Life at Western

Everything has been crazy for the past month. Packing, unpacking, repacking, moving, unloading, unpacking… the boxes are still all over. Next post: Before & After pictures of my apartment.

Life in Class

My first two weeks of class were awesome. Five classes, and all of my professors are amazing. I lucked out, big time.

• My professor for Introduction to Communication Theory (a core course for my Public Relations major) was the head of the Communication department for 35 years, and only recently retired from the position to go back to full-time teaching. The class so far has been a mix of the usual text book stuff, and a lot of really interesting history of Western Michigan’s Communication Department. The department I’m currently a part of was one of the first to be established at the university, only three years after it opened (WMU opened in 1903; Communication in 1906), and has gone through six name changes. We used to house two other departments that only recently became their own divisions (Theater and Speech Pathology/Audiology). Currently, Western Michigan’s Communication programs are jointly a College of Communication – which is a big deal. There are hundreds of thousands of “Departments of Communication”, but there are less than 100 “Colleges of Communication” in the country. That means my degree holds that much more prestige in the area I’m studying. WMU is one of the top places to study communication in the US. What that also means is that my concentration (Public Relations) will actually be shown on my degree, whereas most other schools graduate all of their students in any concentration with a simple “Communication” degree. Apparently, we’re pretty special. At least Dr. Rhodes thinks so.

• Dr. Kayany is a tiny little Indian man with a very thick accent who teaches my telecommunications course. He thinks he’s funny. And he is. But mostly because his jokes are so bad, that it’s hard not to laugh, ’cause he’s just so goofy. Kind of like Uncle Nick! Heh… Dr. Kayany has been teaching us all sorts of cool facts about the telegraph (like the fact that two men invented the telegraph at the same time, and the second arrived at the patent office just hours after Samuel Morse’s patent was filed). I’ll probably post some of the most interesting ones next week.

• For Literary Analysis I’ve got Prof. Gillette, who is just the quirkiest stereotype of the oddball English teacher you have ever seen. She’s fluent in French, and she can get a class discussion all riled up like nobody’s business. On the first day of class she explained to us why she didn’t like her “ugly brown office” in the English building, and why she took her office hours elsewhere:

Literature is best understood with something in your stomach. Especially chocolate, or caffeine. That is why I do not take my office hours in my office. I take them in the Waldo Library next to the vending machines… okay most literature. There are exceptions. Like Kafka. Or Dostoyevsky. Those are better hungry. You really feel the pangs then.

• I’m in this really interesting course called Freedom of Expression. It’s half history class, half communication class, and a smidgen of law thrown in. It’s about the history of freedom of speech, and current issues that test the boundaries of the amendment. Dr. Gershon, the teacher for it, is insanely peppy. You can tell he loves the material. And somehow, he miraculously knows all of our names… in a lecture hall… And no, there’s no seating chart, so don’t ask me how he does it. But it makes you feel pretty good. Except for the other people in the back row who probably thought they could avoid getting called on. Now, to their chagrin, not only do they get called on – and often – but it’s by name.

• My other early morning teacher, besides Dr. Rhodes, is Prof. Christian. She’s my Journalism teacher. She’s already got us on the campus beat, attending events, writing articles, and reading every paper we can get our hands on. She’s worked for several prestigious papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the LA Times, among others, and she’s worked with Pulitzer Prize winners, so she’s a pretty awesome resource to have. She told me to contact our university paper, the Western Herald, about writing for them after she read my first article on our campus’ Gay / Straight Alliance organization.

Outside of Class

OUTspoken – I’m a member of the campus’ Gay / Straight Alliance

The Gamer’s Guild – I’m a member of this group that gets together to play video and board games.

Computer Club – I’m a member of this network of students who are big techies.

The Western Herald – I might be writing for the student newspaper soon.

Yoga - Classes twice a week at our *AHEM*… 32 million dollar student recreational center.

Bronco Hockey - My job with the hockey PR group starts in October.

Finally Picked a Second Major

I’ve declared my second major. After meeting with about 15 advisors, and realizing that many majors wouldn’t fit well into my schedule toward graduation, or mesh with my PR major, I settled on Creative Writing. My minor will either be Computer Science, Social Psychology, or Theater. Possibly two of those, depending on how the classes work out.

My New Address

5810 Jefferson Commons Drive Apt# 210

Kalamazoo, MI, 49008

(Also located on the updated Contact page)

Advertisement