In the car on the way home for
Thanksgiving break, I got the chance to talk to my cousin Jim, on the phone;
one of my aunts drove all the way from High Point, North Carolina to Blacksburg, Virginia to pick him up! Jim is an
engineering graduate student at Virginia Tech, and he was at my aunt’s house
watching TV when I called. He is very dry and doesn't really speak unless spoken
to, more out of disinterest than anything else. However, we have pretty good
conversations. Having little news to actually tell him, I mentioned one of my
assignments for the break. I said to him, over the phone, “The prompt is, I
have this crazy Great Aunt Mildred who’s cornered me into answering this
question: so, what is your major and what are you going to do with it?”
“Sounds like an interesting subject,” he
replied.
My mom was driving, and I was sitting next
to her, so of course she overheard my half of the conversation, and wanted to input her opinion on the matter. After I hung
up, we talked about her choice to become an engineer. She never changed her major,
mainly because the school she attended had laid out the career path for her.
Though she had not known what being an engineer entailed, she knew from the
get-go that she wanted to be a chemical engineering major. She knows that I am
not doing well in chemistry, and she doesn’t care. She said to me, “You want to
be an English, French, Art major? I can see that. It fits you. What you are
going to do with that major, though, is what I guess you are supposed to figure
out. If you wanted to pair it, business is pretty popular, and it’s practical…
but you don’t necessarily have to get a business degree. I wonder what
other things you can do with a French major.”
After a few hours, my mom and I got home,
ate dinner, lounged around for a bit, and watched The Voice together. It is my mom’s favorite
show. Dad changed the channel after the show was over, and Mom announced that
she was going to bed. However, before she went to bed, she did that annoying,
useless thing that everyone who wants to know what my major is and what I am
going to do with it does: she starts making suggestions. In fact, she made a
point, as she was leaving the room, to get out The Book of Majors, a 1,300-page College Board
encyclopedia whose index is longer than its content, and tried to hand it to
me. “Mom,” I groaned, “Stop.” She replied excitedly, “Honey, just look at it!
You might find some good career paths in this book for the majors you’re looking
at.”
I haven’t yet looked at the book she
pulled out for me. I don’t really want to. I didn’t touch it all week. There
are so few options, and yet so many options. It is more overwhelming than going
shopping, or applying to colleges. Too much to think about.
The next day, my cousin Jim came over, and
he and I went for a walk on Thanksgiving Day. While we were walking, Jim reminded
me about that assignment that I had brought up, and what I was going to say to
Great Aunt Mildred, if we had one, on Friday. Friday is when my family really
celebrates Thanksgiving; everyone celebrates with the other side of the family
on Thursday, and then my mom’s family’s Thanksgiving takes place the day after.
I asked Jim if he had decided on a major, and what he wanted to do with it. I
immediately realized that the first part of my question was kind of a dumb
thing to ask, seeing as Jim was a grad student, but he answered me anyway.
“Well, obviously engineering is what I’m
majoring in. As for what I’m going to do with it, well, I don’t know that yet... What about you? Maybe
you should come up with some possible major for crazy Great Aunt Mildred.”
“Hmm… Let’s come up with the wackiest
combination possible. Maybe I should get a degree in marine biology, and one in
physical therapy, with a minor in Southern folklore.”
“So… you’re going to give whales physical
therapy and tell them folk tales?”
I laughed. “I guess so! They might not like Southern
folklore very much, though… They’ll probably try to thwack me with their tails.
With their whale tails. They probably like whale tales better anyway. Too bad
that I won’t have covered that in my degree.”
It was either that or a combination of
women’s studies and astrophysics. Anything to confuse the heck out of Great
Aunt Millie dearest. How in the world could you combine women’s studies and
astrophysics? As a job? Come on. I knew I was avoiding the question by coming
up with these ridiculous responses, but it wasn’t something I thought I was
ready to answer. Until now, my education has been really broad. How
could I possibly narrow down what I want to do with my life to one or two
degrees, and a job to accompany it? In that respect, the question “What is your
major, and what do you plan to do with it?” is somewhat unfair. Having been in
college for a semester now, I can at least say what I don’t want to do:
biology. Music theory. Geology. Yuck.
Thanksgiving was a fairly boring day. Since
there was nothing to do until Friday, in addition to the walk on Thanksgiving, I
went for a run. I ran by myself for most of the run, so, for once, I decided to
listen to some podcasts while I was running. Listening to Freakonomics Radio
talk about various studies that tested the best ways to alleviate poverty made
me remember just how much I love public radio, and how infrequently I listen to
it now that I have no car in which to listen to it and no extra time anyway. It
also reminded me that I want to do something important and meaningful, with
both my college career and anything beyond it. Maybe I should pursue a career
in communications or reporting on the radio.
Perhaps one of my favorite radio shows on NPR, aside from Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! and A Prairie Home Companion
Even then, with this goal in mind, how
would I explain to my relatives that I wanted to pursue a degree in
communications and become a radio host, having never explicitly
expressed any interest in this nor making any attempt to produce podcasts or
videos? Would they understand that, even though I had never done it before, never
tried, that it could be a good fit for me? Up to this point, my goals have been relatively short-term. I know I want to study abroad, possibly twice, and I
want to make some sort of difference. That’s a vague thing to say, “I want to
make a difference,” but I think it is important to stay updated on current
events, and pose new solutions to old problems. I want the work I do to be not
only enjoyable but meaningful. If I could work for NPR, I would be a very happy
person. Not only would I be informing people of current events and issues, but
I would be hearing myself talk. I love hearing myself talk, and I love hearing
intelligent, thought-provoking words coming out my mouth. I just have to be
brave enough to break away from what I have always done and try something new.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I was
surprised to find that my relatives did not care what my major was going
to be, or what I was going to do with it. Nothing about the future at all! We chatted and played card games, ate
turkey, and watched The Incredibles for the umpteenth time. It was fun. This would have been one of those holidays, I guess, that "Great Aunt Mildred couldn't make it because she was spending time with her son's in-laws," so I wouldn't have had to worry about facing her. I wouldn't have to face myself.
The only
questions my relatives asked me about college were whether I was enjoying
myself, and what my favorite class was. “Yes” and “English or French” were my go-to
answers. “Not Chemistry.”
Me and my cousin studying in the living room.
