My very last semester at Yale started about 365 days ago. I finally got into a class I had been vying for the past three years, "Literature for Young People." This class had the unfortunate side effect of helping me realize I had indeed chosen one of the girliest majors at Yale--literature.
Even in the brim-packed shopping period sessions of the class (where students may sit in on
almost any class to see if they are interested in taking it), I was one of only a handful of males. The final class roster included perhaps three Y chromosomes, one of which decided to drop after the second class. If ever I was in doubt after a couple years of often being one of the only males in a given lichrachur class, I think this was a good sign that dudes don't do Derrida et al.
But in any case, I discovered that apart from her unfortunate and ironically thick, black glasses, one of my classmates was always impeccably dressed, with perfect hair, and the coolest jackets you've ever seen in your life. As I often ended up sketching classmates while my professors expounded upon anything past the first couple of pages of the assigned reading, I managed to sketch her incredible jacket one day.
Towards the end of the semester, the professor had us do group presentations, so I joined the only group I could,
Ms. Z's singing group. I told them that I could never hope to match their singing talent--the cleverly-dressed girl's singing voice was so great, it was almost unfair!--so we decided that I would draw illustrations to animate the Huck Finn song we were writing. By projecting my drawings on the wall (there were some additional in-between drawings I've excluded here), I made a rudimentary animation! I knew I had to simplify my art style, so I studied
Jinjin's comicsing style for inspiration.
Anyway, her singing was incredible, as was our ringleader's, so my inferiority complex was screaming sweet nothings to me about razorblades, wrists, and what magic they make. And one day a side conversation developed somehow where she told us she almost got a part in an upcoming Disney animated movie about some kind of ice princess--she made it past a couple interviews and even got to record her princess's song in a Disney booth!
I learned that not only is the snappy dresser legitimately and extremely talented, but that I also saw her dad at a Master's Tea a couple years prior (his casually comedic abilities are
incredible)! For her final project, she showed the class footage of her maybe 5-year-old self telling ramblingly random stories to her mom. She told us she always wanted to be an actress. And now she's breaking out on HBO! Imagine that!
Chuck the haters, she deserves all good things she gets because she's got the talent to back up anything familial connections grant her. Her abilities are indisputable.
But I've said too much
already.
Reuxben
