I graduated from college in 2002–my degree is now of age to drink!
I was lucky enough to attend a college that had a variety of options for courses of study. I started out as a psychology major and right about Junior year I was ready to drop out of college–I was lost, I felt challenged, I didn’t see the purpose post that moment. There are so many layers to why I was feeling that way…that’s another post…or it’ll show up in a memoir one day.
The motivation I found to stay in college was the opportunity to design my own major–to realize that I had bee in control of my learning and to clearly chart a path forward that allowed me to explore something I found so deeply intriguing–humans. Not singular notions of sociology and anthropology…but ideas that intersected and seemed to go deeper than fabricated systems and schemes. I wanted to explore what made us…each of us…who we are and would be.
My synoptic major (fancy concept for self-designed) was “the psychology development of gender across cultural lines”–although my professor preferred “Women’s & Gender Studies”.
For my senior project I designed a college/graduate level course “Queer Theory“–maybe it was like 400/500 level course.
Intro Text from my senior projected created in 2002: “As a society we tend to place a great deal of emphasis on the ability to place things into categories. Well, what happens when along comes a deconstructionalist/post-structuarlist notion? Over the course of the semester we will look at Queer Theory, its formation and its place in our society. In order to do this we will also look at the ideas of sexual identity, sexuality, social constructs, and of course theory. The concept of “queer” is a complex one at first glance and hopefully by the end of the semester you’re view of the complexity will fade away.
Some of the issues we discuss may be seen as controversial and some of you may not feel comfortable sharing your views and opinions. If that is the case, then this course is not for some of you. An open mind, a positive attitude, and a drive to learn are not preferred–they are required.”
You can explore the entire course by clicking here.
You can also read about my major and senior project by clicking here (also accesible at the link above).
