"Let's skip the intro. We all know each other right? We're going to dive into our literature instead. Cool?"
No, I did not choose "the easy major."
From day one of my junior year of college, I was required to read and analyze pieces of literature. I don't mean your simple Dr. Seuss book either—Rest in peace my long time friend. I mean, we looked at Emily Dickinson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and prominent writers like William Faulkner. You don't need to know much about their writing to understand what I'm saying. These writers have so many deep scripted innuendos, and you only scratch the service when you read them. Time and time again I'm forced to hear "Man, English must be easy! All you have to do is read someone's work and write about it. There are so many options!" While that's cute of you to say—my friend, you don't understand what goes into a nights work as an English major.
The schedule of an English major—No, I did not choose "the easy major."
First hour: Read the work once. JUST A STANDARD READING. Don't read too deep into the language.
Hour and a half: Read the work again. Do not skim. Slowly read it. Read for clarification.
Two hours: Read the work again. Highlight. Highlight main ideas. Key points... blah blah blah.
Three hours: READ THE WORK FOR THE LAST TIME AND MAKE SURE YOU REALLY UNDERSTAND IT, COOL?
Now I can begin writing process...only if my mind allows me to.
No, I did not choose the easy major.
1. We don't want to hear about how much you hate English.
2. We understand what goes into the writing process, I mean, we do it 24/7.
3. We don't want to hear about math being amazing because there is only one right answer... congrats!
4. We don't want to hear about how you had to write a five page paper once and how detrimental it was to your life.
5.We don't want to hear about how we'll never make any money.
6. We don't want to hear about how dumb our decision is.
As an English major, you use your brain a whole lot. That sounds cliche, and I'm not trying to take away the rigor of other majors. What I am saying is that being an English major requires hours on hours of deep thinking, and thinking about why someone wrote what they wrote! Ten times out of ten, we don't even know the author personally. It takes us forever and a day to figure it out. I'm not asking you to try it, I'm asking you to respect it. I am just about passionate about my major as you are yours.
I would really like to thank my tenth grade English teacher, Krissy Arthur for always believing in me and inspiring me to follow my dreams in the English field. I love you.
