Matilda's blog

Communication. It’s number eight on the Princeton Review’s list of Top Ten College Majors. Much of the appeal of a communication degree is its usefulness in multiple fields. Communication is not interchangeable with newspaper reporters anymore, especially in a society where print journalism is facing rapid endangerment. Financial corporations, schools, laboratories, theater arts- these are a few realms where a communication major could find employment. With two more years to go on my bachelor’s degree, these are five niches I envision my graduated-self putting my education to work.

I am a continentally well-traveled citizen. Over various road trips and relocations, I have seen a nice chunk of the purple mountains, the amber grain and the shining seas. Other than a few hours spent south of the border and a quick visit to the Bahamas, this girl has never gone international- in the grand sense of the term. No plans have been set in stone to study abroad or make any other passport-required ventures. This does not hinder frequent dreaming of my turn on the London Eye (no matter how outrageously priced the admission) or my maiden gondola voyage. Money, time and my irrational flying anxiety aside, these are some dots on the globe I’d want to expand upon:

Over my academic life, I have been required to read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein twice, for two separate courses, two separate teachers leading separate class discussions. The first was for AP Literature in high school, the second was for a freshman seminar in college. Students of every level have been unable to escape a curriculum void of the novel for generations not just for its classic status, but its relevancy. In a world where the scope of technology is expanding more frequently than people Tweet, there is sound reason to worry about a day when being human is not only inferior, but detrimental.

The past decade has seen a plethora of pitfalls and victories for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community. In the past few months alone, this country has seen controversies over homosexuality and prom, changes in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military arrangement, and a continuous fight for federally recognized same-sex unions. One realm that often appears untouched by the social happenings of the LGBT community, though, is the sports world.

In “The End of Men,” Hanna Rosin takes an extensive look at the demise of once-standard gender roles. She cites multiple facets of American culture, from women’s domination of most levels of the workforce, to lopsided college population statistics and boys’ learning patterns. The piece conveys the notion that the past three decades or so have marked the definitive conclusion of male societal success. Women, she implies, are finally reaping the benefits of their organically empathetic nature and interpersonal skills. The single, working supermom is the new Suit. The picture of an Ivy Leaguer entails wool skirts and fashionable pea coats, not Brooks Brothers ties and Ralph Lauren cuff links. I cannot argue against the reality that women have more opportunity than ever, and vocations once dubbed “boys only” half a century ago are currently gender neutral. I will disagree with the sentiment that this trend is everlasting or impermeable. This societal vasectomy Rosin paints is, like the surgical kind, optional.