Feelin' Good

This post has me all fired up. I've got Beyoncé bumpin', coffee steamin', and sweatpants and fuzzy socks-- I'm feeling good, and ready to write.

Something we've talked about in class is our reaction when peasant outsiders peers in fields like engineering and business say, "Oh, you're an English major? What are you going to do with that?"

A lot, actually.

I'm going to go out into the world and know how to assert myself, first of all, thanks to people like you doubting me, and thanks to professors who have encouraged me to carve out my own job opportunities for companies who don't know they need a good writer (hint: they DO). I'm going to assert myself because I'm confident in my communication skills. I'm confident that I can work well with others, thanks to lengthy class discussions, small group projects, and the fact that writing is not individual-- it takes an army, and you better believe my army is going to do good work. I'm also confident that I can write to fit any context, using any voice, on a variety of subjects; in a word, I can use rhetoric to the best of my ability. (I still don't know how to define rhetoric, but that's a different story.)

I'm confident that I know how to dig in deep to a topic, to explore it from different viewpoints and to engage in critical discussion on it. I'm confident in my ability to hold my own in a conversation, to speak up and assert my opinion when I believe it will benefit our group. I know how to ask questions to provoke discussion, and how to engage others in a group so that everyone is able to contribute to the best of their ability. I enjoy participating in analysis on all sorts of texts, from Romantic literature to rhetorical theory, both on paper and vocally, and I enjoy thinking through it, chewing on ideas for a long time.

Instead of asking "why?" or "what should I do?," I'm trying out "why not?" and "I'm trying this, what do you think?" I'm developing confidence in pushing the envelope, in exploring ideas that are interesting to me and challenge me and provide a different take on an idea, even if it's one that I'm not very familiar or comfortable with. I know, with the right tools and amount of time, I can fill a knowledge gap that exists. I know I can join the Burkean parlor and hold my own in the conversation. Not only that, I've already stepped inside, with some of the research I've been doing over the past couple of semesters. Move over guys, I'm coming in.

Using the skills I've learned in my English classes, I'm applying them to my other activities. I'm helping others with their writing by engaging in conversation with them and offering a different perspective and new ideas to push their writing to the best it can be. I'm communicating with survivors of sexual assault, engaging them in a wholly different sort of conversation, and doing research on how to use writing to help them. I'm learning how to talk about sexual assault to lots and lots and lots of people who just don't get it yet; I'm engaging in rhetorical discussion, y'all. I'm putting on events and communicating to the masses via online media to promote an organization that I believe in and want to show off in an engaging way.

And I'm building a pretty kick-ass resume while I'm at it, so, yeah, why don't you ask me again what I'm going to do with my major?

I'm going to study Communication and receive a Master's degree. I'm going to work in the healthcare industry, promoting connection between the healthcare provider, the patient, and the community, in creative and positive ways. Or, if I don't do that, I'll show up to a different company that I want to work with, armed with my resume, my smile, and my confidence, and prove to them how valuable I can be. I'm turning my passion for writing into a concrete form of providence for myself, and I'm maintaining my sanity in the workplace by doing what I love and getting paid for it.

What am I going to do? I'm going to succeed. I'm going to be happy.