Print Edition: January 29, 2014
Not just a joke after all
Getting an “A for effort” is either a sarcastic reminder that you tried and failed at something, or the product of an over-congratulated generation.
But when it comes to the grey areas of arts disciplines, getting an A for effort can sometimes result in an A for a course. The idea isn’t that far-fetched and it’s time to share the secret.
Step 1: Don’t pick the easy essay option. Your professor will be so bored after having read the same thing from everyone else in your class that by the time they get to yours — on the same topic — they’ll just want to get through it.
Step 2: Find the links. Believe it or not, all these things are connected. The dead guy you learned about in history wrote something important for English, and it still matters today in sociology or media studies.
Step 3: Talk to your prof. Toss ideas around until you come up with something resembling a creative approach. After a co-brainstorming, the ideas are bouncing around in their head too — which means they’ll look forward to your paper.
The result: an A for effort and for your paper.
Editor’s note: The Cascade is not a real doctor and cannot guarantee grades.
Planet Hillary
This week is off to a good start with exposure of the New York Times Sunday magazine cover, which features “potential” 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a flesh-covered planet in a starry galaxy.
The cover seems to have brought about controversy from individuals offended by the portrayal of the feminist movement’s golden calf. According to angry bloggers like Maressa Brown the cover is, “bizarre at best and cringe-worthy and sexist at worst.” Apparently portraying female politicians ridiculously is sexist and unacceptable bigotry, even though this was not intended to be offensive.
As creepy as this cover is, it’s also one I think is hilarious. I find it refreshing that the magazine is comfortable treating female politicians the same as males, so I give it top marks. I think those offended by this forget the New York Times cover where Mitt Romney was portrayed as a Weeble toy.
In response to the controversy, Lauren Kern (NYT deputy editor) stated, “It’s a challenge to show politicians in a new and different way,” and I hope they continue to do so, even if it is primarily for my own amusement.
Canada: spirited teen or USA-copycat?
Canada is young, really. I think it’s time for a little teenage rebellion.
We should close ourselves off from our parents and cultivate a “badass” persona.
We are polar-bear tamers! We live in ice houses! We trudge to school through 60 feet of snow, the wild western wind whipping our faces. We are stewards of lush, barren, and impossibly vast landscapes. We are survivors. “Eh!” is our anthem and our warrior cry.
We have been cement-stacking, oil-slicking, and tech-swallowing for too long — buying into the drugs of the modern era.
Can’t we be a spirited teen country without doing what our buddy on the other side of the parallel is doing? Let’s put in a little effort to be individual, to preserve what makes us unique.
Because let’s face it. Right now, we’re not badass. We don’t unite and cry “Eh!” We’re more than happy to copy big brother USA’s attitudes.
But I give us an “Eh!” for effort.
Underlining? More like underwaving
I can’t underline in a straight line to save my life.
It took me three years of university before I realized the value in underlining important points in assigned reading, but unfortunately that didn’t leave a whole lot of time in my degree to refine the skill of scraping pencil underneath sentence.
Which leaves me nearing the end of my degree with a stack of textbooks as high as my waist, every other page punctuated with squiggles and waves. I still have these texts because I can’t sell them; for some reason, the fact that the lines go through the words as often as under them tends to alarm any potential buyers.
At the beginning of each semester, I vow that I will use a ruler to guide my lines cleanly, and maybe my texts will be in some semblance of sellable condition by the end.
Inevitably, however, I lose the ruler or can’t be bothered to find one as I feverishly try to finish chapters before the final exam.
I’m just glad that underlining isn’t typically a testable skill. And as long as it’s something that can stay between me and my textbooks, I hope that in the grand scheme of things I can at least get marks for trying.
