Good writing emerges from honesty. The written word, or at least written word worth reading, should be a reflection of the writer’s innermost anxieties, hopes and dreams.
If he or she is lucky enough, the writer will stumble upon a universal truth that lifts his or her writing beyond the dreck anyone can find on their Facebook news feeds every day.
To name one example, the works of William Shakespeare have remained relevant hundreds of years after his passing for this very reason.
Whether it’s the 17th century or the 21st, Hamlet’s internal struggle over whether to avenge his slain father is a universal one, as there is not a single person alive who has not struggled with making decisions of consequence.
You will not find writing of that caliber in this week’s column.
As Hamlet grappled with his own moral compass, I found myself contending with a significant moral quandary of my own: managing my time and prioritizing during midterms.
Granted, this is a “struggle” that millions of college students are currently dealing with. However, not all of them have the opportunity to write for their student newspaper, nor do they have to combat the crippling self-loathing and doubt that seems to plague so many young men and women who fancy themselves “writers.”
In any case, there was more than enough news that happened in the world this week that could’ve provided ample material for a column.
Oklahoma House legislators approved a bill that would ban AP U.S. history courses in the state on account of not being “patriotic” enough.
Jeb Bush continues to make moves to become the 2016 Republican Party presidential nominee — without actually declaring his run for the seat.
Drake’s new album — which, for the record, is great — had a distinct lack of bangers.
However, a lack of time management skills, a perverted sense of perfectionism and a seemingly overwhelming workload made writing about those happenings impossible, at least for this neurotic columnist.
We can all agree that midterms suck — they put an undue amount of pressure on a student and encourage absorption of the material en masse rather than in eased, gradual assessments that actually measure ongoing engagement with the course material.
Seemingly, most college students survive their midterm/finals/what-have-you weeks and have no problem balancing the rest of their lives in the process.
Good for them.
While they study the finer points of macroeconomics at 3 p.m., I’ll be listening to The Stone Roses’ first album and pondering its place in the Britpop canon, storing up the midnight oil to study for my Russian politics exam the next day.
As Shakespeare wrote in “As You Like It,” “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”
For now, I guess I’m content to be a half-decent writer with a poor work ethic trying to make it in this competitive, mixed-up world we call college.
Zach Schlein is a UF political science junior. His column appears on Fridays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/20/2015 under the headline “Mid-semester slump hurting work ethic"]
