College and Covid 19

This past spring semester, the world stopped due to a global pandemic virus, COVID-19. In terms of the way college was run on March 13, 2020, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down all schools in the state, elementary, middle, high school and all colleges in the state. Geneseo had to send all students and faculty home for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester and wouldn’t know when we could come back to campus. 

I thought the Spring semester would be normal but it couldn’t ever be a normal college semester from home. Some professors slaked off and left us hanging while others did everything in their power to keep our heads and spirits high even though we were away from our Geneseo home. When I went home, I did so great for the first few weeks, keeping on track with all my school work and tests and studying. But as the weather got nicer and warmer over in Buffalo, I was slacking off and spending more time outside and forgetting I still had college work and homework. In the last few weeks of April and May, I just kinda stopped doing all my work. And this happened before in high school, I almost didn’t graduate my senior year because I was just done and burnt out and drained from school because the rain and the grey skies came to good old Buffalo New York and even some snow, believe it or not. I tried to get some work done in each class but some classes I did great in and other classes got no attention or any work put in. It was a hard semester to say the least. 

During all of this, I have learned so much about the human race and myself which was eye-opening and very interesting to say the least. I learned that no matter what happens people will always show a hand of support and try to help you through everything life throws at you.  Getting stuck at home for 6 months doesn’t do anyone any good unless you have a good team in your corner. So the last few weeks of the semester were very hard and was a big uphill battle with turns in the road. I started slacking and it was hindering my success of the semester because I really needed this to be a good semester after the Fall 2019 semester because it was a big change from high school to college and I had to do more things by myself and I didn’t know how to ask for help from trusted adults and teachers. 

After all of this, I tried to get myself back on track with the majority of my classes and it did work. Once, I had a sit down with my mom and really talked with her, we made a new study plan and it was a few hours a day with breaks and it really worked. But not for every class. Both my INTD courses suffered from this and it was still hard for me to focus on these classes. Because I was putting so much effort into my major required classes and needed to pass them so I don’t need to retake them and not graduate on time. The INTD’s suffered the absolute most and I had no way to try to focus because everytime I tried to write an essay or do grammatical quizzes my mind would just go to everyplace else and couldn’t make me focus on what I needed to do. 

In the end, I learned so much about myself as a person and as a student. This fall semester 2020, will be different and come with its own challenges but I have learned so much that I should be able to overcome everything that life throws at me. I am happy to be back on campus even if some classes are being done on my bed with a bowl of popcorn next to me or having a burrito for breakfast. My in person classes are so nice to have after the last semester at home. It will make me work harder, ask for help when I need it and reach out when I am stuck. This will be a very interesting year but I will overcome it. 

Risks Rewrite

What risks do we take on a daily basis? On our first day of INTD 105 with Beth McCoy we discussed risks and how it relates to our course epigraph:”If we’re not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is a risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner” Octavia Butler in “Bloodchild”. This got me thinking about the risk I take on a daily basis in my day to day life and in college everyday. The only thing that came to mind was horseback riding. Risk is something that comes with the sport. Your partner is a 1200-1500 lbs animal that doesn’t speak the same language as you. Anything could happen and it could change your life. A horse is its own being and has its own mind and choices. Some people say that horseback riding is easy, but this is not the case. Riding has many benefits and can teach you a lot about compassion and the caring of another living thing. But how does this relate to the epigraph? With riding and being an equestrian you take risks everytime you decide to get on a horse, be around a horse, or work with a horse. It’s scary, yes, but the outcomes when you complete a perfect dressage course, which is kind of like a dance you perform with your horse and the arena is labeled with letters and you make patterns with the letters or clear every jump in the jump off, which is when the fastest jumpers usually 5-15 do the same jumping course but as fast as they can. The feeling is incredible, but the best thing is the bond with a horse. Everyday in college I take a risk to go to classes that I could end up failing or doing poorly in. These classes would then be a waste of money and I could have just not taken them. College is all about risks and stepping out of your comfort zone because most of the time your friends from high school aren’t with you anymore. You have to let yourself go and meet new people and make new friends. 

In “Bloodchild”, T’Gatoi sends Gan out to slaughter an animal from the family “farm” that is half his size, now he’s never done this before but he has to. He took the risk to slaughter the animal so he could save a life and get eggs for T’Gatoi and the T’Khotgif Teh citizen. Gan killed an achti,which was a local Terran animal and could help the man. He took the gun from the hidden spot and went out to kill the animal for T’Gatoi and the man. He was helping his family and helped save a life until the correct people from his clan came to claim him and help him properly. Gan took the risk of using a banned weapon and an animal from the family “farm” to help what he believed in, even though he had never done it before. The risks out weighted the benefits in this case and it was for the better. This relates to the epigraph because of a few things, he had to be an adult and kill the Terran achti for the man and follow the order from T’Gatoi who could kill him if she really wanted to. In college, we have to think about when we meet a new person and what if they don’t like you? Your mind tries to get the better of you and talk you down from meeting someone new. But you just have to ignore that and go head first into meeting new people and make a network here at Geneseo. 

The amount of times I have been riding a horse and everything is going good, one second can change that; and sometimes you don’t even see it coming. This past fall when I was riding at the college stables, Leg Up stables, I was on Rio. We were just cantering along and practicing transitions from the canter down to a trot, I was going around a corner and BAM…I was on the ground. I later learned that Rio is very famous at the barn for throwing people off if he doesn’t like what you’re doing. I had my reins too tight and was pulling on his mouth. And he simply just got me off by crow hopping. Crow hopping is when the horse will put their head and neck down, and basically throw their back to a side or straight up and you will end up on the ground. I landed on my back and couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. Now in Bloddchild what could have happened if Gan wasn’t mentally prepared to kill the animal? He could have hesitated when he wanted to kill it and the animal could have tried to kill him first. Risks happen on a daily basis where Gan lives with the Terran. Since they also have the hidden gun, which were outlawed to keep people safe, the family could be shown to the “government” that they have on their planet and who knows what they would do. T’Gatoi and having the eggs are a risk, because since the mom doesn’t take hers usually she ages at a rate we would call normal but they call it fast. The eggs keep you younger for longer, but since the mom doesn’t eat hers, she is always tired and pale. The eggs are keeping her alive and she only ate when T’Gatoi forced her. She then was sedated by T’Gaoi and went to sleep until the next day. But why would she want to not take the eggs? 

“Bloodchild” and riding horses and college have increible risks and both have your life on the line. One wrong move or judgment or action could cost you your life. Risks are just a part of life no matter what planet you are on or who your government is. No matter what happens to someone who needs an animal to be killed to survive or a horse that is having a bad day, it could change you and their life forever. Everyday in college you need to take risks in classes and make the day better than the last. The author, Butler, is very good at showing and describing the risks in her book and it always gets you thinking and trying to predict what will happen in the future and is like an ongoing cliffhanger from page to page. In my life, riding is always the biggest cliffhanger, you have to be constantly thinking about what you are going to do next and what the outcome could be. Horses and people think differently and we don’t know what they are thinking and they don’t know what we are thinking, but we can get them to understand what we are going to do with the correct guidance. It always depends on the situation and you will be always taking risks, either on an alien planet, riding a horse, or going to college. Risks are a part of everyday life, we can’t run and shouldn’t run away from them. We should embrace them and go head first with them.

Risks with Riding Horses

Sophie Brush

What risks do we take on a daily basis? On our first day of INTD 105 with Beth McCoy we discussed risks and how it relates to our course epigraph:”If we’re not your animals, if these are adult things, accept the risk. There is a risk, Gatoi, in dealing with a partner.” Octavia Butler “Bloodchild”. This got me thinking about the risk I take on a daily basis in my day to day life. The only thing that came to mind was horseback riding. Risk is something that comes with the sport. Your partner is a 1200-1300 lbs animal that doesn’t even speak the same language as you. Anything could happen and it could change your life. A horse is its own being and has its own mind and choices. Everyone says that horseback riding is easy, but it’s not. Our partner could kill us if we make a mistake or misread a sign. But how does this relate to the epigraph? With riding and being an equestrian you take risks everytime you decided to get on a horse, be around a horse, or work with a horse. It’s scary yes, but the outcomes when you complete a perfect dressage course or clear every jump in the jump off, the feeling is incredible. But the best thing is the bond with a horse.

In Bloodchild, T’Gatoi sends Gan out to slaughter an animal from the family “farm” that is half his size, now he’s never done this before but he has to. He took the risk to slaughter the animal so he could save a life and get eggs for T’Gatoi and the T’Khotgif Teh citizen. Gan killed an achti,which was a local Terran animal and could help the man. He took the gun from the hidden spot and went out to kill the animal for T’Gatoi and the man. He was helping his family and helped save a life until the correct people from his clan came to claim him and help him properly. Gan took the risk of using a banned weapon and an animal from the family “farm” to help what he believed in, even though he had never done it before. The risks out weighted the benefits in this case and it was for the better. This relates to the epigraph because of a few things, he had to be an adult and kill the Terran achti for the man and follow the order from T’Gatoi who could kill him if she really wanted to. In riding this is the same, but not really. We have to accept all the risks we take when dealing with a horse. No matter what the outcomes are always incredible and amazing. Since riding is one of the most difficult sports ever, the risks are so much higher when something goes wrong. It is very common for a horse to basically ignore your commands or literally throw you off. But it’s all with the risks like Gan took when killing the achti. You do what you do, given the circumstances you are under. 

The amount of times I have been riding a horse and everything is going good, one second can change that; and sometimes you don’t even see it coming. This past fall when I was riding at the college stables, Leg Up stables, I was on Rio. We were just cantering along and practicing transitions from the canter down to a trot, I was going around a corner and BAM…I was on the ground. I later learned that Rio is very famous at the barn for throwing people off if he doesn’t like what you’re doing. I had my reins too tight and was pulling on his mouth. And he simply just got me off by crow hopping. I landed on my back and couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. Now in Bloddchild what could have happened if Gan wasn’t mentally prepared to kill the animal? He could have hesitated when he wanted to kill it and the animal could have tried to kill him first. Risks happen on a daily basis where Gan lives with the Terran. Since they also have the hidden gun, which were outlawed to keep people safe, the family could be shown to the “government” that they have on their planet and who knows what they would do. T’Gatoi and having the eggs are a risk, because since the mom doesn’t take hers usually she ages at a rate we would call normal but they call it fast. The eggs keep you younger for longer, but since the mom doesn’t eat hers, she is always tired and pale. The eggs are keeping her alive and she only ate when T’Gatoi forced her. She then was sedated by T’Gaoi and went to sleep until the next day. But why would she want to not take the eggs? 

Bloodchild and riding horses both have increible risks and both have your life on the line. One wrong move or judgment or action could cost you your life. Risks are just a part of life no matter what planet you are on or who your government is. No matter what happens to someone who needs an animal to be killed to survive or a horse that is having a bad day, it could change you and their life forever. The author, Butler, is very good at showing and describing the risks in her book and it always gets you thinking and trying to predict what will happen in the future and is like an ongoing cliffhanger from page to page. In my life, riding is always the biggest cliffhanger, you have to be constantly thinking about what you are going to do next and what the outcome could be. Horses and people think differently and we don’t know what they are thinking and they don’t know what we are thinking, but we can get them to understand what we are going to do with the correct guidance. It always depends on the situation and you will be always taking risks, either on an alien planet or riding a horse. Risks are a part of everyday life, we can’t run and shouldn’t run away from them.