March 15

I just wrote the second reflection paper for class. I hadn't realized we had another paper, so I'm glad my friend was complaining about it. The prompt was this:

"How does leadership play a role in living and learning in a diverse community like that of the University of Illinois?  Did the cultural Center walkabout influence how you think about leadership in the campus community?  Why or why not?  In what ways did the Walkabout lead you to any new insights, inspirations, questions or concern related to this class (and what are they)?

Your paper should consist of a response to the prompt above that is carefully crafted and edited.  The minimum length is 2 pages, double spaced, in an 11 or 12 point font with standard 1 inch margins."

Yes...a carefully crafted paper. With directions like these, there's no way I BSed this paper. No, wait...that other thing... I don't care enough about this class to actually spend time on this paper. I put what I think in it, though. That could be dangerous. I might not get the coveted “9” score! Oh no! Really, though, the cultural center walkabout taught me nothing about leadership. I don't understand how we're supposed to write a paper about how it did. That's why I called them on their ridiculosity in my paper. When I got to the part about questions, I almost put this in my paper, “I question this class every time I think about it.” I decided to phrase this a bit differently and much more subtly. While I was writing this paper, my friend was sitting next to me writing hers. I took down a few quotes while we were talking. Unless otherwise noted, these quotes are hers.

“Did I just make connections with stuff that wasn't even in this class?” she asked. “That's the only way to write this paper,” I replied.

"It's pissing me off; race has nothing to do with leadership."

“This is bad and I don't even care.” (about her paper)

Also, remember how one of my friends dropped being a spiffy scholar so she could drop this class? I just learned that another one of my friends dropped being this kind of scholar as well so she didn't have to take this class, before she started it. Just the idea of taking this class made her stop being this spiffy kind of scholar. A friend of a friend was scared away from being a scholar because she didn't want to take this class and the one I had to take last semester. I'm pretty sure the people organizing these classes are doing something wrong. I'm just sayin'.

On the topic of not being organized... At the beginning of the year, we had to print out the syllabus and bring it to class. Each of our paper assignments was written on the syllabus and they told us that was exactly what we would be writing. I don't know why I'm surprised when they lie to us anymore. According to the syllabus, we were supposed to write:

“How do you connect your current definition of leadership to the idea of being an ally in a diverse society? Describe how you believe being an ally can aid progress towards addressing humanitarian issues. How did the Cultural Center Walkabout help you lean about being an ally and effective leader on campus? In what ways did the Walkabout lead you to any new insights, questions, or concerns, and what were they? What are some possible ways you can involved [sic] with Cultural Centers on campus in the future? Do you plan to do so? Why or why not?”

It would be nice if they could be consistent. Oh, and having correct grammar would be a good thing, too.

I'll make that class make sense later.  These puppies are so cute!