That time of semester

We've come to my favorite time of the semester - and yours, too! Admit it! - when I hear buzzing constantly from all the inner noise, a million little public policy bees making honey in my head.

I'm messy and brilliant and rude. Oh, so rude. I can't afford to sleep. I drink too much caffeine, and then drink wine every night to come down off the ceiling. I have a million things to say, but can't think of one single person who deserves the misery of having to listen to me stammer through it.

And pathetically, the only thing that's left on my plate for this semester is an eight-page paper, my final prospectus. It's about diploma mill degrees and a survey of employers who hire the people who buy them. That's it! All this angry buzz over one paper. Such a waste. Although I must say, the drama is heightened by the fact that I have not started it.

Me 'n' the frat boys gave our presentation tonight. The material was barely thought out - it was probably clear that Google was our primary source. I'd give us a C on it. But our sheer audaciousness and evident camaraderie ought to push us up to a gentleman's B.

I'm fine with that, for some reason. It was never about the grade, which you already know. I guess I picked these guys for a learning experience. We only spent collectively about 6 hours on this project, did I mention? Yet we never argued, and considering we were four people without a leader, we were pretty well-organized.

But I've been with other groups, composed of Type A's, where we spend closer to 30 hours, stay up until all hours, get no closer to a good driving question and hypothesis than the frat boys did, and come very close to bitch-slapping each other right there during the presentation.

The driving question is, how do groups of people accomplish tasks collaboratively, without a hierarchical leader, and without killing each other? I have no hypothesis yet. I haven't taken collaborative policy yet! But you might say, having experienced both ends of project commitment levels, if a happy medium ever occurs, I'll probably recognize and deeply appreciate it for what it is.

OK, I'm going to try again to get to sleep.

Comments

[Anthony]

So do the frat boys at least have the courtesy to invite you to a kegger to hear their band?
Get sleep? Sweetie, you sound as though you're one step from seizing a major American city and holding it hostage with threats to have Daisy bark at major world leaders until they give in to your demands...I think a restful vacation in the sheep country of Wyoming is absolutely in order. I hear the boys are very nice up there....You can send me a covert video...I mean a postcard...

[Debra]

Isn't learning group dynamics the real purpose of grad school? They dress it up by having you all do something "meaningful"... but the real goal is to experience different groups, think about how they work, and learn how to be successful in a cooperative venture?

think that's why I make quilts... alone.

[maya]

Grad school is a shitty place to learn group dynamics. It doesn't mirror the real world at all. People have competing priorities and there's nothing you can do to change them. They have to be intrinsically motivated, or at the very least, motivated by their grades, to focus on the project. For the 6 hours you put in, I thought your presentation was totally solid, and I would give you an A-. I put in much more on mine, and you saw the result. Total garbage.