"The 1st Poem in the Imaginary Book"

Woo! So this is my new book. It's called "No Matter the Wreckage" and when I made this book I was really excited to do this book release show. But I'm a spoken word poet and what that means is usually I have all of my poems memorized and I perform poems without things in my hands.

My publisher, Derrick Brown who is the captain of the Write Bloody Publishing Company and Kristin were like 'No, you have to read some poems from the actual book.'

And I said no I don't want to read them, I'll just tell people. I promise everything I'm doing is in the book but I don't want to have to read them. And then they're like 'No, you've got to read at least a couple.' It's like product placement.

So I was like 'Okay, okay, okay' I'll figure out how to read some from the book.

So this poem is called "The First Poem in the Imaginary Book."

If it were me, when the book arrives, I would immediately start scanning pages to find any trace of me.
My name, references to my body, my secrets, moments we shared.
I would pretend to be horrified if I found any evidence of myself, but really I would pray to find even a single mention.
You may do nothing like that.
You may not even crack the spine.
You may place this on a bookshelf or worse, under a stack of papers.
You may forget about it and regift it later to someone as a secret Santa.
I will never know.
But just in case you are like me, just in case you do think about the way your hands used to piano key my spine, the way you would whisper spells into my ears when I was napping.
The way I slipped notes into your jacket pockets just in case you wonder if all those winks ever meant anything at all.
I will tell you.
You do not need to look very hard to find your shadow here.
Your fingerprints are on these pages.
So many of your footsteps in the snow.

Major in a Minute: Political Science

Max: We organize our society in a political fashion, so the management of this society is important to every individual. I think the study of it to make it better is a really noble pursuit.

Jelena: What we try to do is sort of temp down a little bit of the cynicism that exists among young people about "oh politicians." We show them that any change that they want really has to be from within the process.

Max: I'm wearing a tie right now because I got the Georgia Legislative Internship. I'm seeing how the committee and the house system works, how important house leadership is...

Jelena: You can have an international relations concentration comparative politics, political theory... We also have a pre-law concentration. In order to be a successful law student you need to know about all sorts of press and making cases that come out of politics.

Students who choose our major should ask themselves if they're interested in politics, do they follow the news, do they want to have some service to the public?

Max: I really just want to try and help out with whatever I do.

One Minute Wine: Riesling

More breaks shall ensue as I see fit.

 

A sommeliers once told me a great tip that he was doing at home(?). Pour your wine before your guests arrive and when they're over the threshold simply hand them a glass.

I love to do this with German Riesling because it's a wine nobody would ever ask for, but you always know that when they take that first sip you're gonna get that 'Oh, that's nice. What is it?'

The trick of German Riesling is it's balance between the acidity, sugar, and fruit.

Now this has a very expressive aroma. You get lime, and you also get white flowers.

*Sips* I would probably describe that as off-dry. Lovely mineral finish. The great thing about this wine is it's 89% so you can have a second glass at lunch.

J.J.Prum's Riesling Kabinett comes in at around 11 pounds or 18 dollars a bottle.

Major in a Minute: History

Jared: An understanding of history is a way for people to enter the broader discussions about what type of world do they want to live in.

Michael: The power that someone has in writing history can really effect today.

Jared: There's all sorts of cultural knowledge that a history degree gives you.

Michael: Whether it's religion, economics, you can study that from a historical point of view.

Jared: History majors have a wide open field.

Michael: Learning how to read and write well, critical thinking, research, does I think, carry over.

Jared: You could be a copywriter, you could work in an archive, you could work in a bank.

Michael: I'm a history major with a pre-education track but they have a pre-law track and they have a world history concentration. In high school you get a very surface level teaching of history and in college you're able to go more in depth. Why did this event happen? Why did the people that were involved, why were they involved?

Jared: History is a constant rediscovery of things that people thought were said and done.

Major in a Minute: Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

We now go back to your regularly scheduled Major in a Minute transcriptions. (For those wondering, there are 27 videos total.)




Amira: The focus of Women's Studies is to really shift the ways that you've been used to thinking about the world.

Crystal: We're not just studying women's lives but studying gender itself and looking at how race and class and sexual orientation effect our everyday lives.

Amira: Women's Studies is really grounded in a social justice framework. It's really interested in asking questions about various sets of oppression. People are really interested in questions about gender. What do we understand woman to mean, what do we understand man to mean? A lot of folks will go on to things like advocacy work, social work, law school...

Crystal: By having a gendered analysis of really prominent social issues it provides a whole other lens with which to view what's happening and to really create social change.

Motivational Minute - Breaking out of Your Comfort Zone

Let's take a small Majors in a Minute Break and do something a tad bit different. We're talking a little motivational fun, while still following the "short video" routine.




"On to today's Motivational Minute I'm your Vibrancy Coach Elle Swan.

Today's topic is how to break out of your comfort zone. One of the biggest differences between successful people and those that struggle is the presence of comfort zones.

So your comfort zone is that imaginary line that you have placed around the borders of your life. This line is made of limiting beliefs, beliefs like 'I can't,' 'It's too hard,' 'That's impossible,' or 'It'll never happen for me.'

Your life, with these thoughts, is like driving a car with the emergency brake on. It makes moving forward much harder than it needs to be. In other words your comfort zone is dragging you down but you can take action to reverse your direction.

One of the best ways to break free is to change your daily routine. For example, if you usually wake up at 7am, instead wake up at 6:55. If you usually check your email before you get dressed, turn those tasks around. You can have a more fulfilling and successful life if you're willing to change your patterns and then let go of those brakes.

This has been your motivational minute, I'm Elle Swan. Make it a vibrant day!"

Major in a Minute: Sociology

Adia: Anyone is a good fit for Sociology if they're interested in understanding what we call the social world.

Jennifer: If you're a people watcher it's great because it's the study of groups of people.

Adia: A Sociology major really gives you a unique understanding of why things are happening the way that they are.

Jennifer: We learn a lot about issues. All kinds of social issues.

Adia: There is a Race and Urban Studies focus, a Sex and Gender focus, and a Family Health and Life course focus. It often really sparks a desire in people to try to effect change.

Jennifer: It's one thing to read about low wage and actually see what low wages do to someone's life. You can be a solution if you just give your time.

Adia: It also gives good preparation if you're interested in going into a field where you have to relate to or understand people and society.

Jennifer: A lot of people I know are also interested in sexuality, so they want to do something that's geared towards LGBT or Women's Rights. Then there's also public policy because if you know about people than you know about what policies need to be passed to better their environment. The sky is the limit.