Making Choices (no, this is not yet another post about Sophie)

First and foremost, I now have a facebook page!  Please go check it out and 'like' me... if you like me in real life, you can like me on facebook :) Leah Reads. And reads. And reads.

I hate being an adult.  That's a lie; being an adult has a lot of benefits, such as the legality of drinking and having the freedom to make more of your own decisions.  I'm only half kidding about the drinking part...  Unfortunately, being an adult in this day and age is a lot more stressful than time prior, and I think a lot of people don't realize that.

So while I look for teaching/subbing positions and work part time at the wine store, I'm trying to focus my attention on other things, too.  Graduate school, for one, has been a pleasant and necessary distraction.  I'm a huge nerd who has always loved school -- maybe not all of my math classes, although I'm a beast at geometry -- and taking classes is something I wish I could do for a living.  This blog and my reading project has been another.  And although I can't control what happens with my employment, to a certain extent (I can just apply and be the best candidate I can be, but they make the final decisions) I can control a lot of other aspects in my life.

My first choice at the moment is for what and how many graduate class(es) I will be taking for the spring semester.  Ideally I'll be able to start subbing after my application and interview tomorrow -- I'm also making stops at several Bucks County schools' Central Offices tomorrow with papers in hand looking fabulous and attempting to convince them I would be the greatest English sub ever -- and can afford to move into Philadelphia and take two grad classes.  If not, though, I have to decide between the following:

• Readings in American Literature: 19th Century American Captivity Narratives
• Readings in British Literature: 20th Century British Literature and Modernism
• Composition and Rhetoric Studies
• Cultural Studies: Contemporary Drama and Religion

I have to be honest; 19th Century American Captivity Narratives sounds god awful.  I assume it'll be a lot of slave narratives (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, anyone?) which is all fine and dandy, but complete overkill.  I've read parts of Incidents in what feels like a million different classes.  American Lit, Lit by Women, 11th grade English, in the class I peer-mentored as a sophomore... I can't deal with an entire semester of that type of literature.  Does that make me a bad person? Nah, I'm just going to play to my strengths.  Which means probably avoiding Contemporary Drama and Religion (I've also heard not so great things about that professor) and focusing on the final two selections.

My freshman year of college I took a class called 20th Century Brit Lit with one of my favorite McDaniel professors (my fellow people from the Hill can assume) and it was terrifying but also a really excellent class.  Becky likes (oh, crap, I just gave it away) to talk about sex and vaginas a LOT and as my first English class of my college career, I felt very stupid compared to the upperclassmen with brains and experience.  I was smart enough to place out of both intro classes, but it took a while for me to feel comfortable sharing in class.  Composition and Rhetoric, on the other hand, would be a new venture for me, but I can't shake the feeling that I would miss out on a literature class.

My program is 10 classes in total, and I have to fulfill certain categories and take 4 classes at the 600 level.  Technically I could avoid Composition and Rhetoric completely, if I wanted, but I do need a British Literature class.  If I don't take 20th century, I could wind up with a different era of British Lit, which could be more painful.  Like the 19th century American Captivity Narratives... I'll wait for a Modern American Lit offering to get that requirement out of the way!

Whatever I decide, I'm sure it will be a really excellent class experience.  If anyone would like to contribute to my grad school fund so I can take both classes, let me know!