CCAs are the Worst Things Ever

As I sit listening to my last CCA talk of my college career, I want to reflect about how much I despise CCAs.

Yes, I do appreciate learning, after all, I do attend Hillsdale College. I do like to listen to interesting and intelligent speakers. But there are about 8 billion ways that CCAs could be better.

One of the biggest issues that I can see are the times of CCAs. No one wants to finish class for the day at 3:45 and then hike over to Phillips to hear more lectures. 4:00? This is my nap/re-caffenite/catch up on "Shark Tank" time. It's a horrible time in the day. Also 8:00? So I have finally snuggled up in my bed and really gotten down to doing homework, and then I have to trudge back to the CCA? Seriously the worst.

The other problem is some of the speakers. I understand that to know a topic well, you have to study it your whole life. But there's a reason Hillsdale doesn't hire professors who are in their 90s. Students want to listen to a professor who wasn't an adult when people thought the internet was a fad. Some of the speakers don't seem to have any interest in entertaining us, but are much more interested in listening to the sound of their own voices. Our professors aren't like that. There has got to be some speakers out there in the world who want both to entertain and to teach us.

Also, the Q&A session. It's a joke. No one ever learns anything from Q&As. During this time, I usually check my email and look around to see which Hillsdaters are holding hands. Everyone, including the donors, tries to act controversial and intellectual. Dude, I've got things to do and people to see. Go to the speaker afterward and waste your own time - not mine.

Since when did CCA papers begin to get graded so harshly? Look, I hate to break it to the External Affairs Office, but these papers are the last thing I care about. Hmm... should I spend time on my Honors Thesis and Roman Civ Paper, or my 1 credit CCA seminar? It's a pretty easy choice. We get no breaks attending Hillsdale. Even PE classes can sometimes be hard. So CCA readers, give us some slack and just slap an A on our papers.

We all know why the College holds CCAs. Hillsdale accepts no federal funding and it's a great way to give donors the "Hillsdale experience" without letting 150 retirees invade our classes. We need the money. I get it. But don't subject me to boring lectures, annoying Q&As, and A- 1 credits because we need funding. There HAS to be a better way to rake in the funds under the guise of broadening students' educations.

I know this is super ranty and when you read this you thought to yourself, "Here goes Emmaline again acting like her crazy self." But look kids. This is my last semester at Hillsdale and I want to treasure every minute I have left. And guess what? I never get back the hours that I spent at the CCA bored out of my mind. But I guess I can take solace in my new found knowledge of Leonardo da Vinci's inventions.

Best Facebook Statuses About Just How Freaking Cold it is:

As you all sit and wait in anticipation for an email saying that school is cancelled, I thought that you might enjoy a chronicle of the best Facebook statuses about the cold. If you are a college administrator who graciously reads my blog, take note of the vox populi:


The Cynical One:

Mason Stuard

Administration at Hillsdale College better pull their heads out long enough to see that tomorrow's wind chills might jeopardize their precious students if they don't bloody well cancel classes. (takes face, applies to desk)

The Cranky One: 

Timothy Troutner

14 minutes ago

Walking to the sports center at 7:45 tomorrow with a wind chill of -20 is going to be fun. The fact that someone trolled campus to say that classes were canceled just makes it worse.

The One with the Pointed Questions:

Katie Keane

The Michigan College of Beauty is closed tomorrow and Hillsdale College is not... why...

The Optimistic One: 

Nick Allen

4 hours ago

I refuse to go to sleep until I receive the official notification that tomorrow's classes are cancelled.

The Cold Humored One: 

Carly Howell‎Overheard at Hillsdale College

"If someone dies tomorrow, Dr. Arnn will probably just say 'some must fall so that others may rise.'" -Rachel Moore

The Kind of Mean One: 

Casey Lord Greenleaf McKee

All I've seen for 3 days are posts from Hillsdale students complaining about the frigid temperatures. Don't give up hope, my friends. It should start to warm up a bit by the beginning of May.

The Snarky One: 

Caroline Pittard

I can't wait to tell my southern children about how I walked through blizzards and knee-deep snow to get to class.

The Literary One: 

Amanda Gehrke

"For it is bitter cold and I am sick at heart." Hamlet
We always seem to read the most cheery literature in winter.

The Practical One:

 

Garrett West

PSA for my Hillsdale friends:

"It gets so cold out of nowhere. We don't know the weather, when it's gonna blizzard, or cold temperatures, in the arctic . . .

You have to be active when you're on the land. You have to move around a lot. You have to make your blood flow when you're, when you're cold. You can jump and down, or run around, or wrestle with your friend."

I recommend you watch this entire video.

(Title of Video: Inuit Survival Skills that will Save Your Life in the Arctic"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc071s_oE1o&feature=share

The One who can Always See the Sunny Side:

Joshua Rice

Uses for snow.

The Academic One: 

Jack Shannon‎Hillsdale College Honors Program

I hereby move that for tomorrow's forum we change the reading to C.S. Lewis's slightly more obscure but infinitely more appropriate essay "Learning in Wintertime."

And of course, there's always this guy: 

Josiah Lippincott

I really hope they don't cancel classes tomorrow. That would be highly inconvenient.

Suite 'n Sour

After a long hiatus, I have come back to blog to attempt to kill my writer's block. Miller told us that the muses speak to us not before we write, but when we write. So I decided to put away my piece advocating for total drug legalization to discuss my current living situation.

Due to my stupidity, I failed to fill out the off-campus permission form before I left for WHIP.

As a result, I was forced back into on-campus housing. Fortunately, I put up such a stink that the Dean agreed to let me into the Suites. After two weeks there, I have some thoughts about Hillsdale's newest dorm. I have broken them down into pros and cons to paint you a picture of the Suite Life.

Let's starts with the bad first.

Cons:

1. You have to walk 8 billion miles to get there.

2. A light from the parking lot shines into my room and keeps me awake all night.

3. Due to the flood during Christmas break, my hall smells like a hamster cage.

4. The walls are paper thin. To the person who lives above me: I am out of the room from the hours of 10:00 - 4:00. I beg you. Please engage in the horizontal shimmy ONLY during these times. 

5. No one comes to visit. See number 1. 

6. My bed is lofted too high and I have fallen off numerous times.

7. While having one too many drinks, I got lost on my way there. See number 1. 

Pros:

1. I have my own room. Thank God.

2. For the first time in 4 years, all of my clothes fit into my closet.

3. I stole a book shelf from one of the flooded rooms and now my shoes can be displayed with the dignity they deserve. 

4. Though I didn't know them before this semester, my suitemates rock.

5. I don't have to deal with 30 sorority sisters creeping on my boyfriend and I when we watch a movie. 

6. The computer lab. Printing in the library is so last year. 

7. I can actually study there because I don't know anyone who lives there.