As the much-anticipated cyclone season during Krea hits, what follows shortly is the dreadful academic workload that shoots up high enough to make you reconsider all the impromptu dilly-dallying throughout the term. While I ideally should be rummaging through the Canvas Syllabi for my own courses and frantically checking OneERP, I am sitting here envisioning something way goofier.
In another one of my Literature courses that I am enrolled in, by the end of this term, we are supposed to come up with an alternative syllabus for the novels we would’ve perhaps taught. The very exercise of being given that autonomy made me think on a different tangent:
What if I were to design a new course altogether? And not just any kind of course, a course on myself?
I bet you there would be minimal sign-ups by a handful, just as insane as I. By the end of the shopping period, all of them would drop out (or maybe invite a couple more friends over, who knows?) The concept of a course on me sounds extremely out-of-pocket, but when has that ever stopped my imagination from running pointless laps?
Well, you already know what I am going to title it. But as far as the course description goes, it would probably say:
“Arrey, arrey! Aap yahaan!?” (those who got the reference, please do not send me hate-mail after this “Well, we are all familiar with courses that have set goals, objectives, and enforce structure. What if there were a course where there was perhaps no structure at all? Extremely flexible deadlines, creative and slightly jarring assignments that eventually make some loose sense at the end of it all. This course is designed for those who refuse to head back to their dorms before 3 AM, those who survive on cup noodles during midterms, yet still run around campus attempting to breathe some liveliness into a million different things! :)”
Don’t know if that would sell the course, honestly, or intimidate the hell out of potential participants.
But, moving onto the modules of Intro to Being Unhinged, I would title them in this fashion:
Module 1 – Spirals can be Fun: Understanding and becoming besties with overthinking & intrusive thoughts at 3:52 AM.
Module 2 – Putting the ‘Pro’ in Procrastination: Research-backed studies to show how delaying tasks until the last minute is the most goated productivity hack.
Module 3 (Bridge Module) – Mastering the Art of Yapping: How having the ability to ramble non-stop can come in handy when you are struggling with participation grades or hitting the word count in other courses?
Module 4 – A Dash of Delusion: Actionable ways to romanticize all campus struggles to the point where others are amused but also concerned at this ability.
Module 5 – Interwoven Algorithms: How to tailor your feed to keep you up-to-date on all things pop culture (from the Nicki vs. Cardi Feud to the recent Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show).
I’ll stick to five modules only, because I’m lazy. (also, who would want to teach more than five modules!?)
There will be mandatory Tutorial Hours for Canva Workshops and How to Clock the Correct Suspect(s) in Netflix Murder Mysteries!
As far as assessments go, I think this is what they might look like:
- Serial Yapping (Attendance & Participation): 10%
- Pop Quizzes (on Pop Culture): 20%
- Audio Research (finding the right song for your Instagram stories): 15%
- Canva Portfolio Submission (your potential ticket to joining HCK Socials/Publicity): 30%
- Perusall Assignments (to stay up to date with all newly published HCK articles): 25%
In case someone misses any graded components, there will be make-up assignments (because I am nice like that) such as Reflective Papers & Reports on how many times did you skip mess food this trimester or how many times did you forget to get your laundry back before 5 PM? (Bonus Points for incorporating all the HnC Runs in the Report)
The overall objectives of my course would be to:
1) Understand how pop culture and allied media are lowkey an integral/inescapable part of our lives now, and instead of blind resistance, how one can learn to work with it.
2) Embracing imperfections and shortfalls on campus (because trust me, it is all a part of the experience).
3) Learning how to unabashedly engage with what interests you and relishing in the fact that the right company, appreciative of that, is bound to come along. :)
As far as office hours to schedule professional yap time go, I shall be sharing a link to my Google Calendar, the one I am sure my friends are extremely familiar with. At the end of the day, this course wouldn’t necessarily be to find a fix or a sloppy endeavor to intellectualize the simple joys of an undergrad life. It’s just a testament to how one stumbles, laughs, sighs through the ebb and flow of campus, all while still showing up! Maybe if there is anything that can be taken away from it all, it would be that even chaos sometimes can be worth studying!