What is certain is that the History of Love and Marriage class has won the contest for the most monstrous course packet ever.

At $61, it rivals an entire ream of printer paper but only holds roughly 35 readings.

I dropped Survey of Acting in favor of Music Appreciation, which I think will suit me and my insane load much better. I went to the bookstore to pick up the textbook, only to find it was one of those shrink-wrapped deals. The pack contained a smallish textbook and 2 music CDs — for $103. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said to the bookshelf. I promptly went home and ordered the text and CDs from Amazon and, even with expedited shipping, it only cost a mere $65 and change. Screw you, textbook racketeers.

If you only see me on the weekends, you now know why.

Expand for comparison shots of the monstrous packet.

I have had all but one of my classes so far, and holy shit this is an insane load:

Black Women Rising

This is the class I haven’t had yet; it meets every Wednesday. We have three books and who knows what else or what I’ll have to do.

• Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins
• Black Women in White America: A Documentary History by Gerda Lerner
• When and Where I Enter: The Impact of Black Women on Race and Sex in America by Paula Giddings

Gender & Multiculturalism

The professor for this class loves media studies, so we’re looking at gender and multiculturalism as it is influenced by/portrayed in the mass media. I have this professor for the History of Love & Marriage class as well and I’m looking forward to some great discussions.

We have a fatass reader (Gender, Race, and Class in Media by Hines & Humez) and will be doing three “short” papers, an article report, a sources compilation, and a final research paper, in addition to random homework assignments and quizzes. (Quizzes? Really? WTF?) Crazy.

History of Love & Marriage

Again, same professor as above so I’m looking forward to this class, as compared to that other marriage class I took, which sucked horribly.

We’ll be reading The Stepford Wives, Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth, and thirty other pieces from a “huge” packet (prof’s words; it’s not in yet). Other work includes a book review, a compilation of sources, a final research paper, quizzes, random homework assignments, plus both a midterm and a final exam. I’m starting to become afraid.

Women & Work

I’ve had this professor before and the topic sounded interesting. Those are my main reasons for taking this class — and I need the credits for the major. We have a large packet of readings and a text (Working Women in America: Split Dreams by Hesse-Biber & Carter). Other than that, I have to write two paragraphs (one summary, one my reaction) for each article in the packet, lead one class discussion, and write one final paper of five to ten pages. I can breathe a little easier.

Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality: Scholarship on Lesbian and Gay Issues

Holy shit another seminar.

I know this will be a great class and I’m just freaking out over the load. Really. It’s going to be a great class.

I’ll be writing three “short” papers, leading a class discussion, attending two films and writing response papers afterwards, designing and implementing a group research project, writing the group research paper and presenting it all at the end of the semester. In addition to that fun, we have a reading packet of about 270 pages and five books:

• Queer Theory: An Introduction by Jagose
• Female Desires: Same-sex Relations and Transgender Practices across Cultures by Blackwood and Wieringa (eds.)
• Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by Chauncey
• Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity by Duggan
• Trumpet: A Novel by Kay

It’s okay for me to freak out, right?

Sociology of Developing Nations

This will be my easiest, lightest class. I’m taking it because (1) I’m interested in the topic and (2) I wanted to take one more class with this professor. We meet three times a week for lecture and have a medium-sized packet of 258 pages with four essay exams; if I do well on the first three I don’t have to take the last one. I’m really looking forward to this course, mostly for the professor’s analysis of the “evolving world system” of global capitalism and national “development”.

Survey of Acting Music Appreciation

I got screwed on one of my transfer credits and have to take another Liberal Arts requirement to make up for it. My academic advisor recommended Survey of Acting and while I’m really not interested in theater arts, I thought I’d give it a shot. My advisor told me other students had really enjoyed the class and that you learn about stage acting skills and read from plays. I don’t know what you’d get from that tidbit, but I thought that meant we’d all be sitting in a circle reading from scripts and such. I learned today, however, that we would be performing five scenes, four of them with a partner (we’d have to get together outside of class time to rehearse), and would be required to memorize the lines — in addition to the in-class exercises and quizzes and other theater-y stuff.

In a normal semester of twelve to fifteen credit hours, I could totally memorize some plays and meet with people outside of class. This semester? No fucking way. I work with theory, not voice inflection. Tomorrow I’m dropping it and adding Music Appreciation, which will probably be more difficult than it sounds, but I know I won’t have to memorize any lines or remember what it means to be “upstage” or “downstage”.

I’m hoping the semester flies away and by the end of April I’ll be lamenting that I don’t know where it all went. Because the reality is that in fifteen weeks — just 15 weeks! — my ass will be officially edumacated and this craziness will have been worth it.