June 29: "Don't Stress"

After a much needed weekend, the school week has begun and classes have reconvened. In normal fashion, my day began at Appel Commons for breakfast with my fellow Freedom & Justice students, Julia and Ramiah. After jokingly groaning about having to wake up early again, we made our way to McGraw Hall for another Kramnick lecture on philosopher John Locke. Because Locke is such an influential philosopher, Professor Kramnick's lecture will take two days to finish. Day one of "Locke's Lecture" brought up ideas of individualism, liberalism, and liberty. The lecture was, as usual, thought-provoking and comprehensive. After lecture, we gathered for our discussion sections in Goldwin-Smith and discussed Professor Kramnick's lecture. We focused primarily on the nature of man and why there is a need for government if individualism is pivotal. Following discussion, we had lunch at Trillium, where I cannot rave enough about the variety of foods.

Just as our schedules suggest, we strolled back to Goldwin-Smith for our writing workshop with our TA. During the session, we peer-edited our classmates' papers and provided critiques, insights, and suggestions. Because I have a knack for editing and the paper I had to read was decently written, I was among the first to finish. This is where the title of my blog comes in. When picking up my corrected papers, my TA, Des, takes my papers, gives me a little swat with them and says, "Don't stress. You always looked stressed." I couldn't help but laugh and shake off any signs of nervousness that he claimed to see. Overall, today was an informative day. It's really hitting me that next week is our last week here, and it's a tad bittersweet. I'll definitely absorb what's left of the time I have at Cornell University.