For student veterans of the University of Colorado semester system, the beginning of a new semester always marks two very important events. The first being a brand new schedule with which to enjoy the new faces of both professors and students before the monotony of each course sinks in, and the second, an ever-present, guaranteed three-day weekend.
While during the Fall semester the first weekend falls directly on the Labor Day holiday, the Spring semester commences the week preceding Martin Luther King, Jr. day, making students’ first weekend three days long. So when Dr. Stevens posed the question, “Why is today significant?” in class for our first blog assignment, I knew I wanted to wait until the mini-vacation started to reply with an answer.
In commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, citizens across the nation actively participate in celebrations and acts of service to honor the legacy of MLK, Jr. and his essential contribution to the civil rights movement of our nation. In Colorado alone, while cities like Boulder hosted a rally and march from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., others organized breakfasts, keynote speeches and gatherings with which to emphasize the importance of peace, civil rights, etc.
When I woke up this morning, immensely more buoyant due to the lack of Monday morning back-to-school blues, I woke up acknowledging the significance of today as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day but also acknowledging the significance of an extra weekday to live according to my own schedule instead of one determined by the grueling demands of academia.
As a fourth year student at CU, too many times throughout my college career I feel as though I lived a life organized by thousands of grocery lists, motivated to do things only so I could check them items the list and move on to the next. Sure, there is satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment in achieving such routine tasks, but the incandescent joy and rigor of life’s richness ceases to exist within the repetition a normal school week provides.
On any normal day students wake up, go to class, go to work, go to class, go to the gym, go to class, then return home to eat, take a small break but eventually return to their studies. During the school week my life unfolds within a strict set of boundaries not allowing much leverage to luxuriate in things I truly love. And in this intolerant environment, I live not alone but within the company of others.
Steff Pace, a fellow senior and Psychology major at CU, holds hanging out with her friends to be one of her most valued past times. However relishing in this activity rarely occurs within the midst of the academic year due to her constant class project, class presentation and test preparation overload. What happened to the carefree days of elementary school?!
When the very rare three-day reprieve comes along however, such as the one myself and my other CU companions have just reveled in, the extra day grants students the freedom to enjoy what they want to enjoy without the pressures of class, grades and assignments bearing them down. Spring semester’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday becomes uniquely significant to each student in their own way as they possess the ability to spend the day like the rest of the nation – serving, whether that be collectively with the community, or individually for themselves.
So collectively in the community today was significant because Boulder residents marched across the town in commemoration of a great American leader. Today was significant because parents were able to spend the day with their children instead of work, and children were able to go to the park instead of sit in a classroom.
Individually for me today was significant because I slept in. Today was significant because I relaxed and slowly sipped two cups of coffee instead of a quick gulp of hot liquid while bolting through the door. Today was significant because my feet quenched their craving for concrete on an afternoon run along the creek instead of the unsatisfactory tread of the gym’s treadmill.
Like a buffet of food boasting delicacies from a variety of exotic and sumptuous cuisines, today was significant because I was able to self-serve. I manufactured my day with the flavors that I favor and through those flavors I lived life not as a student but purely as my individual self.
Thank God for three-day weekends.
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteBe careful with assertions. Next year, spring classes do not begin until after MLK Day, so that "always" is hanging out there unsupported. Just be precise.
Also, though you relate your experiences to others, it doesn't seem as though you're really externalizing your post. Are we to believe that most other students see their time at CU as you do? If so, how do we know? Beyond the single anecdote you provided, I didn't get a sense that everyone's sharing your experience. Tell the reader why your experience relates to him/her.
This will get easier as we do it more.
As someone who also relished having an entire Monday to my own devices, I quite appreciated this post. I enjoyed how you mixed a national, historical moment, and the importance of MLK, Jr, day in that context, as well as on a personal level.
ReplyDeleteI did find the post to be a little too localized--in so many forums i.e. blogging for the Daily Camera, the very local feel would have been perfect, but as this is a stand alone blog it's hard to say where your traffic will come from, if someone found this post via StumbleUpon, and they were from Alaska, it would probably have less punch for them than it does for me.
On the whole however, this was enjoyable to read, I love your prose and the conversational tone, it gives my reading of your post a very personal feel.
This is an interesting post. I like that you bring in elements of both the significance of the day in itself and the significance of the day to you individually.
ReplyDeleteI would've liked to see your "self-serve" idea come up earlier in the post. This could give the reader a sense of where you are going and kind of bring you back full-circle at the end. I also think it would have been interesting to explain some of your day in more detail...describe how you made that day different, and juxtapose it with a "usual" day. To externalize, maybe you could've described how you think other students might spend their day off compared to you. Think about if they see that day as significant as you see it, maybe even ask a question to the reader. This could give some incentive for other people to comment/get involved in your story.