(drumroll please) Studying for Biology!

*note: Sorry for all of the posts about life at Kenyon! There hasn’t been much preparation in the past few weeks for Exeter and I don’t want to stop blogging or I may never start again!

While picking up an extra eighteen hours of work during the last week of classes and finals week would not generally be considered advisable I think that it has forced me to use my time more wisely. I have successfully finished the research for my U.S. women paper, or at least the book research. I’ve decided to examine how women were viewed from 1920-1950 using advertisements, movies and popular novels.

Though the research has been interesting, I’m thankful for how many novels I have already read from the time period; I’m not sure that I could force myself to read another 6 books for content on top of all of the articles and anthologies I’ve read for research. I chose to look at The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, The Secret of the Old Clock, Of Mice and Men, 1985 and The Fountainhead. As you can see it would be QUITE the ambitious list to read for solely an 8-20 page term paper!

On top of those books I’m looking at the following films: The Broadway Melody, The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Casablanca and The Philadelphia Story. Fortunately I fall in love with nearly every movie made before 1970 the first time I watch it, so it’s not much of a burden to spend my exam week watching those titles!

I spent most of the morning reading for the paper and then spent the afternoon at work writing the first draft of the beginning 3 pages. They flowed quite easily, at about 2 pages an hour! With any luck the rest of the paper will come just as naturally and I won’t have to push the paper as that usually makes my prose take a sharp downward turn.

I had 3 hours off between my first shift of the day and my current one, during which time a review session for Biology was in session. It was nice to hear the questions being asked and to realize that I knew most of the material already. Such an odd position for an English major to be in, knowing all of the answers to a Biology review but not knowing how to finish a paper!

I really should get back to the biology studying though, as the test is tomorrow at 6:30 pm! Wish me luck!

Ta,

A