+let the yoke fall from our shoulders, don't carry it all, don't carry it all

"Here we come to the turning of a the season / Witness to the arc towards the sun / The neighbors blessed burden within reason / Becomes a burden borne of all in one / And nobody, nobody knows / Let the yoke fall from our shoulders / Don't carry it all, don't carry it all / We are all our hands in holders / But meet this bold and brilliant sun / But this I swear to all."

-"Don't Carry it All" The Decemberists

I feel a need to shoot off some relief into the blogosphere in this moment. I am sitting in the cozy, quiet computer lab of Watson Library making final edits on my (insanely lengthy) sociology of gender final paper. I chose to write on the portrayal of gender (read: sexism, violence, inequality) in video games. This, after Friday's due date of a literature review on the effects of stereotypes on college students for my research on college students class. Still lingering on the to-do list? A finalized version of a group project for my assessment and program evaluation class, entering in both sets of class grades for my students (teacher heather!), and beginning and ending the epic battle of closing student housing for the winter holidays.

My virtual vent session would not be complete without an admission that I'm exhausted. And with that I leave you, my sweet blog readers. As I watch the undergraduates just begin their week long finals journeys and as I eat meals with zombie-looking residents, I am reminded that deep down inside I love academia. I love the seasons of highs and lows that it brings. I love the stress and the relief. I love that there is the ability to be pushed both mentally, physically, spiritually, and heck, yes, emotionally, too!

And, CTR+PRINT...for $1.36 to print, another class is complete!