Before the powers that be cut off my access to this blog, I thought I’d publish one last post. It’s been just over a week since I graduated from Oberlin—actually, I keep checking my diplomas to make sure they’re real—so I haven’t really had a lot of time to start missing the place quite yet. I’m sure that will come in due time.
For now, though, I thought maybe I could list just a few of the many skills I learned at Oberlin. This list isn’t really exhaustive by any means, but since it is still quite large, I decided I’d better make the text smaller so it doesn’t take up your entire screen.
Drum roll, please…
Oh, the skills I have learned
How to write decent music, how to write bad music, how to write decent music that nobody else will listen to, how to make a good-looking score no matter how horrible the actual composition is, how to speak Spanish more-or-less fluently, how to write a rather lengthy essay in Spanish, how to write a rather lengthy essay in Spanish in one night, how to use footnotes, how to use different citation styles, how to accidentally invent new citation styles, how to read a book closely, how to skim six entire books in one night while simultaneously writing a rather lengthy essay on only one can of Red Bull, how to efficiently use a Spanish dictionary, how to research virtually any topic conceivable (to a humanities major) using databases and other online doohickeys, how to identify pieces of music I’ve only heard a few times before, how to speak intelligently about something I’ve studied, how to talk in Spanish to fellow students who don’t really know as much Spanish as I do, how to teach Spanish to fourth graders, how to teach English to Chinese students in Argentina, how to teach foreigners about the U.S. electoral college system, how to take a taxi, how to pack my bags so they’re only 75 pounds overweight, how to find cheap bus tickets in Argentina and the United States, how to plan a senior recital, how to harangue musicians into performing my compositions, how to explain my compositions to fellow students and professors so that they actually understand my thought process, how to teach design and typography to college students, how to design a syllabus, how to copy edit student-written articles on six hours of sleep or less, how to train others to copy edit, how to manage a student newspaper, how to write for a student newspaper, how to interview important people, how to blog, how to tweet, how to set up a webserver and whatever software it might need, how to throw a party without breaking the bank, how to make good (strong) coffee, how to make sushi, how to bake bread, how to make kick-ass pizza from scratch, how to cook healthy food for 60 hungry people and finish with time to spare, how to facilitate a discussion between 60 hungry people and finish with time to spare, how to fold fitted sheets, how to pack (and re-pack) all of my belongings every few months and move them to a new location, how to rent an apartment, how to decorate my room with found objects, how to find objects, how to tactfully steal nice silk-screened posters, how to select a large tree limb and fit it in the door to your apartment, how to peel sticky tack from the walls without chipping the paint, how to graduate with style, how to write a résumé, how to write a cover letter, how to dress for an interview, how to apply for a job that is way out of my league, how to apply for a job that I’m overqualified for, how to conduct an exhaustive job search without somehow finding something that I’m actually interested in applying for, and how to tie up the loose ends and write one final blog post.
Since this is my last post, I’d better take some time to say farewell, too. (Not that I really have a regular following of readers.) I had fun writing down my thoughts on Oberlin and life as a college student, and I hope my writing has been at least somewhat insightful or otherwise interesting to those of you reading it.
With that, I bid you adieu…
