Back in High School, I suggested to my AP Literature teacher that we analyze old school Rap and Hip Hop music. She laughed at me and continued on by asking others what we should analyze next. That pissed me off. But what can I say, that was High School, and she was a fun and laid back teacher. Now, I'm in college.
Why does this matter? It matters because the exact opposite just happened in my English 114 class. My professor is a 23 year old graduate student, who enjoys video games, "revolution-like" ideas, and fiction. He assigned a project which involved reading a comic strip online. Yeah, I said it right, COMIC STRIPS as a project! Finally!!! A project or assignment which included reading that I would be interested in!
The class read a comic strip entitled "The Abominable Charles Christopher" which is written by Karl Kerschl. This comic strip was AMAZING! It included every type of emotion you could possibly think of. Happiness, sadness, excitement, and anger. The pictures and the dialogues were so beautiful. They showed crisp explanation and analysis of each character which kept me and every other reader (I think) at the edge of our seats because I was so involved on the story. First of, the illustrations were spot on and showed exactly what the author wanted the readers to understand or feel. Secondly, the dialogues were simple yet it showed everything a reader would want to fully understand the concept. The perfect combination of both of these materials gave the readers an understanding of the emotions of the characters as if they were real. The scenes in this comic strip were so vivid that anyone who's not as great in analyzing as other avid analyzers, would understand them with hardly any problems. This comic strip was an enjoyable experience. Definitely one of the best assignments of my educational life so far. This has become the gateway for me, as marijuana is to synthetic drugs, to other comic strips. The Abominable Charles Christopher shows great display of imagery and text which is why I believe that this should be used as a starting assignment for every incoming Freshman student in college to show them the fun in higher education.
College has taken all of my savings from my "BUSINESS" back in High School. Now, I had to get a job to cover the future expenses. Simply put that College is VERY expensive. This discourages a lot of people, but College is an amazing experience. You encounter something new everyday (I certainly do) and you are exploited to great minds which can affect you in a great way.
James Avery, the actor who portrays Uncle Phil in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" said to Will Smith in Season 3 Episode 4: "I believe that in college, you encounter a person who will change your perspective on things." This phrase has always been stuck in my head for years thinking whether it's true or not. Now I know that it is. My professor introduced a new concept of education to me in the form "Web Comic Strips." Weird, I know, but interesting, isn't it?
