So this entire summer, I couldn't get my mind off how horribly my first year of CSems went. I was disappointed in myself and almost gave up on writing. I thought taking one more semester of CSem was going to crush me. I wasn't even planning on taking CSem until I decided to drop one class and figured I might as well kill myself first semester with CSem. I found whatever CSem would fit in my schedule...Weaving the Web. I thought, "Great, boring readings about the Web..."
I entered the classroom and didn't know what to expect. I asked the professor, Professor Kumar, if I could be in the class. He said yes and motioned me to sit down. The large table in the classroom was very bare and the ceiling was low. There were computers surrouding the whole perimeter of the classroom, and I had this dreaded feeling that we were gonna spend most of our time on them. "What a drag!" I thought.
It only took a few classes for me to realize that this CSem was going to save my sanity. We were going to create a web magazine from scratch and make our own decisions on everything. We ran the classes; we were the ones who decide to what limit we were going to take this magazine. Topics would never get old in this class--we picked our own topics, and so we were able to write about things we were passionate about. The class worked as a team on everything from advertising to getting together a "Bubble-mania Tea" for finals week.
The most amazing experience in this class was seeing everyone's enthusiast face every morning in class. During discussions, everyone stayed awake and alert and would participate. Can you name a class that you've taken that had 100% class participation and that no one falls asleep in? If you were ever in this class, you would be able to tell that every single one of us enjoyed being there. If you think we're enjoying it because we're mostly running the class ourselves and have probably made the class easy for ourselves, then you're very wrong. We write articles every week and belong to teams such as proofreading, advertising, and web design.
Everyone, including our wonderful Professor, has devoted much time and attention to the class. Our progress has been marked by our weekly publications. Everyone has written their share and did their part in promoting the work of Sage. I am proud to say that we as a class has started something very great. We are very grateful for Professor Kumar for teaching the class. He has showed us that when you and a group of people strive for the same goals, no work for it will ever feel tedious or worthless and you will eventually learn to love your work. Every minute spent working towards these goals helps the entire group effort.
I am also proud to say, I am no longer afraid of writing and no longer dread it. Why? Because the more I wrote for Sage, the more I loved to write and the more I discovered my own style. I've learned that the only way you can learn to write is to enjoy writing. Thanks to this wonderful CSem, I have started to enjoy writing again.
