I'm back

I'm so sorry for the complete lack of posts and coverage for the last few weeks. It seemed that everytime I was about to post, I became more overcome by all of the things that I had to say and then it just kept piling up. As of now, Davidson basketball is 3-2 with several big wins in Belk Arena. My Carolina Panthers are atop the NFC South with a big win today over the Atlanta Falcons, and exams have completely overtaken my life. Why is it, I ask, that professors decided that you have so much other meaningless crap work that is due right before exams. It's especially frustrating when that work really doesn't contribute to your learning of the subject. This is why I love my Islamic Civ class so much. Our professor doesn't assume that we need tons of work to keep us on track but requires that we are able to synthesize a century and a half of info that covers 8 sovereign nations in the most volatile part of the world. If we can show that we can do it on the test then we get a good grade. That's what I love. I sit back and study and have conversations with people about the failure of Pan-Arab Nationalism to create identity amongst so many people and how that has created this unique culture of Islamic Radicalism as a new possibility of identity. That's a whole lot more interesting to me than writing 5 "pre-reading" discusssions for class periods in October that I didn't keep up with and are just now due. If I didn't do the readings, then shouldn't my inability to articulate meaningful insight on the final exam reflect that? No, of course, not. There are two possible reasons why pre-class discussion papers are due at the end of the course, without keeping track during the semester: 1) we really are babies and it gives us another grade, 2) God forbid that we actually can figure out how to write a good exam without reading every assignment. That wouldn't reflect well on the professor.
So my thoughts for the night. Give me historical trends, facts and ideas and I will synthesize it for you in the most wonderful canopy of historical analysis that you have ever witnessed. But, if you ask me to write one more damn summary of an Oct. 8 reading, I think I might just submit this piece of writing to spite you.