<\/p>\n
Inspired by the KonMari organizational methods popularized by the Netflix series \u201cTidying Up with Marie Kondo,\u201d a first-year in the College announced that she will drop her HUMA class because it \u201cdoes not spark joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The KonMari method is trifold, beginning with the decluttering of clothing and moving on to books, papers, and komono (miscellaneous). The goal is to sort through each item, determine if the item gives you a heart-fluttering feeling of happiness, and remove items that do not prompt this sentiment.<\/p>\n
Max Palevsky resident Shannon Yates binged the Netflix series over winter break and has since adopted the Shinto-inspired tidying philosophy in her campus life. In her pursuit of only keeping that which sparks joy, Shannon has dropped Media Aesthetics, going against the explicit pleas of her academic advisor to complete her humanities sequence and remain on track to graduate in four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHUMA is mandatory,\u201d said academic advisor Gretchen Martinez. \u201cI have no idea who Marie Kondo is, but she clearly has no conception of UChicago\u2019s core requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shannon is reported to have entered Martinez\u2019s office in the west tower of Harper, kneeled next to a ficus plant, and paid her respects to the cramped room for several minutes in silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter she finished thanking the aura of my office, Shannon took all of her Media Aesthetics books and piled them on my desk,\u201d Martinez recalled. \u201cShe proceeded to stare quietly at each book, announce that it did not spark joy for her, thank it, and gently place it into a garbage bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seemingly unbothered by the fact that she will be ineligible to graduate if she does not complete two quarters of her humanities course, Shannon defended her choice to let go of Media Aesthetics and cleanse her life of negative energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlato doesn\u2019t spark joy for me,\u201d Shannon explained. \u201cNeither do Walter Benjamin\u2019s theories on mass media, or the strange distribution of individual desks around the main table in our Cobb classroom. After letting go of HUMA, I feel lighter and happier than I\u2019ve ever felt before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Shannon is not the first UChicago student to become disillusioned with core requirements, she is the first of Martinez\u2019s advisees to feel zero pressure to complete them.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost none of my students like HUMA. They also don\u2019t like calculus, biology, or physical science,\u201d Martinez stressed. \u201cI\u2019m concerned that if students only complete classes that bring them joy, no one will graduate from the University of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Emily Feigenbaum Jan. 23, 2019 Inspired by the KonMari organizational methods popularized by the Netflix series \u201cTidying Up with Marie Kondo,\u201d a first-year in the College announced that she will drop her HUMA class because it \u201cdoes not spark joy.\u201d The KonMari method is trifold, beginning with the decluttering of clothing and moving on to books, papers, and komono (miscellaneous). The goal is to sort through each item, determine if the item gives you a heart-fluttering feeling of happiness, and remove items that do not prompt this sentiment. Max Palevsky resident Shannon Yates binged the Netflix series over winter break and has since adopted the Shinto-inspired tidying philosophy in her campus life. In her pursuit of only keeping that which sparks joy, Shannon has dropped Media Aesthetics, going against the explicit pleas of her academic advisor to complete her humanities sequence and remain on track to graduate in four years. \u201cHUMA is mandatory,\u201d said academic advisor Gretchen Martinez. \u201cI have no idea who Marie Kondo is, but she clearly has no conception of UChicago\u2019s core requirements.\u201d Shannon is reported to have entered Martinez\u2019s office in the west tower of Harper, kneeled next to a ficus plant, and paid her respects to the cramped room for several minutes in silence. \u201cAfter she finished thanking the aura of my office, Shannon took all of her Media Aesthetics books and piled them on my desk,\u201d Martinez recalled. \u201cShe proceeded to stare quietly at each book, announce that it did not spark joy for her, thank it, and gently place it into a garbage bag.\u201d Seemingly unbothered by the fact that she will be ineligible to graduate if she does not complete two quarters of her humanities course, Shannon defended her choice to let go of Media Aesthetics and cleanse her life of negative energy. \u201cPlato doesn\u2019t spark joy for me,\u201d Shannon explained. \u201cNeither do Walter Benjamin\u2019s theories on mass media, or the strange distribution of individual desks around the main table in our Cobb classroom. After letting go of HUMA, I feel lighter and happier than I\u2019ve ever felt before.\u201d Though Shannon is not the first UChicago student to become disillusioned with core requirements, she is the first of Martinez\u2019s advisees to feel zero pressure to complete them. \u201cAlmost none of my students like HUMA. They also don\u2019t like calculus, biology, or physical science,\u201d Martinez stressed. \u201cI\u2019m concerned that if students only complete classes that bring them joy, no one will graduate from the University of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-komono"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}