Essay # 1: Cause Essay Attempt 3 (sigh)
I keep telling myself that this semester really isn’t harder than last. I tell myself that I was just better prepared last semester for the difficulty. Truth of the matter is though that this semester is harder than last. After careful consideration, I’ve figured out the three reasons that I’m struggling more. English, Physics and College Algebra.
First of all the English class is much more structured than the Creative Non-Fiction that I had last semester. I had only to let the creative juices flow while writing with a particular theme in mind. There were no 5 graf essays filled with causes and processes. If there were they were by accident or hidden in and around narrative and irony. This class requires much more precision and accuracy in my writing.
Precision and accuracy also account for the second reason this semester is more difficult. Physics. Because physics is my chosen profession, because physics has always been a passion that I explored for pleasure, I was under the impression that it would be as easy for me as understanding Taking the Quantum Leap by Fred A Wolfe or A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Not so. Physics is filled with the details of that general understanding. It is not the understanding itself. Learning the whys of a thing are a lot different than using a thing. Everything in that understanding requires precision and accuracy. Last semester was Chemistry and though fraught with its own difficulties, I was never under the impression that it would be easy or that I would love it.
The third reason that this semester is more difficult is College Algebra. It is a completely different sort of animal than is Intermediate Algebra. The pace is much faster and the concepts more rigorous. It requires much more thought and analysis. Though I appreciate the beauty of the complexity of algebra, it’s difficult at 2 am with a head and a notebook filled with false starts to convince myself that it is anything other than ugly and (dare I say it?) evil. Intermediate algebra offered a leisurely stroll through variables and quadratics. College level requires their application.
I’m beginning to realize that the semesters will get progressively more difficult. By the time I’m reaching out my hand for that doctorate I may well be insane. I have a feeling though that the insanity will be an asset to my endeavors rather than a determent. I can only hope that wandering in and about these 43 year old brain cells is a genius even if bordering on the mad.
First of all the English class is much more structured than the Creative Non-Fiction that I had last semester. I had only to let the creative juices flow while writing with a particular theme in mind. There were no 5 graf essays filled with causes and processes. If there were they were by accident or hidden in and around narrative and irony. This class requires much more precision and accuracy in my writing.
Precision and accuracy also account for the second reason this semester is more difficult. Physics. Because physics is my chosen profession, because physics has always been a passion that I explored for pleasure, I was under the impression that it would be as easy for me as understanding Taking the Quantum Leap by Fred A Wolfe or A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Not so. Physics is filled with the details of that general understanding. It is not the understanding itself. Learning the whys of a thing are a lot different than using a thing. Everything in that understanding requires precision and accuracy. Last semester was Chemistry and though fraught with its own difficulties, I was never under the impression that it would be easy or that I would love it.
The third reason that this semester is more difficult is College Algebra. It is a completely different sort of animal than is Intermediate Algebra. The pace is much faster and the concepts more rigorous. It requires much more thought and analysis. Though I appreciate the beauty of the complexity of algebra, it’s difficult at 2 am with a head and a notebook filled with false starts to convince myself that it is anything other than ugly and (dare I say it?) evil. Intermediate algebra offered a leisurely stroll through variables and quadratics. College level requires their application.
I’m beginning to realize that the semesters will get progressively more difficult. By the time I’m reaching out my hand for that doctorate I may well be insane. I have a feeling though that the insanity will be an asset to my endeavors rather than a determent. I can only hope that wandering in and about these 43 year old brain cells is a genius even if bordering on the mad.
posted by millay at 7:04 PM
8 Comments:
I'll take it! I'll pass it gladly. It's well-organized, sounds like you, has enough zip to make it work, maybe better than you think.
But do you know which graf is weakest?
The intro.
That's it--how was it to write? Were you just in a rush to tear into the middle to see if you 'had' it? If you were to go back to the intro (not asking you to), what sort of thing would you do to improve it?
Actually, this particular one was much easier to write than any of the others. I was sitting here thinking that either school got harder or I got stupider but, being the me that I am was determined not to let it get the better.
As for the intro, I went back over it too many times. That's what makes it read in pieces. I just couldn't look at it anymore so I stopped.
When I can look at it without getting ill, I will. May even post a better one...not that you asked,
Actually, I thought that thinking about what you might have done differently (but not actually doing it) would be best in this case.
If the darn thing makes you ill, I'd put it out of mind. I have many pieces I've written that make me writhe to remember I've written them, so I do my best not to.
I know the whole thing was easier--I was just curious about the first graf mostly--how it came to you, since once it was done, the rest was prefigured.
Done, then. Just as soon carry the lesson to the next instead of trying to apply it here. No telling the damage I could do!
Yeah, that's what I have in mind--lessons for the future, not beating a dead horse, not that I think it's necessarily dead. Maybe playing possum.
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