A Semester in Review

This semester has been a challenge. It has been a rewarding challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. It has been filled with late nights, stressed out afternoons, discipline, rewards, and LOTS of coffee. However, as challenging as this semester and this class have been, they have been beneficial. I have become a better writer, a better thinker, and a better student.

When we started the semester and I realized that the central theme of this class was going to be music, I was elated! Music runs in my blood. I love to listen to and create beautiful melodies and emotional harmonies that carry deep into the soul and affect us in our deepest parts. However, our “study” of music was a vehicle – a muse that gave us something about which to express our thoughts and emotions and hone our compositional skills. And boy did this vehicle take us on a journey! Starting with the rather Cerebral Aaron Copeland and ranging to the diaries of Curt Kobain, diatribes against MTV, Gangsta Rap, Emenim, The business of music, the Senate House Committee, and much more, we have gained an understanding of this industry and the heart behind it that I never thoughts possible from an English class. What I have gained from this class, not just writing skills, but new ways of thinking, will be with me for the rest of my life.

The community we shared in this class was a very interesting dynamic. I have never commented on a fellow student’s research paper before without the specific request of that student. The Peer Draft Reviews were brutal, but very helpful. It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone by reading their thoughts about certain issues. It is interesting to become so acquainted with people whom I have never met. I don’t know you by face, or even by real name in some cases, but I do know you by your heart, your effort, and your expression. It has been a real joy to be in this class with all of you even if I feel compelled to say I hated it (just on the principle of it being an English class… always my scholastic archenemy growing up… we share no great love).

I think what we have learned in this class – how to be better writers, how to think through certain issues, fun facts and figures about the music industry and how it functions, and how to thoughtfully respond to the writing of our peers will remain with us for a long time to come. These skills will come in handy in the workforce, as we become educators of others, and in our skills as husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. We will always need to communicate with others – especially those we love. And we have learned in this class how to become more effective communicators, but to a professional audience and to an informal audience as well. And whatever the outcome, it was a semester well spent.

- Jason Clark