Archives for October 2018

At a certain point each term, the world seems to move slower than usual. A fifty-minute class suddenly feels like two hours; waking up at 9am seems far too early for even “morning people;” Monday morning coffee only does so much; and, the rain feels like yet another addition to a world seemingly out to get each and every one of us.

This seems to be a roadblock that all students face regardless of who they are, or even where they attend school. The phenomenon? The midterm slump.

Midterms in college are tricky, though, because midterm exams don’t all happen at the same time. Some “midterms” are in the fourth week of school, and some classes have no “midterms” at all. Some people (I am deeply sorry for you) have three midterms on one day, and some people get lucky (yay English majors!) and have no midterm exams, but rather several papers.

This diversity in both testing and timing seemingly makes the midterm slump even worse for most people. The midterm slump seems to drag on, requiring more energy to overcome its power as the days advance.

Even if you take exams or papers out of the equation, though, I believe the midterm slump would still exist. Why? Well, by now we are half way through the term (hence, midterm,) and things are staring to die down. The excitement of a new school has faded, and Parents Weekend has come and gone, along with tailgates and the fleeting hope that Vandy Football may actually cause an upset. With only days until Fall Break, we seem to be counting the seconds until the we can momentarily escape the VU Bubble.

So if this midterm slump would exist regardless of the amount of tests or projects due, it means that the time of year is likely what causes its existence. The people (us, the students) are fed up with the mundane nature of the daily class schedule, and potentially unhappy with things that have occurred thus far. As Vandy students, perhaps we are frustrated with the administration’s lack of support for the football team, perhaps we dislike the way our professors grade, or perhaps we don’t have specific frustrations at all, rather, we are simply sick of Commons food. In a college setting, this all may be important to us, or maybe it is not. But, regardless, we get a quick Fall Break, and then must return again in order to finish out the term.

When you take a step outside of our community, though, I think the term “midterm slump” gains even more significance. It is not fresh news (or at least hopefully it is not) that the Midterm Elections are quickly approaching. The deadlines for registering to vote have almost all passed, and the coverage of the Midterms gets more intense by the second.

Held two years after Presidential Elections, the Midterm Elections determine the outcome of one-third of the Senate seats, as well as all 435 House seats. In a politcal sense, the “midterm slump” refers to the pattern of results that the Midterm Elections have taken over the years. This pattern is not favorable toward the President’s party- only twice in the 21 midterm elections since 1934 has the Presidential party gained seats in both the House and Senate. Typically, the controlling party loses its control, creating an average deficit of thirty seats. This type of “midterm slump” has been defined and explained by several different theories, but regardless of the reasons, the data remains: the party of the White House almost always loses seats.

I think this is likely caused by a renewed sense of drive, a spark, by the minority party. After two years, the minority party has policy to rally around- ways to energize their constituents in order to vote out the opposing congressmen (& congresswomen, duh.)

So, what does this all have to do with us, and our “midterm slump?” Well, I think it sort of requires the same type of action: as mundane as the days can feel, and as far away as Fall Break feels (lol it’s literally in two hours), we have to find that renewed sense of motivation that the minority party seems to thrive off of.

Even when we return from a few (very necessary) days off, we will need to find some way to motivate ourselves through the weeks leading up until Thanksgiving. It’s certainly not easy- in fact, I’m pretty terrible at it. But, we have to cultivate that spark.  And, in the chilly Fall weather that Nashville has provided us with, there seems like plenty to do: S’Memorial sounds great, maybe we can play with some dogs outside, walk to Jeni’s, hit the lib with some hot chocolate, or potentially even tune into the Midterm Elections. No matter what you do, find your spark (your grades are probably depending on it.) 

PS: Whether you want to decrease the likely hood of a Congressional midterm slump or contribute to the flip of Congress, go vote!  #getoutthevote

 

Anchor Down,

Brooke

In the fall of my Senior year, I embarked on an extremely un-epic journey of several college tours (sporting my Stans, of course). I had no idea where I wanted to go to school, so I decided to cram five tours into the span of six days. 

I started with a drive from NJ to DE, then packed my bags for a train ride to Charlottesville, VA the next morning. My mom and I got off the train in Charlottesville, took an Uber to the Enterprise Car pick-up, and attempted to pull open the door. When the door wouldn’t budge, we realized the pick-up closed at 2:00pm on Sundays, and we were just 20 minutes too late… the already stressful weekend was not off to a good start.

After three college tours, and many many hours of driving spanning VA and North Carolina, my mom and I rushed out of a UNC tour, hopped back into the car, and drove straight to the Raleigh-Durham airport. We were extremely late, and the possibility of missing our flight became more real by the second. We needed to get home on time so that I could meet my dad and fly to Northwestern, and later, Vanderbilt.  The only thing stopping us from making the flight, though? Not traffic, not security lines… no… I was starving. 

I was unbearably hungry, and for some inexplicable reason, had been craving Chic Fil A for days. The moment we got through the security line, I yelled to my mom: “I am going to get food!” She called after me, remarking that I was about to miss the flight, but I was already off… I needed to eat.

I saw an A&W Chicken, and immediately got in line. I ordered chicken fingers and french fries, paid, and stood in line waiting. But as I waited, the clock ticked on and on, and my phone was blowing up with messages: “we are boarding,” “you better hurry up,” “you’re going to miss this flight.”

I knew I had to leave if I wanted to catch this flight… so, against my hungry wishes, I turned to the guy standing next to me and said: “I have to leave. If you want my chicken fingers, you can have them!” and quickly ran off. He shouted behind me: “what gate are you at?”, I replied: “C9! But it’s fine, keep them!”

Running down the corridor, I slid in line next my mom just in time to scan my ticket. As I caught my breath to board the plane, I told her what happened: “I couldn’t wait long enough to get my food, so I told some guy to eat it. He asked for my gate number, but I think they closed the doors.” 

As the doors shut and the last few people piled onto the plane, a flight attendant shouted from the very first row: “Hey, special delivery! Is this anybody’s chicken fingers? Some random guy said that a girl on here is missing her food?”

Somewhat embarrassed, but far more shocked, I popped my head up from behind the seat (of course, I was sitting in the very last row.) “Yeah, that would be mine,” I said, and we took the awkward 54-aisle walk towards each other. 

As I grabbed the bag of hot chicken fingers, my mind was spinning… some random stranger really ran down the Raleigh Airport hallway to give another random stranger my food… why???

To be honest, I have no idea why… and I really don’t think there was a specific “reason”, per say. Rather, it was a simple act of kindness. A way of saying “you are loved,” or maybe even just a random guy thinking that some girl looked really hungry and should get her food. No matter the reason though, it was kindness. It was caring. It was a very small act that strengthened my faith in the goodness of people.

After three college tours, and so much travel, plus still having two more tours and three flights ahead of me, I really needed that food… but more than that, I really needed that act of kindness. 

And so, I like to think about that A&W chicken sometimes. When is someone else really in need of a little boost in energy or happiness? You can’t always tell what people are going through on the outside- what their stresses are, or how much their day may have sucked… So the next time I see the opportunity? I can’t wait to run down the corridor of an airport… gate C9.

 

Anchor Down,

Brooke