This year I began my return to college after a ten year absence. I have more life experience than when I started and as a result I found that many of the general studies requirements offer courses that I’m actually interest in learning about.  A lot of my friends get a kick out of debating politics, so I naturally found Intro to American Government to be an attractive class to take. The old School House Rock song about a bill becoming a law never quite sunk in, so I’m glad we got that process covered in class.

          I have never taken an online course before so it was interesting to see how the mechanics of class work when you are not in the presence of peers or the professor.  In the second week we were asked to set general goals for ourselves regarding this class.  To a certain degree, I believe I met my goals. Gaining a basic comprehension of how American Government works was a general goal I feel comfortable saying I accomplished.  My work schedule fluctuates so I had to work on assignments on a fluctuating schedule as well. I feel pretty great that I was able to make it work and meet every deadline. This gives me the self-assurance that I can continue school and work at the same time.

          I write comedy sketches in my non-academic life and am currently working on a screenplay. The physical word “writing” has a connotation in my head that means homework. How could it not, we spend years in school and get conditioned to think of “writing” as a laborious task.  Well, between writing assignments in this class and my other classes I began to break down what “writing” really is.  It’s not the act of spending hours in front of your computer putting words together. It’s not hoping you make minimum 250 words, or even the reverse; not going over 250.  It’ s the wonderful art of expressing your thoughts, your imagination, your comprehension and your opinion.  This realization came to me this semester and I’m glad it did because it really does relate to what I do in my professional life, which is writing.