Eisner Awards

The Eisner Awards were announced over the weekend, and it's exciting to hear that Marjorie Liu is the first woman to win an Eisner for Best Writer. It's also just a little bit sad because these awards have been around for thirty years now, but mostly it's exciting.
What's also exciting is that I was reading Monstress BEFORE it won 5 Eisners, so I get to feel smug and self-righteous about my reading habits. It's one of the few comics that I acquire in an issue-by-issue format, rather than waiting for a trade paperback. It's one of my favorites because the art is always gorgeous, cats are heavily featured, the plot is complex and compelling, and it's really refreshing to have so many female characters so strongly foregrounded in the story.
Other cool comics news in my life: Fun Home is on my colloquium reading list for this winter. Therefore, there is no need for me to mount a crusade to add a graphic novel to the list. Hamilton is also on there; the list actually manages to be pretty multimedia. The theme this year is transgression, and I'm actually looking forward to it.

Spring Term Update

Wow, spring term has been long, and it's not even over yet. I've read a lot of books this term, and still not as many as I'd like. Highlights include Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Wole Soyinka's Death and the King's Horseman, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Paul Auster's City of Glass, and Amèlie Nothomb's Biographie de la faim. Outside of class, I still haven't quite managed to finish Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert's Marvel 1602, although I'm enjoying it so far. Meanwhile, my "to read" stack stares at me accusingly.
I have actually been involved with The Lens, one of Carleton's publications of a more literary bent, as a content editor this term, which seemed to go well, although interest in the publication as a whole seems quite low. I hope to get in touch with people about maybe working with The Manuscript, another one of Carleton's publications, once I am back on campus for the Fall term.
It's Week 8/10, and already preparations for Fall term are underway. I have secured my room assignment for the Fall. Course registration is upcoming. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Shakespeare I, Self Defense for Women, Critical Methods in English, Middle East & the French Connection, and Windows on the Good Life.)
My courses for the summer trimester in Ireland have already shown up on my schedule as well. I'm excited to take a real art course for the first time in a very long time. I'm hoping it will improve my work. I am really looking forward to this study abroad; I hope I will get a chance to see art and literature in a more real-world context, as well as enjoy the beautiful country.

The Beginning of the End

It's about to be 10th week, and then my freshman year will really be coming to a close. I've registered for classes fall term. I'm pretty excited: French 204, Anthropology of Humor, Folk Dance, and Norse and Celtic Mythology. I've been less interested in Biology lately.
This Saturday was Rotblatt (the 150th year, too). I was in line for a T-shirt at 3am. It began to lightly rain on us, which was fun. When they started tossing our shirts around 5am, the crush of people was unexpectedly forceful. One of the barriers was knocked down, and I was pretty certain I would get lost between the groups of people pushing in two different directions. Luckily, I claimed my shirt and was freed from the mass of people. Rotblatt itself started around 5:30am, I believe. It's a softball game with an inning for every year of Carleton's existence, and must be played with a drink of some type in one hand. Mostly, it appears to be a reason for the student body to get outside during Spring Term.

Course Selection Time

It's that time of year - time to select courses for my last year of high school. It's stressful, because I know this is my last year to take classes before college, and there are so many classes to take. Basically, I want to take all the classes.

There are a lot of options. For math, I want to continue taking more calculus, as well as taking statistics. For biology, I definitely want to take Human Infectious Diseases, as well as Ecology. Plant Physiology and Animal Physiology are also options. For chemistry, there is Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Analytical Chemistry. I don't know how much physics I will take, but my options include AP Physics C, or Thermodynamics and Modern Physics. There are also electives I want to take - like Number Sense, a course geared towards preparing for math competitions.  I don't know yet what I'm going to choose, but it's going to be a hard choice.

Of course senior year is going to involve more than just coursework. I know that college applications are purportedly a time-sucking vampire. I'm also interested  in doing research. Of course I want to keep up with my extracurricular activities as well - Venture Crew, Mu Alpha Theta, Science Bowl, and probably others. Eventually it will all work out - for now I just have to decide what I want most.

A New Home for Monty

I recently moved into a dorm at the boarding school I now attend. Of course, the loyal Monty accompanied me. My dorm is surprisingly roomy. The desk and the closet both have a lot of shelf and storage space. My roommate and I decided to bunk the beds, which also creates a ton of extra room. So far, residential school has been a very different experience.

Being away from home has been hard- I have to be responsible for everything, because my parents aren't there to do it for me, or to make me do it. Of course, my parents still stay involved in my life; but they definitely aren't there to cook meals or do laundry for me. Sometimes it's hard to find time to call then until it's so late that they aren't up anymore. I do my best to keep in touch.

At first, there was always an activity scheduled, and no down time at all. This caused everyone to be exhausted. However, as we are allowed more and more to do what we want, it has become much easier.

Classes began a few days ago, and they are all pretty enjoyable. Several teachers give out syllabi with assignments weeks in advance. It's a pretty decent workload so far, but not unmanageable. Of course, I haven't had the first test yet. I still am making changes to my schedule, but I hope to get it settled soon.

I'm looking forward to when extracurricular activities begin, but I'll find out more about that later.