Okay, guys, I admit it: I have been completely negligent of my duties, and should be labeled blog-unworthy.
But now that the semester is over, I’d like to redeem myself with much more frequent posts, logging all of the awesome stuff going on this summer!
I’ll begin with my first major endeavor post-freshman year: preparing a class for this August’s Intensive Freshman Seminars (http://www.ifs.indiana.edu/ This is a program allowing you to get your first three credit-hours in a fabulous 3 weeks prior to the semester.). As an intern, I’m teaming up with the one and only, “wunderbar” Professor Fritz …
Do you remember my earlier expressed veneration of seminars? Well, I have yet ANOTHER example of coolness that I stumbled upon through the one I took last semester. The topic of the class was “Work and Play in Modern Cultures,” so our professor, well-educated on the myriad offerings of Indiana University, set up a presentation by the puzzle curator at the Lilly Library*.
Yes, I said the puzzle curator.
Several years ago, a man named Jerry Slocum donated a collection of over 30,000 (!!!) puzzles to IU’s Lilly Library, not even 10% of which have been unwrapped and catalogued. But …
Another summertime endeavor: re-conquering one of the many things I’ve learned and forgotten over the years—how to play the piano.
I have this embarrassing past of not having really applied myself to certain activities I was involved in, and thus feel like I could have gained so much more than I did from them. So for example, I took piano lessons for SEVEN YEARS, but somehow just stopped improving after like four. I blame this partly on my extreme talkativeness, which led my piano teacher and I, a wonderfully sharp Lithuanian woman named Yelena Polyanskya, to actually become friends—and, well, …
Wherever you go to school, whenever it happens, be sure to do one thing when registering for classes: sign up for a seminar. Try to fit into your schedule at least one small, discussion-based class, preferably in a field outside of your major. Why?
They are just so much fun.
It’s true. Yeah, molecular biology is fascinating, and digging my way through post-modern Joycean German novels is an invigorating challenge, but it is also a welcome change to step outside of my usuals and into the writing/reading/ethnology/psychology course that fills my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. In the class, called Work …
A little over a month ago, I got a call from a friend of mine—Andrew Hahn, a junior majoring in political science and ethics.
“Tarlie,” he told me, “I want to talk to you about getting involved in IUSA.”
Huh? Student government? Me?
“Uhh…okay.”
It turned out he was running for president of IUSA with a ticket called “Red-Hot;” he thought I might be interested in running with them for representative of Collins.
Well. I knew nothing about it; I hadn’t been involved in student council in high school, and besides, college student government was surely completely different. After talking …
Hey there, guys!
First of all, I want to tell y’all how happy I am to have heard from you with various questions vis-à-vis coming to, living at, and educating yourselves at IU—love it! Do continue!
So this was the week. Midterm week. I only had midterms in the formal, exam variety in three of my classes, and in the other two I had “just” the typical amount of work. But that, I felt like, was plenty. My preparation came in all forms, from making 177 flashcards for molecular biology and roping in any and every person I came across …
Hey guys!
I’m Tarlie Townsend, a colorfully dressing, exuberant freshman with an eye for a good Bartlett pear. I am so excited to blog to y’all, although I keep being tempted to ask how you’re doing, and then remind myself that you can’t really answer.
But you can!
My e-mail is townsent@indiana.edu.
I tell you this more so that, if something I say strikes you as interesting or horrifying, or if you have any questions at all about being at IU that you think I’d have insight into, you can contact me. But also, if you want to send …
