Working on my next-to-last semester, and I'm trying to do things better this time around--no drinkies during homework, no distracting people, and no letting the yard-work slide. I'm taking nine hours: an independent study project on the sociology of aging in America, Psychology of Human Sexuality, and Recent Popular Literature. I've been to at least one class of each, and am pleased to report that Recent Pop Lit will not be about beach reads. The first project? Write a short story in the style of Cormac McCarthy. We're reading The Road, and simultaneously working through The Use and Abuse of Literature. This class is more of a Lit Crit & Theory-type, without having to drudge through all of the post-whatever nonsense. Yes, I just dismissed Lit Crit out of hand. I read a Lit Crit textbook once, just for fun. Intriguing, but not something I'd like to discuss for six hours a week. I like that the teacher wants us to find the good in all of these books, even The Help.
In Sexy Psych class, my first project was a short article disseminating (heehee) research info to the unwashed masses. I did mine on a report showing that Playboy Magazine, Barbie dolls, and the like have convinced millions of young men and women that female bodies should be hairless and prepubescent from the ribcage down. Sadly, a majority of young men now think that women with narrow hips and an anorexic BMI are the most ideal mates with which to partner up and have children. Just let that sink in. Sociology will be mostly reading, and then July will be paper-writing time. As it happens, my Psych class will be over at the end of June, so I've managed to stagger the timing in my favor. There's still a metric-ton of articles and books to cram into my thick skull, however. It's a good thing I don't watch television.
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