Some exposition. An introduction. A plan. Maybe.

I'm sitting here, attempting to start my "college blog" on my floor-bound mattress in the bedroom I’ve been sharing with my younger (by a mere two years and three months) sister for the past few weeks. She's peeling sales stickers off her new school binders, and lightly chatting about her college application plans. “What’s a low acceptance rate for college?”

I think about the University of Chicago, which had been my first choice. “Four percent.”

“Oh. Well, Lewis and Clark is, like, 44 percent, I think. That’s relatively high, right? I think Middlebury’s acceptance rate is, like, 16 percent? Does that sound right? I think I wanna go there. But you didn’t get in, so I’m kind of worried that I won’t get in.”

She’s starting her Junior year of high school tomorrow. College is definitely on her radar, but she hasn’t even gone on a campus tour. The SAT book waits to be studied. Her transcript is only half finalized. While she’s just starting her first steps on the long, arduous college search and application process, I stand on the other side of the road, pennant flag in hand, relieved that that is all behind me; college starts in 11 days (but who’s counting?).

The reasons behind my college selection is probably another post; this is supposed to be an introduction, right? Isn’t that what I typed in the title? I’m the boss here, aren’t I?

So, assuming that the above is true, hello!

I imagine we’ve met in real life and you’re reading this blog post because you’re interested in keeping up with this next little bit of my life (or maybe you’re just being nice? That's cool, too), but in case I haven’t gotten the pleasure (right?) of meeting you, I’m Em,¹ I’m from Columbus,² and I’m going to be starting my first year at Sarah Lawrence College³ in 11 days⁴. There’ve been roughly 6,898 days of existence that have shaped me into a slightly more complicated individual than that information may provide, but for the intents and purposes of this paragraph, that’ll suffice.

I have about a dozen topics that I could cover in the next few moments of your attention, but most importantly here’s the scoop about this blog:
1)    Whether I’ve truly realized it or not, I’m going to be off on the next “big adventure” of my life, partially because I’m moving 590-some-odd miles from home, but mainly because I’m specializing in some sort of academic field (I try to tell myself), I’m moving into a dormitory, and I’m going to get a taste of independence⁵. There are a gazillion more reasons why this is a big adventure, lots relating to lifestyle changes, but is that what adventure is all about? Changing your life? Over the past few months my life has morphed and altered but I didn’t have to move states to make that happen. That’s probably another discussion. BUT, I am leaving behind a lot of friends and family. They’ve said to keep them posted with all of the things going on during my “big adventure.” So, voilà. What more effective means of mass communication is better than social media/blogs?        

2)      I’m interested in studying creative writing; that’s one of my foremost reasons for picking SLC. I really enjoy writing about my thoughts, experiences, travels, family, friends, emotions, and what have you (or I), but it has predominantly been in the confines of a bound journal. As for a writing…resumé, for lack of a better word, my crowning, written achievement was a short play that was produced in 2013 as part MadLab Theater’s Young Writers Short Play Festival held in Columbus, Ohio. If you look deep enough in the layers of Teen Ink, you may find some fiction written by yours truly (I will not, however, point you in any particular direction). I’ve written a few other short plays for an annual high school show called The Playwright SLAM! And…I did keep an epistolary blog when I spent six weeks in Toulouse, France. This isn’t to brag or say, “SEE! I COULD BE A CREATIVE WRITING MAJOR IF I WANT! HAVE SOME FAITH IN ME!” But I digress. My point is that, given my interest, starting a written, electronic blog seemed like a reasonable step.

So, now that I’ve established my why for this blog, I’ll explain what I mean by “Hipster College.”

First off, Hipster? What does that vague popular-culture reference mean? I actually wouldn’t totally know; I don’t think of myself as one. In fact, I’m sort of the title of this blog is intended to be tongue and cheek. Maybe I’ll become a hipster in time. Maybe I’m a hipster and I don’t even realize it. The ever reliable Urban Dictionary defines hipsters as:

 (noun) a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in…neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind, it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. 

You get the gist?

Go google “America’s most hipster colleges.” Kenyon will be on that list. So will Brown. And Oberlin. Probably Vassar, too. Alongside all of those lovely, artsy liberal arts colleges will be SLC. Huffington post [electronically] published a photographic article about these schools. To help illustrate my point about SLC:

Sarah Lawrence gives its students an amount of academic freedom that is unusual: the school eschews grades, majors, and even exams. The lack of structure encourages a kind of self-reliance and individuality that students say allows a Sarah Lawrence attendee to satisfy theirintellectual curiosity and allows them the free time (if they can manage themselves well) to delve intotheir quirky non-academic interests as well.

Yes, it’s true that SLC takes the phrase “liberal arts” very seriously. It’s true that there are no majors (that’s fun to explain to people when they ask “what’s your major gonna be?), therefore I don’t have to “fulfill” a major. My graduation requirements include taking at least one course in three out of four academic categories: creative and preforming arts, humanities, social sciences, and the good ’ol science and math. There are other constituents that make it slightly more complicated, like if I want to be a “theater third” or a “language third,” but I don’t totally know how to explain them. I can get an acknowledged concentration along on my degree, like if I want to “concentrate in Creative Writing” or “Economics” or “Underwater Basket Weaving,⁶” but otherwise I get a Liberal Arts Degree for my undergrad. I think. Basically, there’s no core and no majors to fulfill, but I have to take courses in order to be a student (duh). As for quirky, non-academic interests? Does playwriting count? What about softball? Maybe Huff Post means artistic? SLC is pretty artistic; more on that later.

As for grades: I will still have grades for courses, but most of the feedback from teachers are written evaluations…so they said.

If any school has a motto that sounds like a hipster rallying cry, it's Sarah Lawrence: "You are different. So are we." 

It's a bit more off the beaten path than "Veritas." 

And while the school can find itself to be somewhat isolated in its suburban community, many students take advantage of nearby New York City on weekends, allowing them access to a larger hipster scene than most small liberal arts colleges can provide.

Suburban community: yes, but from what I’ve seen, it’s like Bexley in Columbus. I actually don’t know Bronxville all that well. I’ll keep you posted. For the record, yes, I’m pretty pumped about the whole New York City aspect, not that I'm sure I'll be in the city all that much.

But these are just anecdotes that set SLC aside from the thousands of other wonderful universities and colleges in the United States. I also like that SLC has a lot of quirky, flowery course names, such as:

            -Not by Fact Alone: the Making of History
            -Babies, Birds, and Bots: an Introduction to Developmental Cognitive Science
            -The Political and Cultural Work of Women Writers in the U.S.
            -The Computational Beauty of Nature

            -MIDI: Sequencing, Recording, and Mastering Electronic Music

            -Experiment and Scandal: the 18^th Century British Novel

            -The Playwright’s Gym

The list goes on for 157 pages.   

I also have to interview the professors of desired courses; the entire student body (all 1,400 of us…I think?) has to. I have an advisor, known as a “Don.” I don’t know a whole lot about that yet, other than the fact that my Don is the great Cassandra Medley. 

In the ongoing cultural phenomenon known as small-talk, I get asked lots of questions about SLC. The most common are...
Where is that? Bronxville, New York.
All women? Nope! Co-ed since the 60's. That being said, it's about 70% female.
How old? Established in 1928.
Alum? Barbra Walters went there; so did Yoko Ono. So did the mayor of Chicago.
It’s in Bronxville, NY; about a 30 minute train ride from the city.
Aren't you excited?!:Yes, I’m so excited to go, but it’s a very fatigued excitement, since I’ve known about this for nearly half a year now. Yes, I’m terrified, more on that later.   

To wrap things up...
My intent: sharing stories and experiences from college with people who care to read them. If that’s you, then thank you a million times over. I will do my best to be entertaining.

FOOT NOTES

1        1 That’ 11% of my name, anyway.

2 Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeye Capital of the world.

3 which I shall hereby refer to as SLC

4 Well, now 10. I like writing at night.

5 Independence in the sense that I live alone, except not even that really because I have a roommate.

6 How’s that for a quirky extracurricular? 

RELEVANT LINKS:

Huffington Post Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/unigo/top-10-hipster-colleges_b_1861977.html

Urban Dictionary's Definition of Hipster: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster

The Blog I kept while I was in France: https://digital-dirigible.squarespace.com/ems-france-trip
Cassandra Medley: http://www.slc.edu/faculty/medley-cassandra.html