The paper about the fall of the Inca civilization turned out to be fascinating. It was due this past Friday, and I probably could have waited until Thursday night to write it, but I didn't. For the first time in my Hendrix career, I stayed in the library on Friday evening -- a full week before the paper was due -- and started scouring through tomes like A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru. I came in again on Saturday, and finished up the paper in the course of two all-nighters on Wednesday and Thursday nights. It turned out to be 11 pages -- well within Dr. Pollini's rather odd guidelines of 5-15 pages. I don't think I've ever been prouder of a finished product.
The essay is for my Agriculture, Natural Resources and Sustainability class, which I took solely to fulfill a requirement of my International Relations and Global Studies major. But the class has turned out to be quite relevant to my interests. I'm a huge fan of Michael Pollan, who (along with Eric Schlosser, Mark Bittman, and Morgan Spurlock) has defined the food philosophy I try to live by. As Pollan summarizes in his book The Omnivore's DIlemma: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Books like Fast Food Nation and The Botany of Desire convinced me of the lurking dangers of massive factory farms, which, by relying on massive cultivation of one species of potato/banana/corn/whatever, subject our nation's food supply to the threat of blight.
In class, we've read Marcel Mazoyer's A History of Agriculture from the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis. I've learned about agri-politics issues I didn't know existed, such as the demonization of slash-and-burn farmers in Madagascar, and gotten more insight into issues of farm subsidies, which I haven't discussed in school since my AP Gov class in high school.
The Agriculture class also dovetails with two of my other classes -- The American West and Concepts of Chemistry. Concepts of Chem is mostly an overview of basic chemistry: acids and bases, redox reactions, hydrocarbons, etc. But our book, Chemistry for Changing Times, puts an environmental spin on every issue we discuss. Similarly, the American West class addresses not just the history and culture of cowboys, but also the environmental and political implications of ranching (and mining, and logging, and...). I never would have thought I'd find that interesting, but I do.
I've also been active in the Environmental Concerns Committee this year. Yesterday about 12 of us took a tour of Conway's recycling facility, which is the largest in Arkansas. Early next year they will be installing a totally mechanized system, but right now non-violent criminals have the option of paying off their fines by working at the plant, sorting recyclables. The tour was incredibly informative -- an inspiration for the campus walks I give at Hendrix -- and sought to correct some of the myths about recycling. I learned that things I've been throwing away for years, such as paperboard, styrofoam, and glass, can now be recycled in Conway. (Although the glass must be brought to the plant; it can't be put in with the curbside pickup recycling.) I also learned that there's no need to remove the lids or the labels from plastic bottles. Sweet!
After the fieldtrip we went to Toad Suck Park, on the banks of the Arkansas River, and cooked the most delicious, homemade veggie burgers of all time. With whole-wheat buns and lettuce and tomato. Delicious! But I digress.
The class that doesn't fit into the environmental scheme is Gender, Sexuality and American Politics, which is also my favorite class this semester. After Dr. Berryman's Iraq War seminar last spring, which was a constant source of anxiety for me, I thought I just didn't learn well in a seminar format. But Dr. Barth does a great job of ensuring that everyone in the class has a chance to speak. I actually have to tell myself to shut up sometimes, because the readings are so interesting and I am engaged so fully in the material. It's like, "Calm down, Katie. Let the other kids have a chance to discuss abortion rights and the cultural implications of birth control."
I've been thinking about that class a lot this weekend, because half of our final grade comes from a journal that we are supposed to keep throughout the semeser, analyzing the readings we do. (The other half is class participation.) The only problem is ... I haven't been keeping up with them very well. I read everything, I discuss it like crazy, I talk about it after class with my friends, and I ponder it when I'm alone. But I never write about it. Which is a problem because Dr. Barth is collecting our journals tomorrow to check our progress. And here I am, writing about needing to write them. That, my friends, is artful procrastination.