The Right of a College Student

We're in a stage of time when we can break out of the program; the mold society formed us in with their rules of everything.
Yet, I'm in a class right now where the professor tells me what to think--gives me the rules that I need to follow. That antonyms are separated into three different types: relational, gradable, and complementary. So I listen. But then I disagree, and the professor doesn't want to hear it. Isn't there something wrong in that picture?

We're in a small class and he asks questions that have one word, yes/no answers.

Prof: What is the object that I sit down on?
Student: A chair.
Me: Can't it be a table or the ground? Isn't the point of college to think outside the box. Why can't you sit down elsewhere. I'm not trying to be a smart-ass, just trying to think more. On average, sure I can say chair. But I'm a college student, we're all college students, we already know chair. Let's think bigger.

A relational antonym is when opposites are related. Example: father/son, daughter/mother
I understand.
A gradable antonym is when opposites can have some range of connection. Example: pretty/ugly.
His (the prof's) explanation is that you can have a sort of timeline of when a person can be somewhat pretty.
A complementary antonym is when opposites are complete 180s. Example: on/off, alive/dead
No in-between.

My argument is that complementary and gradable can be easily the same thing. There's a thing such as the partly alive and halfway dead, and zombies. It's part of the English language. And a pretty thing could not be ugly because that, for me, is a complete 180.

Sociolinguistics- means that our language is connected to our identity.
If this^ is so, shouldn't the rules of language fit our description? To what the majority of the population thinks?

We got our tests back, and recently I've been hating on grades and decide that they shouldn't matter. If I want to learn, if I learn, if I end up remembering what I learned...if I disagree with what I learned and want to have a discussion over it. That counts for more. I'll still listen. But remember that we're in college. You should let me respond. Especially if it's outside of class and I'm not taking away any of your class monologue time.

Reflections

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.

I haven't written anything in a while.
While classes might help me become the writer I wanna be, I forget that I also have my own slow, fluid typing that I can do all by myself. Here, on this blog, I can reflect. A month's worth of stories protesting to get out of my head and live among the reality of my keyboard and omnipresent internet.

What status would my writing give itself if it had its own social media account? Jaded. Give me new words and expressions to use to reflect the strong emotions i hold in my heart.

I sleep, I exercise, I shower, I eat, I talk. I wish I could spend more than an hour on everything I am passionate about but I am passionate about more than 24 things. Can I sleep for one hour and physically be alright? Can I devote an hour to everything I want to do. Give me an hour of yoga, an hour of jump rope, an hour of eating slowly and making healthy food choices, an hour for each hw assignment plus an hr of studying per class. That's only eleven hours, plus another two to four hours of class time depending on the day, with the additional two hour orchestra session and ...
I could make a list, I am making a list. What does the world expect of its students when there's only so much time in the day.
Don't forget about money though, school doesn't pay for itself, and if it does then it's usually a shitty education.

What can we do? We can be proactive in everything we do. I write because the thoughts in my head need to get out. I don't procrastinate, yet I forget that I need to prioritize...what? Prioritize and place different aspects of my life in different measurements of care? I want to passionately and equally grab a hold of everything.

Scholarly Fashion: daily shots

This Thanksgiving break has given me the breather I need. These pics are from a while back and I'm so glad I can finally post them. These peers of mine really know how to strut the college runway, Smiles and giggles really do make the outfit complete.

'We Can Change Things'

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Twenty-five years ago today, we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall that separated West and East Germany in the conflicting age of communism and confusing period of post-war tension. People climbed over, wrote on, chipped away pieces of the wall and ended the giant division. The energetic vibe that passes from

Scholarly Fashion: everyday

Before              &             After... 

The annual English Department picnic.