I’m not nearly as afraid of college as I was last semester. But, in the place of fear, I am very much frustrated. Not just because Omicron-Covid put my classes on Zoom for the rest of this week, at least. But, there’s something I can just sense is deeply, terribly wrong with my Literature course. Or, rather, with some of the students I’ll be working with. 

I went into college knowing, damn well, I’d have to interact with some irresponsible (and honestly, downright stupid) people, and do things in classes that I didn’t want to do. That is life, and I accept it. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t complain about it while being in the thick of it. Because, well, I can already tell at least half of my Literature class is going to fail. 

The content in the class isn’t hard at all! In fact, looking at the syllabus, I’m confident I’ll pass the class with flying colors, and may even incorporate some more authors’ writing styles into my own. Problem is, a lot of this class focuses on group discussion work. That’s where the frustration of it all lies. 

On the first day of Literature class, the professor asked the class if everyone liked Harry Potter, and practically the whole class erupted in cheers. I, being a bit of a rebel, typed in the chat, “I don’t like Harry Potter, because I don’t like fiction or fantasy that much… The only fiction I really like is World of Warcraft, but I couldn’t care less about the lore.”

Oops. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. But, I did, and a lot of my fellow classmates acted like I just admitted I slaughter cats for a living. The professor calmed things down and asked me if I liked any fiction. 

“No, not really…” I replied in my mic, “I have close friends who have spent literal years trying to get me interested in any sort of fiction, but I haven’t budged. I just like nonfiction better. I have nothing against fiction or people who like it. I’m just not interested in fiction.”

“Well, I think I can change that within the next fifteen weeks…” my professor smugly replied. 

“Good luck.” I smiled challengingly. 

I know, I know. I was being a bit of a hard-ass, but it’s true: I just don’t like fiction all that much. Especially something as redundant and cliche as the Harry Potter series. It just doesn’t click with me, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with liking Harry Potter either. But, I haven’t run into so many Harry Potter fans in one place except for in middle school, or when I visited the Harry Potter museum in London because a friend requested we go. Suddenly, I am once again the only one out of twenty people who doesn’t like Harry Potter. And, I’m starting to sense that a few people don’t like me for that very reason. 

Oh, there are other things besides Harry Potter that unsettles me about this class. I’m no longer in class with a bunch of hard-science nerds who share similar interests as me. If anything, it seems like the majority of the people in my class are astrology nerds, and sincerely believe Mars and Venus have a significant impact on our moods and hormones. I wish, so badly, that I was joking. But, I’m already starting to see a few people blame their shortcomings on their “star sign” or whatever the hell it’s called. Again, I wish I was making shit up. But, I’m not a fiction writer. I can’t make this up. 

I’m also no longer the “dumb one” in the class. If anything, I seem to be one of the most responsible and resourceful students my professor has ever seen. Since getting paired up with three other people for our first book, The Book of Yaak by Rick Bass (which, by the way, is the one book of the semester I was looking forward to, since it’s a nonfiction memoir by a guy who lived and hunted off the land in the middle of nowhere), I’m literally the only one in the group who has the book (and subsequently, the only productive member of the group, so our weekly discussions feel like I’m talking to a wall). Even though, there are a million different ways one can get the book. Half of them don’t even require you to go anywhere physical to pick it up. ACC even has free, one-day shipping from the school library and bookstore!

Yet, for whatever reason, my group is severely lagging behind. They almost never respond to my texts either, and I’m really starting to worry that they'll just try to pass the class by making me do all the work. I’m so glad the professor set up group discussions in a way so she can tell who is doing the work, and who isn’t. So, at least I won’t fail because everyone else in my group will. 

Still, I’m getting really, really pissed off at my group-mates. I get that the last few years have been a shitshow. I get that life happens and can get in the way. But, honestly, if you are too swamped to even get a copy of the damn book when the ACC library and bookstore, the online PDF version offered to us by the ACC library, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Ebay, the book’s publisher, the professor, and a handful of used bookstores around town, all have copies of every book we need for this semester, then you’re too swamped to go to college. I’m sorry. But, it's the truth. 

However, I'm not sure if my group-mates are all that swamped. To give them the benefit of the doubt, they might just be burnt out, in which case, they'll either drop the class or fail. I just don't want them to drag me down with them, or cause me any trouble. I've got far too much on my plate right now. I can't pull their weight along with my own, and I won't. 

My cynical side has much worse to say about them, but I won't write that here. Again, I'll just refer to my comment about no longer being the dumb one.