I had been to the United States a couple of times before, so the six lane roads, disciplined traffic, kind and gentle people was not a novelty to me. However, what was new to me was exploring all these nuances of American culture by myself. What I was most thrilled about the most, was exploring the Midwest– a region of America I had only heard good things of, but had never been to before. In fact, this was a major pull that had brought me to the University of Iowa.

My first impression of Iowa City was a small, homely, picture-perfect, artsy town, with a charm of its own. It was love-at-first-sight – I had fallen in love with the place and the people, who were absolutely outgoing, friendly, and liberal. Being assigned the dorm room that I was assigned, was perhaps the best thing that happened to me. My floor-mates are my closest friends, and meeting them just boosted my number of positives encounters at Iowa. Soon I was settled in and could not wait for classes to start. Before I could realize it I was living my dream—studying Journalism and Mass Communication, at one of the dream schools I had applied to!

Iowa City had given me a sense of independence—I learned to be responsible for myself, choose between what is good and what is bad; and most important—I learned to deal with my problems by myself. The absence of someone spoon-feeding me, had taught me to stand on my two feet.

Now when I look back, I think about how so much good happened to me. How and why did everything fall in place so well? How did I end up loving what I do so much? Was it my friends, the university, Iowa City or journalism- my field of study that had managed to charm me? The answer was always in front of me—it is the experience, that is shaped by all these factors, that has given me a chance to live my dream!

In this bi-weekly column, I will be talking about my experiences as an outsider, in Iowa City and the United States. It will include my encounters—both good and bad, with people, culture, traditions and norms, in Iowa City.

The post Putting Iowa in Perspective appeared first on KRUI Radio.

As college students, we can’t go through a whole day without hearing about sex or having casual sex in Louisville. You can’t seem to escape the horror stories of awkward sexual encounters or the sometimes overly graphic details shared between friends. It wouldn’t be a normal college experience if you at some point haven’t been sexually promiscuous or did something that you may have regretted the next day. Even though this is the case, I still feel like sex is somewhat of a taboo topic in society, specifically amongst young adults.

When I was in high school, no one talked about sex outside of their friend group. Even then, it was in the privacy of their own homes–you couldn’t say anything at school without the fear that people would judge you or tell everyone they know. Gossip was a particularly popular pastime in my hometown like it is in most, so when someone got ahold of juicy secrets about someone else’s sex life it spread like wildfire.

The parents of kids that went to my school were even in on it, especially my ex-boyfriend’s mother.

She loved to talk about my relationship with her son to all of her coworkers, which happened to be peers of my moms. So I had more than one of my “friends” come up to me and tell me that my boyfriend’s mom was telling their mom about how much sex him and I were having based on the number of empty condom boxes that she found in the back of his sock drawer (don’t ask me why he kept the empties there). I have never been so embarrassed to hear about my own life from another person’s mouth.

This instance is why I decided to write this column. I shouldn’t feel embarrassed for having sex with my boyfriend (at the time) or just in general. We should be able to talk about this topic openly and freely without wondering what people are thinking in their head.

This is not to say that people will not judge you, because people will always judge and have something to say about the choices you make. But sex should not be a topic we consider unmentionable–it is something that the majority of us participate in at least one point in our lives and is a normal human act.

So, to wrap this up, this column will be about different subjects and stories pertaining to sex and college life. I will talk about just about everything under the moon that I can think of and will try to not hold back, ensuring that this will be completely honest writing.

The post Sex in Iowa City appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Alright, maybe Leo Tolstoy said something a little different. But still, if he had to go through the intense questioning families put us through during the holidays, I think that he might have said this too.

“How’s college?”

“Where are you going again?”

“What do you think of it?”

“What are you majoring in?”

At this point in the interview, I brace myself. I expect the coming skepticism and warnings.

“English,” I say.

Eyebrows raise and smiles fade.

“Oh! So, what do you want to do with that? Do you want to be a teacher?”

Before I continue with my rant, I would like to make one thing clear. I have a tremendous amount of respect for teachers. Behind every English major lurks a brilliant, supportive English teacher who taught primary english lessons who encouraged her to cultivate a love of language. Educators deserve endless accolades and appreciation for what they do, and I will be proud if I do become a teacher someday.

However, I resent the assumption that the English major funnels its supply into a single profession.

Society assumes that the black hole of the technological era swallowed up practical English careers.

Pursuing humanities in postsecondary education became taboo. American society now considers English a lesser, feminine major. Strong intellectuals want to become doctors and lawyers and engineers, and only socially awkward bookworms want to read as a career. In a society where League of Legends, Playstations, and Netflix exist as leisure “activities,” few people consider reading a worthy past-time.

Even at the University of Iowa, administrators historically segregate humanities from the rest of academia. As most Hawkeyes know, the English-Philosophy Building (fondly named the EPB), feels like a prison. It sits stoically at the bottom of the hill, blatantly set apart from the Pentacrest.

Many people do not consider English a serious field. Most believe that the only plausible option for an English centered career lies in education. The options and jobs lie before the students of business, engineering, and math. Yet, contrary to popular belief, English holds her own against more “serious” concentrations of study.

An article in The Atlantic notes that adults studying liberal arts are not drowning in the job market. Data gathered by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found unemployment rates of recent humanities and liberal arts graduates around 9 percent. Though this seems high, unemployment for students with computer and math degrees fell at 9.1 percent, psychology and social work degrees held 8.8 percent, and social sciences had 10.3 percent.

The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce found the average rate of unemployment across all majors to be 7.9 percent.

I guess English isn’t faring too poorly on the unemployment spectrum.

Who knew math could help support humanity degree value?

I will concede on one point. Though the employment rates for humanity majors equal that of other majors, social sciences majors bring in the dough. A person should not go into English expecting to make bank.

However, a person should also not shy from this major out of fear of not finding a job.

If nothing else, proficiency in literature and writing means effective communication. People who have studied English and literature were trained in the arts of formal writing, proper speech, and argument, all of which are integral elements to any business or organization. A group cannot thrive if it lacks verbal and written communication.

Exact all of the experiments you want, but if you can’t explain to anyone how to replicate the process and what it means, it won’t do anyone any good.

An English degree develops the most essential aspect of success.

The President of Clarion Enterprises Ltd., Bruna Martinuzzi, wrote an article entitled Why English Majors are the Hot New Hires. She notes that employers have started to ask for hires with more liberal arts training. She says, “Employeers who combine a liberal arts major – especially an English major – with another major degree, such as business, science, or technology, will have a competitive advantage.”

So do not be disheartened, fellow English majors, when you receive the inevitable skeptical looks and disdain.

You are not doomed to become a teacher.

The post Paperback Ponderings: The English Major appeared first on KRUI Radio.