Distant Aunt:             So, what are you majoring in?
You (cheerfully):        English! [or fill in your own Liberal Arts major here]
Distant Aunt:             English? What are you going to do with that – be a barista??
You:                            . . . .         

“English makes me happy”

I did not come to a Liberal Arts College knowing what I would major in. I came knowing I needed to explore things outside my comfort zone. My first selection of classes was entirely exploratory, with an emphasis on those General Education courses which would not require an early wake-up.

I have wanted to bore my name into the world with writing since the sixth grade. English classes gave me the opportunity to watch how the old literary masters did. My first semester college-level English course was at the 300 level, African American Women’s Literature. It plunged me into the deep end of critical race theory and a lot of postmodern philosophy. I almost drowned in it but learned to balance the overwhelming new information with what I put together from high school. Now Postmodern Philosophy is my absolute favorite.

I love those late nights wandering around campus thinking. English taught me how to free my head in that way. The cool night air, the loneliness, wind on the leaves have a strange way of soothing my strained mind. When an idea for what to write is so close, sometimes freedom is all I need. I ask the same question twenty times over and I hurdle the intellectual blocks. That is a spiritual experience, and even though it sometimes yields concessions, it always helps me write something better.

English also gives me an excuse to brand myself in the job market. In an increasingly competitive field like Data Science, a brand distinguishes individual candidates. This is the crossover between the two fields I want to explore, especially because language is an ever-evolving thing. How close could we get to teaching a computer to read?