While reading week is a time meant for catching up on assigned readings, completing assignments, and studying for upcoming midterm exams, it is all too easy to spend the week relaxing, drinking, and ignoring the dread of returning back to school. Here at The Medium, we caught up with some students who were actually able to accomplish something over the mid-semester break.
Some students worked on their personal goals over the week, like Seth Williams, who tasted stardom and is now addicted. “I released my album on Spotify, and it got a whopping 16 streams. Hollywood, here I come!” After dropping out of UTM to pursue his bustling music career, Williams only made it to Hollywood North, more commonly known as Vancouver, where, like many artists, he is now one of those affected by the opioid crisis. You can find him at an open mic in a safe injection site.
Other students, like Harry Green, a fourth-year gym rat, spent the week focusing on their romantic aspirations. “I decided to focus on my love life this reading week. During the semester I tend to hit the gym and the library more than I’m able to hit it off with the ladies. I made great progress over reading week though. I slid into 16 different Instagram DMs and managed to get three responses. One of the girls turned out to be on the other side of the world, one is a lesbian, and the third has a boyfriend but hey, I still got a response. Hardly working or working hard, I’m still hard.”
Aside from working on their careers, students were able to work on their reading and writing skills.
Kyle Murphy, an English major, tried to put his degree to good use. “I spent the reading week perfecting my best masterpiece yet, the ultimate apology to my ex-girlfriend who I dumped two years ago. I feel like the earlier drafts of all the apologies I texted her, emailed her, faxed her, left on her car window, and taped to a rock and threw through her window, really helped me create a beautiful piece of written work. I mean sure, yeah, I may have ‘accidentally’ killed her hamster and yeah, I may have cyberbullied her friend, but c’mon. I’m only human.”
Alana Baxter, a fourth-year History major, shared her favourite piece of literature with The Medium, “My favourite thing I read over reading week was a five-message seven-paragraph text thread from my ex-boyfriend trying to apologizing for his shitty behaviour. Definitely my favourite piece of fiction I’ve read recently.” Baxter’s friend chimed in, “My favourite thing I worked on was editing my friend’s response to her ex-boyfriend. Her sentence structure needed some work, but the intent was definitely there.”
And finally, an anonymous Editor-in-Chief confided to The Medium, “My main focus for reading week was to work on my relationship. I did so much work on it that I’m now single.”
With just under half of the semester and the exam season still looming, we here at The Medium hope all students are able to put their mental strife aside and focus on the course content that will have no tangible impact on their future.
