Letters to the Editor
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Word to da Wize
Kick back, Chill out, Blaze up, Embrace the Slack
We'll pry you lose from the Lay-Z-Boy when we need the space. Remember, Apathy is the new excellence.
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LW, You Are Normal
It's difficult to avoid being self-absorbed in certain situations: divorce, unemployment, severe illness, and the undergraduate years.
I remember that the worst part of college for me was the guilt - everyone was expecting so much from me, I wasn't interested any more in what I'd originally set out to do, and it was all costing so much. There was an afternoon when I sat down and calculated exactly what it broke down to per hour, including the hours I was wasting in doing the calculations, and well, as it all comes back to me all I can say is gaaahhhhhhh.....
So, LW, I would say that this problem is indeed valuable because it is yours. Your problem deserves a solution so that you can get the most out of this time, wherever you choose to spend it. If you're at Harvard, I know that there is a Writing Center, and other resources for people who are having trouble with the workload. Don't feel guilty, as if you shouldn't need them. The biggest lesson you can learn at this point is how to seek and use help if it's available. I know you are interested in writing and probably think you should do it without the Writing Center, but professional writers seek help all the time. They get writers' block. They freak out when they have to write for different audiences or in different ways (going from fiction to nonfiction, novels to articles, fiction to poetry - there's always an adjustment). The difference between professionals and nonprofessionals is that professionals know how to speed up the freakout/blocked/get-it-together cycle. College is a great time to amass a toolbox of skills to be used in the emergencies and crises you'll encounter later on.
If indeed you are at Harvard, I would advise you to look at a copy of the Globe or Phoenix or any of the throwaways on campus and find something to explore off campus. Even if you just take the T across town to the Museum of Fine Arts you'll find that the air changes a bit. Or walk 6 blocks in any direction from your usual radius - it's not as dangerous out here as your classmates might think. You might also look for a "civilian" class in dance, yoga, or theater so you can hang out with people who are not considering themselves the creme de la creme. If perchance you are not at Harvard, I'll bet you could find similar off-campus resources in Providence, New Haven, Poughkeepsie - or wherever you are.
You have a right to feel what you are feeling now, but I promise you will be greatly relieved when you're able to move on.
Good luck!
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The California Spirit
This may not be about the school. This may be about the place. No offense to the poster above me, but it's not "unrelated" that you, poster, who's from the East Coast, finds the West coast not to your taste. It's very possible that the LW will never get the most out of the East coast experience in school simply because it's not to her lifestyle.
The idea of staying someplace where she's miserable, just so she can get to the point where she can show that she has some kind of street cred with people who care where she went to school ... that strikes me as even more depressing than her current depression. It's not that she's not capable of handling pressure -- it's that she's finding out that what she thought she wanted, isn't necessarily what she wanted.
Certainly she needs to tough out her existence, but she doesn't need to tough out her location. It's funny that we all think the world is such an important place and diversity is so important until we actually have to live lives of diversity -- so we make this girl go to some cold, bleak city where she's not happy because it'll make her ... what, exactly? More able to fit into a certain world where people get treated better because they go to certain schools?
Again, that's more depressing than anything else. LW, I sense you're a hard-working writer of a unique perception that will be frozen if you stay on the east coast. You *are* connected to where you come from, physically, it's part of why you write. I live on the west coast and I've moved around a lot in the last twenty years, and while I've succeeded in other places, I moved back to the PNW in 2001 and I am NOT moving anywhere else. This is where I can breathe.
I do not know if you can only breathe on the west coast. But I do know that you can learn to write, or edit, anywhere. The world needs more good writers and editors, not more East coast writers and editors.
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Freshman year kinda sucks for everyone
Hey, don't beleive what you see in movies. Freshman year kinda sucks for everyone. Chin up :) Thinks will get better.
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Initiative and skill trump famous names
My first job out of high school was a key human rights research post. I demonstrated initiative by calling to ask if there were any openings and expressing enthusiasm for the organization's work. I beat out several Ivy League MA's because I could type fast and speak Spanish.
My second job, after my freshman year in college, was an entry-level position at a major media organization in London. I obtained that post by calling 27 media organizations from a payphone in the rain until I got three interviews. I landed all three openings.
My third job, after my sophomore year, was a high-tech marketing position that paid fifty percent more than what my peers were getting. I got that post by telephoning 25 organizations to ask if they had openings. During this time I also worked on worldwide human rights cases normally given to 40-year-old attorneys.
So our national obsession with having a famous degree and the right alumni network is, not to put too fine a point on it, a crock of shit.