Monday, Monday

I've finally had a real Monday! Our past two were canceled; first due to Hurricane Irene, and then due to Labor Day. I'm satisfied to have finally attended all of my classes and to have become acquainted with professors and with what course work will entail for the semester.

College time is equally great and also disorienting - each day can feel like multiple days, and yet overall the weeks speed by. Part of me can't comprehend that I've been at Clark for three school years already! Totally crazy. And yet, it's only Tuesday. My Mondays through Wednesdays are fairly busy, with courses and projecting for the Screen Studies department in the evenings. But then after my two classes on Thursdays, I'm freeeee! Except for my SPOC book club meetings, that is. And usually, the CUFS weekly screening (this week it's The Dead Poets Society!)

Anyway, I attended my Psych Capstone course on Monday evening, which looks to be both interesting and challenging. Our course will focus on the topic of consciousness, and each student will choose a topic within that topic (I'm hoping to explore prosopagnosia - a disorder when people become unable to recognize faces while maintaining the ability to recognize other objects) which we will become experts on, and present our information in paper/powerpoint form to the class on assigned dates.

Presenting information seems to be a theme of my courses this semester; for American Jewish Life each student will pick one minute strain of Jewish life in the U.S. (be it bagels, a type of jewelry, or summer camps) and trace it throughout time. Because we're able to pick topics that interest us as individuals, I anticipate the project as being very interesting & enjoyable. And also, in the COPACE course (a Study of Death & Dying), each student will complete a paper/presentation on one topic related to death (approved by the professor) and present it later in the semester.

In general, being a fairly shy lady, I tend to find presentations unbearable. But because the topics are being catered to the individual, I anticipate that these projects will be enjoyable and not too nerve-racking.

The weather is lovely in Worcester today, I hope it will last through Sunday when stART on the Street is occurring - I attended last year and it was wonderful, with lots of college students, Worcester residents, and local artists, artwork, entertainment, and activities. If anyone is in the Worcester area on Sunday, I highly recommend attending it.

This past weekend I had a bit of free time & was able to walk around with my friend Dylan Scott (his blog can be found here) to take pictures of the Clark campus. I hope you enjoy them!

My friend Jane posing in front of Jonas Clark Hall

Dylan posing on a bench in Red Square

Students walking outside Goddard Library

Wright Hall, on Downing Street

The Kneller Athletic Center

Students juggling on the green (outside of Jefferson Academic Center)

Until next time!

The Beginnings of Courses & Clubs

Happy Friday (my apologies to your ears - it's just too relevant to pass up)!

I'm quite fond of my schedule for this semester at Clark - I work my projectionist job Monday through Wednesday, and I have classes from Monday through Thursday. Fridays are mine for homework, laundry, sleeping in, or taking walks through Worcester. I'll have to remember to bring my camera next time, so I can post some pictures.

Since updating last, I have gone to my official first COPACE class. I am very excited for this course, the syllabus seems very closely catered to my tastes. It's also a very small class, only seven students, which I personally find more favorable than large classes (though I must say, I haven't had too many huge classes at Clark throughout my years here).

So, my COPACE course, officially titled "The Final Chapter: A Study of Death and Dying" at first appears somewhat macabre. However, we will be viewing the topic from a social services viewpoint, colored with a sociological lens - it's more of a course that enables us to gain a deeper understanding of the emotional/psychological processes of death, the cultural attitudes associated with death, and to gain knowledge of community resources. Which, as I mentioned previously, is right up my alley; this course will be delving into the very topic that would be relevant to my career as either a hospice worker or Jewish chaplain.

I'll update with specifics as the course progresses.

Yesterday evening I attended a couple of club meetings. I'm very excited to continue being a radio DJ for ROCU this year, and in addition to continuing my co-presidency at CUFS, I'm also joining a new club - the SPOC book club. For those who are unfamiliar, SPOC stands for Science fiction People Of Clark. I'm excited for the book club because 1. I'm quite fond of reading books and yet 2. haven't read many science-fiction/fantasy books. I'm hoping to gain more exposure to the genres through this club.

Again, I'll update more with specifics as we begin to choose the books for the semester.

So, I shall spend the rest of my Friday getting ahead on my reading for the next week, and possibly doing some laundry. I hope everyone enjoys the sunny weather today!

Senior Year Begins

Hello again!

Or, "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story", as one of my friends is fond of saying. 

I'm very excited to continue my blog this year! I look forward to relaying my experiences at Clark as a Psychology major with a concentration in Jewish Studies, as a senior, on the verge of graduation! I'm beginning to discover how I will be able to merge my university studies with potential career options following graduation, and I hope, through this blog, to paint an accurate portrayal of how Clark has prepared me for what will come next in life.

So you may ask: what are my plans for Clark this year?

They're very exciting! I'm taking four classes: my capstone for psychology, called Advanced Topics in Social Psychology; a Jewish studies/sociology course called American Jewish Life; a Jewish studies course called Reading the Narratives of the Hebrew Bible (those who followed this blog last year may recall that I took the second piece of this course previously); and a COPACE course (through the Adult/Continuing Education program), a class titled The Final Chapter: A Study in Death and Dying.

Additionally, I am maintaining my position as a co-president of the Clark University Film Society (CUFS), and I will be preparing play-lists and hosting a radio show with a couple friends as a part of ROCU, Radio of Clark University. As the year progresses, I may join a few more clubs (Clark has so many to choose from!)

I will also be working as a student projectionist for the Screen Studies program here at Clark - I'll be in charge of setting up and projecting a number of screenings per week.

You may then be thinking: your senior year sounds great! But what's next? Are you going to stay at Clark and continue with the Fifth-Year Program?

My plans for the future are still uncertain - graduate school is a definite option, but my plans are not solidified to the point where I'd feel comfortable committing to Clark's excellent Fifth-Year program (check out Dylan's awesome science blog, which discusses what it's like to continue at Clark after undergrad, or this audio clip by a past student explaining why he decided to enter the Fifth-Year program).

If not Fifth-Year, then what are your plans?

I'm looking into careers where I may be able to combine the two topics I grew to love so much at Clark - psychology, and Jewish studies. Potential careers at this point include Jewish chaplaincy and hospice work; in my own experiences with illness and familial death, I have grown to appreciate how comforting the presence of such people can be during difficult times. And both positions would combine very nicely the topics I've studied here at Clark! For interested parties, here's a list of the smattering of courses that really pushed me to become interested in a career where I'd be lending kindness to the infirm: Suffering and Evil in Jewish Tradition, Holocaust: Agency and Action, Introduction to Peace Studies, Introduction to Abnormal Psychology, and Sociology of Families. I'm hoping that courses this semester (mainly A Study in Death & Dying and American Jewish Life, in addition to the Social Psychology capstone) will provide me with even more of a basis for the types of topics I’d uncover as a Jewish chaplain/hospice worker.

Clark truly is an institution that changes lives - without the availability and proximity of such enjoyable and interesting psychology & Jewish studies courses, I'm not certain I would have landed on a potential career choice that feels both accessible and exciting to me as an individual. 

This blog will follow my experiences at Clark throughout my senior year, with a focus on how my courses (and past courses) have prepared me for experiences after college. I'll keep you updated on events on campus, and will hopefully be posting relevant pictures, videos, and tweets (I've never used Twitter before, but I'll post links once I've set it up).

Thanks for reading so far - I look forward to keeping all of you updated!

Goodbye for Now, Clark! Final Reflections

The end of the semester is very close now - I leave in less than a week! Three exams to go, and then I'm done foreverrrr! Just kidding, I mean I'm done until summer classes start up.

Overall, my junior year has been filled with challenging courses, new friendships, new jobs, and difficult circumstances to overcome. But it's been very enjoyable! Along with working hard in my courses, I hosted and prepared playlists for my own radio show on ROCU (Radio of Clark University) and I successfully led my first semester as a co-president of CUFS (Clark U Film Society). I lived an entire year with a male roommate without either of us driving the other crazy, and I lived happily in a substance-free dorm. I attended various performances, improv shows, movies, and activities. It was a great year!

Although I'm pleased to be (nearly) done, I will miss Clark dearly over the summer. Today I filmed a video of  what I'm going to miss about Clark while I'm home. I apologize for the rain! On the upside, everything is looking wonderfully green.

Thank you to everyone who followed and kept up with my blog! I really enjoyed updating it, and I hope it gave everyone a nice look into what life as a psychology student & Jewish Studies concentrator is like at Clark.

I hope everyone has a lovely summer!

Eleven reasons (and ten pictures) depicting why Clark is great even during finals

I have been very busy with finals and the end of classes; thus far I have completed (& presented) one presentation on a comparison between interviewing and observing (for Qualitative Methods). But I still have a lot left to do! My to-do list: (1) present a twenty-minute presentation on Gender Identity Disorder for Human Sexuality, (2) write a ten-to-fifteen page paper on my interview for Qualitative Methods, (3) write a three-to-five extra credit paper for Astronomy, (4) write two short papers for Hebrew Bible II, and (5 - 7) exams! For Human Sexuality, Astronomy, and Hebrew Bible II.

The weeks have been crawling by. I love being at Clark very much, but the cram and stress that always occur at the end of classes makes for a build of anxiety and a desire to return home where the cats are plentiful and there is an excess of time to be used sleeping.

Additionally, the pressure to figure out issues relating to class standing has been causing me to fret a bit. If anything, I can determine that this grinding process has at least been a learning experience of sorts; experience that allows me to communicate with the university as an institution and work together to determine how we can maneuver around the difficulties that have arisen. I feel that the head of the psychology department and the Clark faculty must be trying their very hardest to be flexible towards my academic needs at this point in time.

All of that stress-talk aside, there have been many ways to blow off steam in a safe and fun way, provided by Clark & the Worcester community. And so I present to you: ten pictures and eleven ways to enjoy life and take a break during finals time at Clark University.

1. Walks in Elm Park (we are imitating the hanging things from the art exhibit above us)

2. Road trips! (To the movies, preferably. The West Boylston theater always has a nice array of movies for low prices. And of course, Cinema 320 is run out of Clark's own Jefferson 320 serving as another movie option (in addition to CUFS, of course!) if transportation to get off campus is limited)

3. Browsing in That's Entertainment, Jelly's, and other local Worcester businesses.

4. Hanging out (or doing work) in the Clark Bistro

5. Sitting on the green with other Clarkies

6. Dance parties

7. Playing piano in Tilton Hall (in The Higgins University Center)

8. Drinking lots of coffee (provided by the Clark Bistro and Jazzman's cafe located on the first floor of the library)

9. Taking lots of snack breaks

10. Dressing up Freud in weird costumes (catch people red-handed on the Clark Red Square webcam)

And lastly, but definitely not least

11. Attending a variety of Clark-sponsored events! Just to give an idea of the assortment of activities offered:

Past events this weekend include:
Academic Spree Day
SPOC's game night
Clark's Relay for Life
Shenanigan's final show of the semester
DOM live in the grind and
Behold The Man (a student written, directed, and performed play).

Upcoming events include
Pea Pod's final show of the semester
Variant Dance Troupe's Spring Show and
the annual Screen on the Green sponsored by CUFS and SAB.

And so, as the school year concludes, I find myself overwhelmed by schoolwork but still enjoying my time here at Clark (how could I not, with all these fun things to do?)

Happy almost-Mother's Day to all mothers and children of mother's out there! Be sure to watch out for my last entry of the school year! Coming soon to the Internet near you.

Interview Completed, Finals Approaching

I am nearing the end of the semester - and gasp - the end of my junior year at Clark! Time sure has gone by quickly.

As far as classes go things have been picking up. I am finishing up projects and papers and will soon begin studying for final exams. I successfully completed my interview for Qualitative Methods in Psych last week! I arose early on Friday and piled into a car with my interview partner and PLA (Peer Learning Assistant). After a 20-minute drive or so in which my partner and I adequately pestered our PLA with questions relating to the interviews to come, we arrived at an assisted living facility. My partner was hesitant and so I volunteered to conduct my interview first; I ended up interviewing a woman who was nearly 100-years-old at the time (her birthday recently passed - April 19th). I heard about her childhood, bits from her marriage, and some thoughts on her current life in the retirement home (lots of bingo! She said).

Overall it was an interesting experience, though I was very nervous to be in the role of interviewer, and in charge of steering this kind older woman's thoughts in order to elicit stories about her life. To me, the point of this exercise was less about the stories we heard and more about the process of qualitative interview and the different manners in which we are able to view  and take on specific roles: as interviewer, as participant, as an equal, as someone in charge. I have participated in many, many undergrad and grad-student run studies at Clark, and to be honest, being on the other side (as researcher rather than participant) is a bit nerve-wracking, especially when considering all the prep work that has to go into it. However, I am looking forward to engaging in more research prep-work (or even transcribing) as I approach upper-level psychology courses at Clark (even though I was nervous it was still a lot of fun!).

Last night I took part in my last Astronomy Lab for the semester - my professor was there in addition to our astronomy TAs and observation assistants. Together they managed to get our telescope functioning so we could finally take a look at the sky using something other than our eyes or binoculars. Additionally, we watched a movie on the Chaco Canyon, an area in which people aligned their buildings and roads to match up with solar and lunar processes; the setting and rising of the sun and of the moon. Overall it was very interesting, especially considering that these calculations were made a long, long time before any of the equipment we have now was ever created.

I am currently working with my group on a project/presentation on Gender Identity Disorder for Psych of Human Sexuality, and soon I will begin prep on my papers and studying for Hebrew Bible II (we have two take-home mini-papers and a final exam). Because I am a Jewish Studies concentrator, recently I was invited to a dinner in honor of a contributor to the Jewish Studies program at Clark. I am very excited; I will be mingling with President Angel and faculty from the JS department. I will even be dressed moderately fancy, it's all very exciting!

The weather in Worcester has been so lovely lately - this is picture of me lounging on the green with some snoozing friends during Spree Day (the building pictured behind us is Atwood Hall .

A happy Passover and Easter to those celebrating!

Springing into Spring (at Clark)

It finally feels like spring!

Clarkies have been celebrating with the help of Clark-funded events this week. On Sunday I attended Woo-Stock, sponsored by Students Activities Board and Student Leadership & Planning. It was situated on the green between the University Center and some of the academic buildings. I sat on a blanket with some friends and we watched bands while enjoying free bread (provided by Panera) and coffee (provided by Acoustic Java). There were some inflatables, music, and just generally happy students lying around on the grass in the sun.

students playing Hacky Sack!

students lying on the green next to Red Square (the building pictured is the University Center)

one of the inflatables set up at Woo-Stock

"Survay Says" performing in front of Jefferson Academic Center

This past Tuesday was another fun Clark tradition - Spree Day! Fear of rain led to inflatables being set up in the Kneller Athletic Center. Classes were cancelled, registration opened at 8am, and students lined up to try to receive one of the 300 free t-shirts being distributed at the Info desk in the University Center. Free food was provided, and happy students milled about for most of the day participating in the activities; playing on the inflatables, using the photo booth set up in the Kneller, gathering free food from the cafeteria. At one point there were four booths out in front of the Kneller: one handed out huge (and I mean super big) bags of kettle corn, another gave out ice-cream, another gave out pretzels, and the fourth handed out cotton candy.

(Click here for a Clarkie-filmed video of Spree Day from the Clark youtube page!)

Although I've been enjoying these lovely Spring breaks from class, work has definitely not ceased (soon! only a few weeks of class left). Tomorrow I will hopefully (& finally) conduct my interview for Qualitative Methods. There was a bit of a mix-up timing-wise, it was difficult to try to coordinate separate interviews for everyone in the class, but it seems as though tomorrow will be sufficient.

I'm going home for Passover this upcoming Sunday, so I will back in Portland on Monday/Tuesday. My professors have been understanding (one of them even cancelled class because he will be observing the holiday as well) but I will have to do some preemptive make-up work before I leave.

Additionally, I'm still in the process of figuring out how to fulfill my graduation requirements appropriately so as to limit my chances of having to stay a semester late; it's an issue of getting into the courses I need rather than an issue of time, so over-extending my stay seems silly. However, I have been corresponding with different department heads and offices at Clark and it seems as though things will settle into something manageable eventually.

Now I will head out to prepare my interview for tomorrow and to finish up some Astronomy and Human Sexuality homework. I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather!