Kyle’s Blog

Senior Week isn’t all too crazy like it is at other schools where they get a bunch of days off from school and party hard, probably because we have Spring Weekend, but it was still a pretty good time.  Registration began Monday and you got a Senior Week bracelet that got you admission into a bunch of different events.  There was a comedian on Wednesday that I didn’t go to, but it was supposedly pretty good.  On Thursday there was the Senior Fiesta, where you could enter in a bunch of different raffles to win 100$ American Express Cards, Final Four memorabilia, and other UConn apparel.  Also there were booths with tacos, pulled pork sandwiches, soft-serve ice cream, fried dough, and popcorn and cotton candy.  It was basically a tiny carnival for two hours without the rides and everything was free.
On Friday night we went to the Mohegan Sun Casino for a night of drinking, gambling, and dancing.  We got a bunch of our friends to go, and it was twenty bucks for the ride there, the ride home, and a voucher that got you twenty dollars worth of chips or food.  It was definitely worth it, none of us got all that lucky at the casino, with the maximum net gain being twenty dollars because Karissa won her one bet at the Wheel of Fortune.  Bryan was up 40 in roullette, but decided to put it all on red (because hes a baller) and lost it.  It was a net zero loss though, because it was all from his voucher.  Everyone went to the club pretty early in the night b/c we had to leave at 1145, but Moran and I went to the poker room to try our luck there.  After two hours I left to go to the club and was up 2 dollars.  Not really worth it haha.  Everyone basically fell asleep on the bus ride back, and we capped it off with a little Wings Over Storrs.

It’s finals week this week so everyone is a little bit on edge and at the very least really busy.  I just had my first final and ended up writing 15 pages of women’s studies theories.  Awesome stuff.  I don’t have another one until Friday so I’ll be hanging out for a while trying to get certain people to hang out with me.  As someone said, “It could be worse,”, but as another person said, “Go away” so I’m getting mixed reviews.  Last week ever of school, blog almost over, the next post will probably be a four year recap with future plans and my last one ever, so be prepared for nostalgia and weeping.

Every year the second to last weekend before Finals UConn hosts its Spring Weekend.  You may have heard about it being the biggest party in the state, and that’s 100% correct.  There’s no doubt that Spring Weekend is an insanely fun time, where the entire student body comes out in full force and let loose after a hard year.  Technically Spring Weekend starts Thursday, but we started Wednesday.  I’ll give you a little rundown of the weekend in as much detail as UConn will allow me, but also remember I’m 21, so take that how you want to.

Wednesday:  Debbie Downer and The Wet Blanket Kill Joys celebrate their ridiculous intramural season.

You know how you go to a big family restaurant and you see the local little league team eating burgers, fries, and ice cream in their uniforms.  You think about how awesome it was to be in their shoes when you were younger.  Well we all chose to relive that as adults and went to Rocks and Wings at Bidwell’s Tavern, 30 wings and 6 pony beers for 15 bucks.  Needless to say we all lost our athletic physiques and pigged out to no end.  After the party is the afterparty, so we all came back to our apartment to hang out, watch the MTV’s Duel (don’t judge), and take shots of spices (don’t ask…well do).  People thought it would be a good idea to take shots of cilantro, garlic powder, cinnamon, hot sauce, and pancake batter.  Hilarious, but not a good idea.

Thursday: Carriage Apartments

Thursday afternoon consisted of cleaning up spices around the apartment and then playing some tennis on what was the first of a string of absolutely gorgeous days.  At 8 oclock that night all of our friends got together to hang out for a bit before we followed the other 10,000 people to Carriage House Apartments, the first off-campus venue of Spring Weekend.  Everyone was pretty happy as you take the minimum half hour walk there, everyone loves that its Spring Weekend and basically you get a million high fives from people you don’t know.  The cops are obviously out in full force, trying to make sure as little as possible of dumb stuff occurs.  There’s always the occasional fight between people that don’t even go to UConn, but generally the first night everyone loves everyone.

Friday: Celeron Square

There’s a freaking massive line at Dunkin Donuts this morning.  I don’t get it, I thought people had class.  I chose to neglect all of my responsibilities after Wednesday at 9:30AM, but I didn’t think everyone did that.  We all go to Cole’s place in Woodhaven, and proceed to have a fantastic barbecue.  Burgers, hot dogs, steaks, and an interesting concoction of sherbert, gingerale, and lime juice.  Also they decided they wanted to paint their apartment’s walls, so they provided the paint and we all took our turns signing the guest list wall and then drawing our own piece of the mural.  Pictures ranged from trees to oceans to deserts to my fantastic stick figure surfer dude.  Moran decided to recreate Van Gogh’s starry night, showoff.  At 9 that night everyone started to head over to Celeron Square, my least favorite night simply because there’s never any cell phone service and the numbers on the apartments are incredibly confusing.  If you want to meet someone there, just walk around randomly and shout or don’t bother.  The night ended early because I had to have my absolutely favorite part of the weekend at 730 the next morning.

Saturday: Oozeball and X-Lot

You probably think I’m going to be talking about oozeball, the greatest event UConn offers on Spring Weekend as my favorite thing.  Well you’re wrong, I was lucky enough to be up at 515, pick up Amanda at 545, and drive down to Milford to take the Praxis 2 Exam in content knowledge for my teaching certifcation.  I never mentioned it but I was accepted into Teach For America and will be teaching elementary school in the Mississippi Delta the next two years.  Scary stuff.  Regardless I had to take my two hour exam and Amanda her three hour, so we had to miss out on our respective oozeball games.  Oozeball is mud volleyball held for hours that is just a massive event that everyone loves (if you can get up for it).  We also had two softball games that day for intramurals, and I took a long two hour nap before the last night to go out.  X lot is either the lamest or most exciting night for people, because you’re either too wiped out to finish off the weekend strong or you’re so jacked up for the last night you go all out.  This year there was no Spring Concert on Spring Weekend, so 15,000, thats right 15,000 people showed up to stand in a parking lot.  It’s the highest number I’ve seen since I’ve been here, and it was a really cool site to see.

Sunday: Last ever intramurals, Mansfield Hollow BBQ, and Dairy Bar

Again we had to wake up early to play our playoff softball game and then play in the tennis tournament.  We had four teams and comprised nearly half of the total tournament teams, so naturally we finished off strong.  We got blown out in softball, but nobody wanted to play again and it wasn’t a big deal.  A couple hours later 13 of us headed down to Mansfield Hollow, a lake and park area 10 minutes from campus to grill out, play some frisbee, throw around the football, and just chill out after an awesome weekend.  After the BBQ we headed to the Dairy Bar to cap off our UConntastic weekend.  We took a stroll up horsebarn hill and took a picture to capture the essence of the weekend.  It was ridiculously hard to realize that it was one of the last great weekends we’re going to have in college, but it was all completely worth it.  I was so dead that we got back at 8 and I was asleep at 830.  And yes, I forgot I had a paper due at 930 the next morning, so it was definitely a great weekend.

I swear this will be my last intramural post, but probably only until we cement our victory as the all-campus champions for the Co-Rec division!  You might remember we were in 1st place coming into the semester, and we’ve gone on an absolutely insane run since then.  There have been four co-rec sports, flag football, water polo, wallyball, and volleyball.  With the four sports, our teams have gone a combined 30-1, with our one loss being in the quarters of the flag football tournament when half our team was sick or had other committments.  WIth championships in water-polo, wallyball, and volleyball our collective t-shirt closet has gotten pretty full.

This was capped off this past week with an epic volleyball match up.  We had three different teams signed up for one league, and noticed when the brackets came out for the playoffs, the two teams that qualified would only get to play each other if they both made the finals.  Neither team was too confident in their ability to do so even though combined they had only lost three single games as part of the multiple different sets.  As fate had it, both teams beat the field and we had an all Debbie Downer final.  There were quite interesting subplots, as one team had siblings, co-workers, a dating pair, and roommates on it while the other team had best friends, roommates, former high school teammates, and a dating pair on it.  So yea they were pretty much the same.  It was an intense game, but at the end, you guessed it Debbie Downer took home the title.  What was most important was we took away second place points from the next all campus team, so we both did exactly what we needed.  Here are some of the championship pics, and it will be updated with the volleyball one later.  Every single person that played that game and our fans that were part of other Debbie Downer teams showed up for the picture, and I can’t wait for it to come out.

Preston, Cori, Allison, Me

Bryan, Lucas, Me, Dave, Nicole, Cori, Karissa, Allison

Everyone

So in a weird twist of events I had my first final this past week for my entrepreneurship class.  Some classes make the decision to have an early final so you don’t have to cram during finals week, but this in particular class does that and still gives you a final paper due that last meeting, so there isn’t much of a benefit.  These next few weeks are going to be packed with different assignments that will be the last types of things I do for a long time.  Next week I have a presentation of a business idea, presentation of a gender dynamic comparison paper in sports ads, final paper for a consulting project to a UConn organization, and presentation of an integrated marketing communications project changing the way in which a local rock theater advertises itself.  Its going to be pretty exhilirating taking all of those naps in between assignments.

It’s been absolutely beautiful out on campus the past couple of days and this weekend should only get better.  Tonight I have possibly my last night of team intramural playoffs with co-rec volleyball, and then we’re going to a Red Sox game tomorrow night followed by coming home late trying to catch the end of a freshman reunion party.  Trying to enjoy as much of the last semester as possible with great weather, sports, friends, and of course Spring Weekend will be here very soon.

It’s weird starting to count down the days, and even weirder taking a step back and trying to appreciate all the fun I’m having and good times I’ve had.  I’ll be writing about the end of semester events including our senior trip to Mohegan Sun and other senior week activities, but I probably won’t be writing much about academics.  I told you guys every assignment I have due until the end of the year and then it will just be finals week, of which I have three and none of them will require too much studying.  I’ll be out on the golf course and trying to distract my friends from their studies so they can do the same.  Have a good weekend, I know I’m jacked up for it.

17 of us got together to make the couple mile trek down to Zenny’s for a sort of lame three course meal and a really lame bartender that wouldn’t let us watch the first half of the final four (which of course you know UConn lost…so glad we didn’t go to Detroit).  We ended up walking to a cafe down the street to catch the first half, ran back for dinner, and then took over the bar and watched the second half anyway.  All I’m saying is thank god for a dance floor because people were quite depressed.  John tried starting a Maya Moore chant by banging on the tables, which actually resulted in more people being weirded out then excited.  Sidenote I’m watching the women’s team absolutely smash Louisville right now, Tina Charles is a complete beast. 

Regardless it was a really good time and everyone enjoyed themselves.  Here’s a couple pictures of the girls and the guys, and clearly the girls outshine us on every occasion no matter how hard we try.  They were a little less gangster in this pic I have to say, but way better looking.

Jen, Lydia, Hillary, Sachie, Amanda, Allison, Karissa

Brian, John, Tim, Rishi, Me, Jeff

Writing about Spring Break couldn’t possibly be any more bitter sweet.  It was one of the greatest weeks of my life, just an absolutely incredible amount of fun.  Me and 20 of my closest friends went on the Carnival Valor, a cruise ship out of Miami that stopped at Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, and the Grand Cayman Islands.  I’ll break it down day-by-day, partly for your reading enjoyment, partly because it’s the only way I’m going to remember it.

Saturday:  The roommates leave.  John, Bryan, Lucas and myself leave UConn the most excited we’ve ever been to leave.  We rock out to questionable songs.  Bryan almost kills us three times on the way to the airport, at least I counted three, John counted five.  We meet up with Lucas’ girlfriend Genny and her three roommates Jen, Moe, and Michelle at LaGuardia to board our plane for Miami.  We stay in Miami that night, and to start off Spring Break go to an Irish pub…that has one chef, and no liquor license.  Party animals

Sunday: Were on the valor.  The ship is absolutely ridiculous.  We explore the eleven floors from the second floor and our tiny little room with beds coming out of the ceiling to the eleventh floor with mini golf course, mini volleyball court, and mini basketball court.  We decide to have our first drink of spring break at the casino bar, which became our favorite place to go to meet up.  A 10 dollar long island iced tea, with five dollars to the casino in a match play gift certificate that sounded like an awesome deal but is a huge let down, much like slot machines.  We are introduced to the Lido deck where everyone hangs out and tans, and is also the place that serves the greatest chicken fingers known to man.

Lido Deck

Monday: The first Fun Day at sea. We are on our way to Costa Maya, so everyone on the boat is drinking, relaxing, tanning, swimming, pretty much stuff you can only do on vacation.  I manage to put sun screen on my entire face, except the two corners of my forehead.  I end up with devil horns.  I also break my sunglasses.  If it wasn’t for the open bar at the captain’s dinner and our first formal night, I might have been more upset.  Tonight marked day two of my 5 days in a row of red meat for dinner.  If you aren’t eating flat iron steak or prime rib, you’re not really living.

Holding onto my glasses, that I never wore again

Tuesday: Costa Maya, Mexico.  What was going to be a beach day turned into a rainstorm for an hour and us huddling in a tiny little Mexican bar.  We threw the smallest coconut in the world for three hours in the sun, resulting in insane sunburns for myself and Bryan as well as a sore arm for Lydia.  Honestly, I don’t remember if we went to the One Small Step dance club or not this night, but I felt like we were there every night, so it counts.

Wednesday: Belize.  Probably our most interesting excursion of the week as we went cavetubing.  We got into one of the many unmarked vans for the week, paid a man fifty dollars to drive us fifty minutes away from our boat, and leave all of our valuables with him.  Questionable decision making, but it’s fine.

Thursday: Cozumel, Mexico.  Today we planned on making it a beach day.  This unmarked van took us to the most decrepit hotel any of us had ever seen and dropped us off.  We walked behind it to where the “beach” was, and to our amazement found a private area with only three other people.  We ended up setting up camp and just hanging out with the place to ourselves.  We also managed to eat a plate of nachos in three minutes to go with our three buckets split between three people, greatness.

The girls in Cozumel

Friday: Grand Cayman Islands.  We spent the first half of the day at the beach in insanely hot temperatures, and then got on a catamaran and went snorkeling at one of the most famous barrier reefs on the island.  I’m not much of one for looking at fish, or animals of any kind really above water or below, but I made it through.  Really glad I did it, and really glad the obligatory picture was captured.

Saturday: Fun Day at Sea Everyone was excited for it.  We all were a little upset that it would be our official last day on the cruise, so we did everything on the boat we could think of.  The girls insanely got up at 730 to get their favorite deck chairs, and then sat out there in their blankets.  I said they were my closest friends, not my smartest friends.

Sunday: Depressing, depressing, reality.  We’re off the boat, on the shore, sunburnt and sullen.  Other than eating lunch in my hometown, the day was an incredible downer.  Super pumped to study for exams this week though, super pumped.

It’s embarrassing how long it’s been since I last posted on this.  Three weeks, but I’ll let you know they were some of the busiest three weeks I’ve ever had.  Ill update you on the past three weeks starting with the epic camp-out before senior day for UConn basketball, up until now with senior year winding down in subsequent posts over the next week.

I’m stealing this format from Bill Simmons, my favorite writer, although I’m sure he’s not the only one who does it:

Running Diary:

Friday 2/27

6:00 AM: Wake up to a little UCONN WHUS radio.  I’ve never been more excited to have puffy eyes, bad breath, and zero responsibilities for the day.

6:01 AM: Quickly realized I had a whole lot of responsibilities for the day, including getting to Gampel, a haircut I had dumbly decided to get at home, a dinner with friends from Florence, then back to Gampel for the campout.

6:40 AM: Met with Karissa and Lydia outside Hilltop Apartments for the walk over.  We find out part of our crew got there at 5:30 this morning, we feel lame, but also embarassed that we have friends who are up that early with nowhere to go except roam the streets of UConn until they’re allowed to line up.  Think about it.

6:50 AM: Arrive at Gampel.  Five of our friends are already setting up shop under the passway and we go to help.  We rented our tents from the UConn Adventure Center conveniently located in the Student Union.  You can rent canoes, kayaks, tents, anything you can think of to go out in the wilderness and have a good time.  They say they fit six people, I’m skeptical.

8:00 AM: I’ve been pumped up for over an hour, it’s decently cold out but not that bad.  We’ve all been talking about the team, the game, setting up a schedule for the rest of the day who would hold our spots and such.

8:30 AM: First people leave for classes or to nap or to study.  Cold starts to sit in.  I eat my Nutri-Grain bar and first Gatorade of the day.  I take a Daily Campus and sit on it on the stairs because as a natural rookie I didn’t bring a lawn chair to chill in.

9:30 AM: Just Lydia, Rish, and I now.  Lydia leaves for class, Rish and I have muddled conversation that focuses on how cold we are, how much we wish there was sunshine on our faces, and why it has to be so freaking windy.

11:00 AM:  Not sure what just happened, but the wind tried to rip our tents from the steps and bring them across the road.  Tents are flying everywhere since there’s no stakes in the ground.  Cement prevents that.

11:05 AM:  Sachie arrives, we get to recap the day for her.  I feel like that most of the conversation that will go on with new people who showup is exactly what you’ve done so far that day and what everyone else has told you they did.  Im jealous of the stories later in the day.  Four hours in and I’ve told them about getting up early and reading one sports article.  Exhilirating

12:00 PM: 5 hours in, my butt is either frozen or completely asleep.  Either way I can’t feel it anymore and it’s strangely liberating.  John shows up, and the urge to pee for me has passed the point where you feel like a seatbelt is constantly pressed against your bladder but you’re contemplating new ways to poke a hole in your body to relieve the tension.  Go ahead and pretend like it’s never happened to you.

12:10 PM Leave the Student Union after a bathroom, hot chocolate, and cookie break.  More friends show up, Karissa makes her 13th appearance of the day.

1:15 PM Cori calls me, is ready to go home for the afternoon.  I was just starting to get the hang of this, but my shift is up.  I’m dissapointed I won’t be sitting outside in the wind with two pairs of pants, four shirts and a sweatshirt on, but I’m also happy I’ll be enjoying warmth in a car… where I will now sleep, forever.

8:30 PM I arrive back at the campout.  Everyone that is going to be at the game in the first two rows is there now.  I forgot to mention we were the very first people in line, so we should be able to sit wherever we want.  Most of us will stay the night, some will be going back to sleep and picking up all of our materials in the early morning.

Here’s my disclaimer.  I’m not proud I wasn’t there all day and all night, but apparently no one does that.  That’s why you camp out in groups.  I had illusions of grandeur pre-college years of a campout that you never left, but it’s a little less extreme than that.  Most everyone was there from 6 - 1 the next morning, but before that people did shifts.  It pretty much turns into a party at 6, so if you weren’t there you were missing out anyway.  I spent the afternoon getting yelled at by my hairdresser, getting stuck in traffic, eating cold pizza, getting locked out of my house, being late to a dinner that I planned, leaving that dinner early that I planned, and forgetting my water bottle and food at the apartment on the way back to the campout.  So I got mine, don’t you worry.

10:30 PM Beverages flowing, conversation being had, people sneaking away to use the bathroom or get a burrito.  Good times to be had.

11:00 PM Girls leave to go to the Student Union for “nachos”.  Apparently along the way, they get distracted by a Karaoke machine.  Hilarity ensues.  I need you now tonight, I need you more than ever, and if you love me hold me tight.  Turn around, they knocked it out of the park.  Or so I saw on the video Amanda took of them.  Clutch.

Karissa, Sachie, Jen, and Allison singing their hearts out

Saturday 2/28

1:00 AM Party starts to wane.  Full day of sitting in the cold is catching up with us.  Some decide to leave, some keep the tunes going and a full on rendition of NSYNC’s Tearing Up My Heart happens.  Are delirious, or just making fantastic decisions.

The coolest girl I know Sachikooooo and Jen

2:00 AM People start trying to sleep in their tents.  Some people still are yelling and talking loudly.  Also a sleeping bag on concrete is way colder than I’d ever expect, so I don’t see much sleep happening.  Butt slowly freezing again, don’t want to turn over for obvious reasons.

3:00 AM (or so I think) Inebriated individuals walking back from parties find it funny to yell at “Tent City” and try to either wake people up or just be complete &(*&)(#@!.  They start the UConn chant, which even though I hate the guys I have to appreciate for a short while.  I appreciate more the next time somebody tries to start the chant two girls yell after UConn, in the same voice pattern, !*#@ YOU!.

4:00 AM (really no idea) I think I just fell asleep, but I’m not really sure.  Either way it felt awesome.

7:00 AM After being woken up multiple times, and falling asleep very litte, I decide to stop the charade and hang out outside the tent.  It’s at least 20 degrees outside now and way colder than it was yesterday.  I walk back with all my disposable gear with John to our room, get some more food, and walk back before anyone even notices we were gone.

10:00 AM Start to pack up all the tents, bags, and clean up our general area right by the door.

10:30 AM Gampel official says he wants an orderly line and everything spotless, so we finish picking up and explain everything to the rest of the campers.

11:00 AM Line begins to form, our group of 25 has the first two rows all sewn up.  We’re jacked up and really excited, with only an hour and a fifteen minutes to go.

11:30 AM In line Jen gets a big hug from one of her friends from home.  Sounds fine.  Except the guy is dressed in all Notre Dame gear, and we were all chanting a mean word at him.  We then chant a mean word at her to prove our fanhood, and then when thats done hug her to prove friendship.  Don’t judge us for the order of the actions.

12:15 PM The mad rush begins, doors open, we get checked in by threes.  Sprint to the first two rows, get our seats, and we’re ready to begin the real cheering, our work is not done at all.

Final Score UConn 72 Notre Dame 65

We hope Notre Dame enjoys the NIT as much as I’m going to enjoy my 15 hour sleep that night.

It’s hell week, and I’m halfway through.  I’m procrastinating hardcore right now, so I figured I’d let you know I’ll be getting that camp out post to you guys before I head out for Spring Break, which will be another fantastic story to tell.  All I have to look forward to right now is the cruise out of Miami I’ll be leaving for in a couple days.  Seriously though its absolutely worth being as tired as I am right now to have camped out for the Notre Dame game, one of the top five moments of my career here.

Quick sidenote Matt and Charlayne are no longer scared, we beat them in water polo and have our semifinal game and possible championship game on Thursday night.  Just one more thing to add to the stress and time constraints of this week.  Weirdly I haven’t seen either of them since we beat them, I think they’re hiding from the embarassment, or just don’t want to beat me up in public.

So far the two exams I’ve taken haven’t been that bad, some might even call them fair.  Since I’m not really taking too many business classes though the exams have been the dreaded blue book ones where you write for an hour and 15 minutes and then your hand falls off.  Honestly if I get even half credit for some of my answers I’ll be surprised because my handwriting is so terrible.  At the end it looks like a five year old got a hold of my exam and couldn’t color inside the lines, only they were vaguely talking about transgendered men and women and then how to start a business.  Weird thought.  Awkwardly coloring babies with really creepy abilities brings me to my Integrated Marketing Communications classes where we watch ads all the time and pick our favorites.  Here’s my all-time favorite, and yes, it all connects.

ETrade baby, can\’t beat it

So this week is really just preparation for what will be an insane next week.  The good news is that the next post you get will be reliving camping out for the UConn Notre Dame basketball game saturday afternoon.  I despise Luke Harangody, and it’s my last ever home game at Gampel Pavilion as an undergrad, so I figured what better time would there be to sleep on the concrete next to a big bubble.

Next week I have four, count them four exams.  Keep in mind I’m only taking four full classes this semester, so everything I’ve learned the past seven or so weeks will be jammed into understanding next week.  Not only that, its a combination of essays, multiple choice, matching, and papers that is utterly ridiculous.  Nothing overlaps, and quite honestly I’m engaged in senioritis to the fullest extent and have no interest in studying.  Also Spring Break is right after that, so really what chance do I have of focusing?  I say very little, but I need to pass them still.

Also next week is championship week for the first half of intramurals.  Having already made and lost in the playoffs for basketball, at least I don’t have to worry about that anymore.  We overacheived in the regular season after our center went down with an ankle injury.  It met up with us in the playoffs when our best player tweaked his knee again and we had no subs so we played with four.  Needless to say the all 5′ 10′ and under team didn’t work out so well.

As you may know Matt and Charlayne (fellow bloggers) are both a part of Schrute Beet Farms intramural team.  Well I got a phone call from the head of intramurals begging and pleading with me to move our sweet 16 matchup against them in co-rec water polo because they “can’t play” tonight.  I then got a call from Matt requesting the same thing.  In it, and I come somewhat close to quoting him but don’t hold me to it he said “Kyle, I know Debbie Downer is a force, but we need a few extra days to prepare because half our team just wet their collective pants when we found out we had to play you, please let us play Sunday?” Or something like that.  All I know is they destroyed us in the basketball regular season, so I need some revenge.  Full details to come on the epic matchup.

Also, sidenote, Debbie Downer won the Co-Rec Wallyball championship last sunday night.  We showed up with four full teams ready to go, and we got one team to take the ship down, Cori, Preston, Allison, and myself.  The fight for the all-campus championship continues…

Preston, Cori, Allison, Me

So I know I told you all about my Gender and Communication class that I was taking this semester.  I signed up for it because i thought it would have to do with how women and men communicate, and how each think about certain issues differently.  I very quickly found out that the class would have nothing to do with these topics and would be more about the fluidity of gender, how it is defined for each individual, and a lot about male-to-female transgenderism.

My first worry, solely through stereotypes, was that as a guy I’d be at a large disadvantage in this class once I found out it was also women’s studies credit.  It hasn’t been a problem yet and the professor does often look for male opinions on topics, however the conversation is usually heavily dominated by the women in the class.  I found it interesting that a lot of the conversation was geared towards female opinions about transgenderism in the beginning of the class because we talked about the feminist movement and feminine motives, yet as the class continues to roll on now we have finally started talking about female-to-male transgenderism and the male perspective.  It’s a fine line to balance sounding like a chauvinistic male and standing up for the men’s point of view when not only are you discussing issues about women but also about men who want to become women or women who feel as though they are men.  All of a sudden the balance of conversation and opinion begins to even out as the females in the class feel as uncomfortable as a male does expressing a biologically based opinion or one that might be controversial because they are also now talking about aspects of womanhood and manhood that they don’t have direct experience with.

Needless to say it is an eye opening class, and definitely an interesting take on things when you are ready to go way outside of your comfort zone.  I consider myself pretty understanding and knowledgeable about gender as well as other culturally defined topics surrounding how others define gender identity disorder and other items, but I never imagined I’d be studying something like that in an academic setting.  I also never imagined having to defend my opinions about the masculine and feminine scales of transgenderism to 15 girls with 3 guys in the back nodding silently in agreement.  Hopefully wherever you go you can appreciate that classes like this are offered, and of course take them with caution and an open mind.