center. We had discussed the week before how much he liked playing pool and ping pong and how I had never played, so he was offering to teach me. Despite the high likelihood that I would end up hitting myself in the face with the paddle, I agreed.

Yoyo was a wealth of information this week in all honesty. First off I didn't even know we had ping pong tables in the rec, and it turns out there's a whole lounge in the basement that I never knew existed. As far as actually playing the game went he started me off slow, just letting me figure out the proper way to hit and control my swing. Once I got the ball to actually hit the table, we played a real game. Surprisingly to both of us, I was not awful. The game got fairly competitive at some points and we could keep the ball going back and forth for a lot longer than I expected. After some nail-biting overtime the expert prevailed, and Youness beat me 14-13.

While we practiced and played, we talked about our weeks. Youness had a presentation he had to give on Holes so we talked about the book and the movie. This turned into a conversation about what movie genres we like best and what we had seen. We found out we both liked James Bond movies and how we both disapprove of the new remakes (they just don't feel right). I did come to a odd realization when trying to describe The Lion King to Youness. I had said that it was my favorite Disney movie, and when he asked me what it was about I didn't know where to begin. I started off with a simple "It's about a bunch of lions", but the more I tried to describe the plot, the more concerned his face got and the weirder the movie sounded. It made me realize that universally people have the tendency to look at what other cultures think is entertaining or funny and find it so peculiar, but it's not just confined to adult topics. Even children's culture can seem odd through a different cultural lens.

After my sobering defeat Youness had to leave to catch his ride home so we said good-bye. He told me to invite a friend next time and he could bring his, so we could have a whole ping pong tournament. Needless to say I'm setting up a practice schedule for myself so I can redeem myself at our next meeting. Stay tuned to find out how it ends up!

Conversation Partner: The Beginning

In stereotypical college student fashion, procrastination has made me blog about my first meeting with Youness a week late. (However we've already met twice, so I at least there's efficiency in that!) So as you read this, please do me the favor of imagining I wrote this a week ago and that I'm NOT about to post back-to-back blogs about our meetings.

My first meeting with Youness was on the 14th, and we met up in Union Grounds for coffee. It started off awkward because we didn't exchange numbers or know what the other looked like, so we ended up standing about three feet away from each other without knowing it for a solid five minutes. Now I had been told by pervious students that these meetings usually don't take very long, about twenty to thirty minutes, because the language barrier gets tiresome for both parties and, frankly, you run out of things to say. This had given me some comfort because I was admittedly somewhat apprehensive. Language barriers terrify me. Not because of a lack of cultural relativism, but because I don't like to make people feel uncomfortable, which is something I excel at. If there was a Nobel Prize for awkwardness I definitely would have received it by now because my life is a combination of dropping things and uncomfortable lulls in conversation. The last thing I wanted to do was make my partner feel any more out of place than I know I would feel being in an unfamiliar country trying to learn the language, and I was almost positive I was going to fail. Fortunately, our initial hiccup was the only awkward part.

Youness and I covered so many topics, it's hard to recall them all. We talked about family, sports we liked to watch and play, places we had visited, languages we (I should say he) spoke. He was impressed that I actually knew where Morocco was, because apparently many people just assume his home country is in Spain. He impressed me with just about everything about him. He comes from an engineering background and has a degree in mathematics, and he's looking to get a masters here at TCU. Before moving to the US he spent eight years living in France, so he speaks fluent French. This is on top of speaking his native language of Berber and learning Arabic in school. And now, living in Texas only since January, he's learning English as his fourth language. Listening to Youness speak left me under the impression he had been here since last semester, so learning he hadn't even been in the US for two months astounded me. His accent was think but his fluency and comprehension was incredible, to the point where he even used a few American idioms. I did succeed in making him feel awkward because I praised him for his accomplishments with English. Youness is a very humble person and was embarrassed when I commented on how amazing he was, but I honestly couldn't believe it.

Our conversation went on for an hour and only ended because I had another engagement I needed to attend. In that time I learned a lot about the weather and culture of Morocco, and how the three cultures he had experienced compared to one another. I took Language and Identity in Cultures last semester with Dr. Tracy Williams, and we focused on how language can change and impact in different ways because of different cultural expectancies and influences. I loved the class and it made me very curious, so I had plenty of questions about what Youness thought of  the comparisons and contrasts of the three countries he had experienced. I was honestly sad when we had to say good-bye, but excited that it had gone so well and I hadn't embarrassed myself or spilled anything. (It's the small victories in life that keep us going.)

In short, my initial worries were completely unfounded. I got lucky on this project by being assigned to someone that I genuinely get along and could talk about a variety of topics with, which is what is key to having engaging conversations. I can honestly say that right now it seems this will be more than just a class assignment and actually develop into a friendship.

The Constant Repetitiveness That Is My Degree Plan

As I write this post, I sit in the library with an assortment of books in front of me. One is Verbal Behavior by B.F. Skinner, assigned by the research lab I am working in this semester as we look into different reinforcements for teaching language variability in children with autism. It sits on top of my notebook for Language Development in Children, where we discuss the acquisition of language (I cannot begin to count how many times I have written that phrase) and what types of childhood contexts and disorders influence it. Open next to this stack is my Developmental Psychology text book, where we are currently looking into different theories of development and how we socially, physically, cognitively, and emotionally grow through out the life span. Left out of all the fun is The Out-of-Sync Child, which rests safely in my backpack waiting for me to pick it up and continue picking apart auditory and language deficiencies in children with Sensory Processing Disorder.

Needless to say, my learning experiences at the moment seem to focus explicitly on two things: language and kids.

If these two things we separate topics of study, I do not believe I would be semi-procrastinating by "taking a break" to work on my honors class homework. That has to say something, right? No, instead of having one or two classes only focusing on one topic or the other, all of my classes (aside from the blessing that is Literature and Civilization II) focus heavily on BOTH. And how they interrelate. And talk about the same topics. At the same time. In strikingly similar contexts.

Of course I feel like I should not be complaining. All of my classes teaching the same stuff means less studying, right? True, the similar concepts help a lot with learning the material. Having different approaches and angles of the same topics being taught to me helps to get a more well-rounded idea of the theories, hopefully giving me the tools to apply them more effectively. Yet one cannot help but get a little bored sometimes. As helpful as overlapping criteria can be for my GPA, it does nothing good for my attention span. Sooner or later, the school days get monotonous.

When I really reflect and put my petty complaining aside, I truly cannot complain. Sure, I might have language acquisition and developmental delays being beaten into my skull, but I love it. Well, I love the content, not the beating. I chose my majors because I have a deep interest and fascination issues and concepts and, more importantly, because I want to be able to help children who need it most. So while it may be a little mind-numbing at the moment, it will all pay off in the end when I am equipped with the knowledge I need to do what I love.

Ali Rafetto, Kira Markus and I decided to do our project together for the jokes, cartoon, and videos we would bring in. It all started with Kira sending this cartoon to us, swearing it was the funniest thing she had ever seen:

I liked the satirical side of this cartoon, so I found these sports jokes:

Q: How many NCAA basketball players does it take to change a light bulb? 

A: Only one. But he gets money, a car, and three credit hours for it.

 

The college football player knew his way around the locker room better than he did the library. So when the librarian saw the gridiron star roaming the stacks looking confused, she asked how she could help.

“I have to read a play by Shakespeare,” he said.

“Which one?” she asked.

“William.”

 

A Giants fan, a Padre fan, and a Dodger fan are climbing a mountain and arguing about who loves his team more. The Padre fan insists he’s the most loyal. “This is for San Diego!” he yells and jumps off the side of the mountain. Not to be outdone, the Giants fan is next to profess his love for his team. He yells, “This is for San Francisco!” and pushes the Dodger fan off the mountain.

Ali liked the sports idea since the olympics are currently in the popular media, so she found these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-5F_7DwPpo

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/26/snl-sochi-heterosexual-skating_n_4669645.html

A Moment of Laughter

One of my most recent fits of laughter occurred as it usually does: with my roommate, Allyson.

We were sitting together studying and working on homework a few days ago in our dorm, and naturally we were miserable. In these kinds of situations we usually turn to our favorite study break, YouTube. That day, however, we opted for a different approach. I am enrolled in a Development Psychology class this semester, and part of course assignments is to take care of a Virtual Child. It is an online program where you raise a virtual baby from birth to eighteen years of age, and you get to see how your parenting choices could possibly influence the trajectory of development. In our syllabus it states that "you and your imaginary partner" will take part in rearing, meaning that each student has their own virtual offspring instead of pairing up with a classmate. Allyson and I decided that it would be much more fun if instead of an imaginary partner, I raised the baby with her.

Thus on this study break we decided to start looking at baby names. Given our personalities there was no way our child was going to get off with a generic name. We debated taking the "celebrity route" of naming our child after abstract ideas, inanimate objects (Jason Lee's son Pilot Inspektor was a big inspiration), or just random names we found. What really got us belly laughing however was when we decided our child would have a generic name with an obscure spelling. Allyson and I both have alternate forms of our names, so we thought it was only fitting that our baby follow the tradition. The difference (and the laughter) came from the level of obscurity we achieved.

It is amazing the spellings that are legitimately suggested when you do a simple internet search. The boy names started with just one or two letter switches; "Scott" was spelled "Skott", "George" became "Gorje". Soon the list became more and more random, giving us names like "Dayvid/Dafydd", "Felip", and "Dafne". Of course we soon took matters into our own hands and created our own literal spellings of names, coming up with "Micinseigh" (Mackenzie) , "Pahtreque" (Patrick),  "Sckaht" (Scott), and my personal favorite, "Airwrecka" (Erica). By the end of our search we had tears in our eyes and had probably made a lot of enemies due to our disruptive laughter.

I think my favorite part of this story is that there is no explanation as to why we thought this whole ordeal was so funny. You can argue that it was the unexpectedness and ridiculousness of the alternate spellings, almost sending us into shocked laughter. Or maybe it was the irony that these were generic names made absurd by taking phonetic spelling to an extreme level. Yet when I tried to share the humor with some of my sorority sisters, they didn't seem to get it. It was one of those "You Had To Be There" stories. While the initial lack of enthusiasm of the listener may be awkward and disappointing, those kinds of laughing fits and funny stories are special and necessary because they reaffirm the relationship between the people who are a part of it. This "inside joke" is something Allyson and I share, and it brings us closer to know we share a sense of humor. In my experience this can be one of the strongest bond-building moments, and it seems to me to be one reason why laughter exists.

Why Do People Laugh? What Makes People Laugh?

Former students were asked to answers these questions in light of what they learned and have reflected on from taking this same course last semester.

Answering the Impossible Questions: What is Literature? What is Civilization?

Kiley Hiett, Kira Markus, Ali Rafetto

ENGL 20923

Each person was asked to come up with a ‘definition’-type answer to the questions asked below.

·      “What is literature?”

o   Mary Kate: “Books! It’s the written expression of the human condition.”

o   Madeleine: “The art of written work.”

o   Teryn: “What is it not?”

·      “What is civilization?”

o   Mary Kate: “The inhabitants of a place, but also the culture that they make.”

o   Madeleine: “A group of people that live together with common things about them.”

o   Teryn: “A bunch of people living together.”