08/02/02: Boredom

[elSicomoro]

SEMO had a rental system--$12 per book per semester (in 1994-95). What a sweet deal.

I never sold any of my books back when I went to UMSL. I knew I wouldn't get shit for them, and I like to read through them every now and then. As my one psych professor said, "Keep 'em. Make 'em part of your library." :)

Originally posted by juju
Syc, those classes really do sound cool. Psychology of Opression? Is that like Dictatorship 101?

Ummm...sorta. It basically dealt with the psychology of oppressors and oppressees in various contexts, primarily in the US (women and minorities). For example, my semester project dealt with the discrimination of Hispanics from the time of Cortez to today (or 1998).

I think I only needed one more class (Psychology of Women) in order to earn my Certificate in Womens Studies from UMSL. :)

World Religions was a great class too. Did a semester report on Sufism (Islamic mysticism). I would imagine it has become an incredibly popular class since 9/11.

Creative and Critical Thinking was some "bullshit" started by SEMO that was a "learn to better construct your thoughts and expressions" class. It was taught by pretty much every single professor on campus. What you got out of it depended on who you got for a teacher. I had a friend that got a history professor for it and just hated it. My roommate and I got an English TA. Examples of things we did: Writing about "new" experiences (which for my roommate and I was going to the Missouri bootheel and seeing cotton grow), Preparing a 5-minute presentation on something in which we were knowledgeable (I did a history and audio presentation of Nine Inch Nails circa late 1994), and expressing ourselves in small groups. It got hokey at times, but that really was a fun class.

I'd like to think I was well-read before college, but I just took so much away from those 4 1/2 years. Well worth the $16,000-20,000 invested by me, the state of Missouri, Southeast Missouri State University, and my Uncle Sam in DC (who graciously gave me loans for my final 3 semesters).

Oh, and I certainly don't want to forget my buddies at the Federal Reserve Board. Thanks to them, my interest rate for the upcoming payment year (which for me begins in 3 weeks) is at 4%.

I actually liked Economics, believe it or not. After taking Economics, I actually understood talk radio and CNN. It was like having sight after growing up blind.

As dry as that class was, I did incredibly well in it, and I had a great professor with whom I got along famously. And I got a lot out of that class too.

I'm probably too hard on myself on the Spanish. I actually have learned a lot, I think. It's just that since I can't hold a deep conversation with it, I discard it all as useless. I'll get better.

That's the thing about a foreign language...you have to continue to use it or it gets rusty. I haven't used it much since Mimi and I broke up (over 3 years ago), and it shows.