Some people say they put the pro in procrastinator. And I'm just sitting here thinking, "I'm pretty sure that word was invented about my life!" At least I know I can work really well under pressure, so I guess there's my silver lining?
I had two papers due today. One of them wasn't bad at all, but it meant one more thing I had to do instead of the seven page paper that counts as my midterm grade for anthropology. I started reading the 200+ page book for it on Monday and actually started writing yesterday. Today I was an unhealthy, recluse-like creature who stayed in my room all day writing and fighting against the million distractions that are so readily available on my laptop. But I finished it! It was due at 5 on campus, so I didn't even have time to read over the entire thing, but that's what college is all about, right? Doing things like going on road trips to Vegas and trying authentic chicken and waffles instead of doing homework, right? We're also allowed to rewrite the paper for full credit as long as we turn in a first draft, which is why I'm not actually worried about the state of my grade.
I felt like it was one of the worst papers I've ever written. Then I stumbled across a paper from 8th grade and now I'm feeling better about everything I've ever written since.
Some of the best lines from my 13 year old self trying to write an academic paper:
"There was a thing called Old Lights and New Lights. Old Lights were what the Puritans believed, about pre-destination, no Hell, thinking, and not much emotion...there is a Hell, and if you don't repent you will go there." Stellar stuff right here. Clearly I didn't understand the concept of old and new lights, and it looks like I listed their beliefs straight from my notes. I've got a nice judgment call in there about people's eternal salvation, and I used commas like nobody's business. Also, at the end of that paragraph I had a random sentence about women's suffrage that I'm really confused about now.
"I think that the Great Awakening kind of opened the way for the American Revolution...Before the Great Awakening they just accepted what was laid out before them."
"Here the colonists were, they had come to America to be able to have their own beliefs, and have their own ideas, but England was still trying to govern them."
"They realized that they could have opinions of their own, and that those opinions were actually pretty good."
I no longer feel bad about the paper I just turned in. This also reinforces my idea that I could never teach middle school. No offense if you're currently 13, but I think everyone is a snotty brat at that time of life. And if I had to grade 20 papers like mine for one class I think I might die.
Here's to progressing since 8th grade!
