Term 2 began on Monday! I’m really excited about my courses, which are both in-person: ES 214: Social Causes and Consequences of Environmental Problems, and ENG 203: Short Narrative.
Last fall, I took ES104Y: How to Save the Planet, which was an introduction to the social science side of environmental studies. We talked about changing habits and changing minds. Spoiler alert: neither one is easy. This semester, I’m excited to have the same professor for what I’ve been calling the grown-up version of that class. So far we’ve touched on the economics that play into environmental problems, and soon we’ll dive into collective action problems and the politics of science. I definitely prefer the social science side of environmental studies, and it’s great to be back at it.
I signed up for Short Narrative because I want someone to make me write again! I’ve always been a writer, but I haven’t always written consistently. During my gap year, I wrote about two pages a day toward a novel, but these days I blog and I journal and I call it a day. This term, my professor has put together zoom lectures with different writers, and I’m excited to hear a bunch of different perspectives. I volunteered to submit a story for the first workshop day, so I’m working on a draft to turn in this Friday. The workload seems pretty light, with optional additional prompts to keep me busy. It’s nice to be able to breathe.
In other news, it snowed the day before Halloween! Snow is not my favorite, since it used to always mean hours of shoveling my long driveway, but I don’t want to rain too much on the parades of those who love it. October snow is not particularly unusual, but three inches in October is a pretty big deal. Snow people (and a snow goose) popped up around campus, and cardboard turned into makeshift sleds. I brought my camera on a walk yesterday to get some wintery photos. Most of the snow melted today. We can go back to fall now, thank you very much.
Pendleton East in the snow yesterday