Like everyone, I have a lot going on right now. Trying to be a single mother and a student and an intern and a good long-distance friend while having a real estate transaction fall through, it all hit me at once this week.
No one thing was to blame, but all of it culminated in one great unpleasant day. I decided that something had to give and decided that something would have to be my other class this summer. I have never in my academic career dropped a class after the drop/add period and felt guilty and ashamed that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I felt guilty and ashamed that I had been frivolous with money when things are tighter than normal due to pandemic-induced layoffs. At the end of the day, I decided that mental clarity and a solid GPA reigned supreme over the guilt and shame.
It was in this great unpleasantness that I also discovered just how much I truly enjoyed this class. When pressed to decide which class had to go, I chose to stay in my elective over a required course for my major. I wish I could pay to take this course 40 times over and call it a degree. I know I will have to return to that class eventually, but I will enjoy my time in Web 2.0 while I can.
While being busy has been referred to as "the disease of our time" by Pedram Shojai, author of The Urban Monk, this has been an affliction I have been able to manage very well for quite a long time. Our tools this week, namely Goodreads and Refind, help manage the side effects in this constant state of doing. Unwinding with a good read has always been my go-to activity in times of distress and both tools encourage this activity in two ways. I did not allow myself adequate time to immerse myself in either site, but look forward to rotating them into my day.
Overall, I found the conversations this week surround ethics, privacy and copyrights to be of great importance. As I mentioned previously, the subject is simple at face-value and much more intricate in action. I do not know that I will feel 100% confident in my use of various medias, but hope that fair use and altruistic intentions continue to be on my side moving forward. I believe that the conversation of privacy online is an important conversation to have in any field, but especially in one where we may be asking students to engage in forums that their rights to privacy may be altered.
I'm happy you had time to reflect and realize that dropping a class is what was best for you in this moment. I hope you feel less stressed and have some more time on your hands because it sounds like you have a lot going on. You seem to be enjoying this class as much as I am and I'm glad you stuck with it!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you chose to stay in this class, I have really enjoyed your blog and collaboration. This has been an awful summer for me as well, so this was really comforting on some level because I could relate. It seems as though everything always has to rear its ugly head all at once and I am glad you chose to do what is best for you.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you copyright and IP is such a convoluted but important topic, I will never feel 100% confident in my use of various media either. I am actually really nervous about this upcoming project for this course.