"It ended with the pork chops"

"#$%&!!!!" I moaned.
"Do you want to punch something?" my roommate asked.
"No. I want to do this," and I plopped down onto the hardwood floor in her doorway. "This is me defeated."

I had just worked over an hour on an important document, and it was deleted. My roommate came over and stretched out across the floor on her stomach, "This is my defeated posture." She has been fighting with the "the world is too big and messy to even attempt to fix it" problem that social work majors often face (and those of us who aren't social work majors, too). A third roomie walked in minutes later with a I'm-completely-drained expression. "Wanna show us your defeated posture?" I asked. She sprawled behind me in the hallway and leaned on my back. "I am tired. My friend didn't thank me for the pork chop dinner I made. And coffee is awful." She had just watched the documentary Black Gold at a Fair Trade House Party.

So we sat. Defeated.

And during our defeated-on-the-hardwood-floor time, we discussed how our education system is screwed up. We are taking FASCINATING classes, and have no time to process them. My Society & Religion class is incredibly stimulating. I could learn it so thoroughly if I had time to debate it with my friends over a cup of non-awful coffee. It's not an issue of time management, but an issue of having to take 15-18 hours of classes at the same time - each of them mind-boggling and challenging. And honestly, I've left most classes without retaining much. What IS college for? The diploma? I would like to think it deeply challenges and expands my intellect and view of the world (and it does, for sure.) but it has so much dormant potential!!!

Related to being defeated and growing, check this out: GENERATION Q

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E2D71E3DF933A25753C1A9619C8B63

It's been circulating among my friends... we're processing it... and what it means for us...