*Marijuana*

I wanted to write my additional journal article about legalizing marijuana; it is a highly controversial topic that is being talked about in every establishment across the country.  I recently watched an AWESOME documentary about legalizing marijuana called "The Union: Business Behind Getting High" which talked about the actual process of legalizing marijuana and covered a ton of statistics that compare it to tobacco and alcohol, both of which are much worse than marijuana.  This is what I don't understand--lets be honest, a TON of people smoke marijuana, people from ALL walks of life.  We aren't talking about trashy drug addicts here, we are talking about business people, "normal" blue-collar working class people, students, teachers, politicians, celebrities, you name it--it is across the board.  So if everyone is doing it, and we have the research and statistics to prove that it isn't harmful, why won't the government just legalize it and regulate it?  Just yesterday I read an article in Time magazine about legalizing medicinal marijuana, and how this is going to push us in the direction of legalizing it for everyone, not just those who have a prescription.  If the government can regulate it, they can tax it to make money off of it; on top of this, think about how many less stupid marijuana arrests and convictions there would be.  Really? You're going to lock up some guy for having an ounce of weed in his car? Shouldn't you be out catching the killers and rapists? It makes no sense to me that so many arrests and convictions and tons of people that are in jail are because of possession of marijuana!  Where are our priorities??  Maybe this is all just ranting and raving but I can see the facts as plain as day, just as anyone else could see, and keeping marijuana illegal just makes absolutely no sense to me.  Thousands of people die every year because of drunk driving or from lung cancer related to tobacco addiction; people die from liver disease related to alcoholism.  And yet these substances are perfectly legal and we have the right, at a certain age, to indulge pretty much as much as we want, and the government profits.  Such a double standard.....

The Nature of the Everglades

This article was really only interesting because of its descriptive nature; the information itself, while well written, was so heavy with information that it was hard to stay interested in it; on top of this the article was some 24 pages long--all about the Everglades. Thats passion.  The parts that interested me most was the very beginning when she discussed how the Everglades got its name and the actual discovery of the Everglades.  Its not something I've ever thought about before, so it did catch my attention for a few minutes.  After this introduction, Marjory goes into EXTREMELY descriptive sections of each important part of the Everglades--the grass, the water, the rock, the river of time, and life on the rock.  She describes every detail of the Everglades so concisely that I felt that I could actually be standing there, envisioning what she was writing.  It is evident from the beauty in her descriptions that she loves the Everglades.  Among all of this description was a lesson on how it all started, and where it has come today--from the grass to the water, she talks about its journey.  She talks about the rains, and winds, and how the affect the flow of the water throughout the Everglades;  she critically analyzes breezes and currents as though it all tells some sort of story.   You can learn a ton about the Everglades from this single, 24 page, article.

The People of the Glades

This article captivated me right off the bat because of its descriptive story about the continents shifting back and forth, and the development of prehistoric man and mammal.  I find archeology and anthropology very interesting, so this article kept my attention by bringing in little details such as the first man standing up called "Pithecanthropus erectus".  The details about how man became three races when the land started separating and how these men went about establishing each other's race was insightful;  I've always wondered about these times and what it was like, and its almost as though Marjory Douglas is giving us a little window into those times.  Then she starts talking about the progression of mammals in prehistoric times and the different species that came about and what they are known as today--this is even more interesting than talking about man!  She talks about the movement of mammals into Florida and into the Everglades region--and how this area was overflowing with such a variety of wildlife and how it was a gathering place because of the location...and then of course she starts to talk about how the number and variety of species of wildlife have been continuously declining and what this could be attributed to (man, of course).  This article caught my attention because I really have never been interested in the Everglades whatsoever, and because I wasn't born in Florida (and hated it most of my life for some reason) I have had no desire to learn the history of Florida.  As I grow older however I feel myself becoming attached to this place I call home, and am more interested in learning about it.

What Colloquium Meant to Me

I made meaning out of Colloquium by really immersing myself in the content and trying to absorb as much information about the environment as possible.  I did this because there was something inside of me that felt as though I needed to tell everyone I knew about the information I was learning in class.  My husband, my family, friends and coworkers--anyone who'd listen really.  It made me feel kind of crazy actually; everytime I left class I had learned something new that I had never thought of before....and if I've never thought of it, how many of my family and friends have?  I felt the need to share the information, to educate people on peak oil, climate change, and dwindling fish populations; to tell them about renewable resources and to talk about our dependence on oil; to discuss conservation and tips for reducing our ecological footprint.  These things always weighed on me when I left class, and I realize why. I can no longer feign ignorance; someone has educated me, made me see things I've never seen before.  Someone has taken me to see the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and let me experience Florida's beautiful environment firsthand, something I've never had the opportunity to do before. I can no longer walk around with my blinders on; if I did, I would be living a complete lie, knowing the information that I do.  Now that we've been educated, we have a responsibility to educate others and lead the movement for change.  To stand up and take responsibility for our environment and for our behaviors.  I know it is easier said than done, but with many of us graduating soon into varying disciplines, we can all have a different impact on different populations of people.  I personally will be working in the health field, which will expose me to so many opportunities to educate the public on health diets, organic foods, and other issues.  I will be in a position to advise people and educate them.  We should all use this opportunity to our advantage.

High and Lows of Colloquium

So Colloquium was sort of a roller coaster; there were some classes and assignments that were so enjoyable and others that were miserably boring.  The first handful of classes were all field trips so I had little in the way of negative feedback about those; I honestly had dreaded the idea of field trips but they turned out to be educational and fun, and I was able to experience many things that I would not have if I had not had this Colloquium class.  The last half of the semester was a little less fun; there were days when a really good and interesting documentary was being shown, and others when the movie was actually pretty boring; most of the time, I'd have to say that because of the content, the classes were pretty enjoyable.  

The papers are something that I have heard many classmates complain about; I however enjoyed them more than most, and this is evident with the good grades I received on them (all 100's).  They allowed me to delve deeper into the content and put my critical thinking skills into action; writing papers have become second nature to me since I have been in college for 4.5 years now. :)  These papers all had interesting topics and very attainable word lengths, definitely within college level standards, so I saw little to complain about there. 

I feel as though Prof. Muldoon should have lectured just a little bit more; I'm not sure if he realizes this, but he is actually quite the engaging public speaker, and it is evident that he knowledgeable about most of the topics that are covered in the many documentaries he made us watch; I think this would have brought a little bit more dynamic to the class, and would have kept us on our toes a bit more. :)  We all know his wife just had a baby, so this could be the reason for more movies and less lecturing, since we all knew that class time was his "get-away" time. Haha! 

Nonetheless, this class has definitely had the most impact on me during my college career, and has left an impression on me that I don't think will go away anytime soon.  In a way I am glad that I waited to take this course in my last semester of college, because I don't think I would have appreciated it the same during my sophomore or junior year; this course was a great way to end my undergraduate career and put some very serious topics on my mind as I enter a new phase of my life.

Crude Awakening

I thoroughly enjoyed the videos on oil drilling and was pretty much amazed at how crooked the entire system really is.  I think was astounded me the most, in general, was the fact that nobody seems to think that it is important to notify the public about how we are producing less and less oil from our normal drilling areas....this means something important that isn't being broadcast! The thing about it is that these oil companies continue to lie about how much oil they still have in these reserves, in order to keep increasing the amount of oil they can remove from their reserves....however, this is just giving people false information about our current standings with oil and when we will run out! I know that there are ways to really find out how much oil we have left, but obviously nobody thinks its important enough to discuss, especially since oil is such a money maker.  It completely amazed me when they discussed that they outright lie to people just to continue to make money--don't they see the importance of the situation? I guess not....

Another issue they covered is that our most important drilling areas are running dry; they pictured these places that were once rich drilling areas that are now desolate and dry.  The machinery is all rusted and no good anymore and the view is forever obstructed by what was once a town/state/country's wealth.

The videos were eye-opening to say the least.

Human Impact on the Planet

This is a very broad topic, but after being in this class for as long as I have been, I think I have a pretty strong opinion on it.  I really only know my own impact and the impact of those around me, so within that small population, I am of course generalizing.  That being said, I think we are having a horrendous negative impact on our planet, and that if we continue to behave in the manner in which we are, our planet will be destroyed quickly and there will be nothing positive left for our great-grandchildren and their grandchildren.  So this is what I know about my small population's negative impact: nobody that I am close with recycles anything, nobody I know closely invests in energy efficient appliances or vehicles,  nobody I know drives a hybrid, nobody I know walks or rides a bike to work/school, nobody I know tries to eat organically or grow their own food, nobody I know tries to reduce their consumption of water and/or electricity.  I can say these things with complete honesty, because I sat and tried to think of even one person that I am close with that might do any of these things, and I couldn't come up with anyone, including myself!  We have no real consideration for our environment or the population of wildlife, to be honest, we don't even think about it on a daily basis!  You know what we think about regularly? What we are going to take out to dinner, without thinking about the dwindling fish population; we think about what handbag we want to purchase next, without thinking about how it got here from Italy; we think about how we're going to afford that Ford F-150, without thinking about how much gas we are going to have to buy to fuel that truck.  We are a consumerist society and it is going to take a long amount of time and a ton of effort to try and change that!  Until we make the environment a top priority and start treating our planet with the respect it deserves, I don't think anything will change.

Service Learning

I did my service learning at Virginia B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic, and it was absolutely wonderful--so wonderful that I've continued to volunteer there! It is a free clinic for Charlotte County residents who have no health insurance; it is a semi-urgent care clinic so they handle colds, flu, small injuries, etc.  It has been a rewarding service learning experience because I am a Community Health major and I will someday be working in a hospital or clinic as an Occupational Therapist.  This service learning experience provided me with the knowledge and insight (to an extent) of how a health clinic is run, from policy and procedure, to protocol and practice.  It was so amazing to see all of the different volunteer nurses and doctors who came to give their time in the evenings after they'd already worked a full shift at their day jobs.  These doctors volunteer their time from 5pm-9pm and see anywhere from 10-20 patients an evening, completely free of charge.  They also have specialists that come several times a month, including a chiropractor, a dermatologist, and a heart specialist.  These patients are generally very poor, don't have insurance, and I have seen plenty who are homeless walk into the clinic.  In this economy, with so many people out of work, this clinic is a vital part of Charlotte County and should be implemented in counties all over the US.  It has been an enriching experience to volunteer with Virginia B. Andes Volunteer Community Clinic.

Aldo Leopold

This article really made me think of our environment from a completely different point of view; like the article said, we always think about land as property, with no obligations to it, a stricly economic relationship.  But Leopold begins discussing a concept called land-ethic, in which our "community" is enlarged to INCLUDE our soil, plants, animals, etc.  That way instead of being "conquerors of the land-community" we become members, with a responsibility to help it thrive.  I've NEVER viewed the land (soil, water, plants, animals etc) as a member of MY community; I've never really felt as though I had any responsibility or obligation to it and I've always viewed it as being there to meet my needs.  I think it is safe to say that many people view it this way, and it was only after reading this article that I even thought to think about the land in any other way.  It kind of makes sense as to why our environment is being so mistreated and depleted; if no one feels responsible for it, but feels that they are entitled to any/all the benefits that come from the land, then who is there to take care of it and defend its continued existance? Until people start viewing the land as a part of their community, and each one partake in the responsibility of caring for it, then the environment is going to continue to perish.

Weaning Ourselves off of Energy

There are many things we could do to try and wean ourselves off of energy; it is just a matter of sacrifice.  This is not something most of us are too familiar with, especially myself.  The first thing that we could all do (if it was remotely feasible) was to invest in electric cars; I know that electricity is a form of energy, but compared to oil, it seems to be the lesser of two evils, don't you agree?  If we can we ourselves off of oil, it will reduce our consumption by staggering amounts.  The problem? We aren't prepared to make that transition, not even close to making it;  there is no way that most of us can afford a fully electric car, and even if we could, where are my public charging stations?  Another thing we could all do to try and decrease our dependence on energy is to go natural; what I mean by this is hand wash our clothes to conserve water--hang dry our clothes to conserve electricity; how about we buy our food from farmers markets and grow our own gardens so that we can reduce the amount of transit that our food takes.  These are habits that may take awhile to root, but can make astounding changes towards our goal of being less dependent on energy.

Tragedy of the Commons

So, I did like the journal prompt said, and I typed in Tragedy of the Commons into Wikipedia search bar; what came up was a summary of Garrett Hardin's 1968 essay about how the concept of individual gain, short term gain, can have long term negative consequences.  His example was about how a group of herders sharing a "common" grazing area will keep adding cattle to the "common" because he reaps 100% of the benefit, but the consquence is spread out among the group and eventually the common is depleted for everyone.  This concept can be applied to many different "tragedies" such as pollution, water supply, forresting, energy sources, etc.  It made me think of how selfish people really can be with resources and how most of what we do and consume is for our very own benefit, without thinking much of the greater good or how it may turn out it the end for everyone involved.  I've never really thought about it in this way before, and this concept seems very accurate to our way of living.  Tying into this concept is the free-market issue; if we continue to all have free for all on our resources with very little government intervention, the rate at which our varying "commons" is greatly increased. 

My Ecological Footprint

Soooo I was pretty horrified when my results said that if everyone lived the way I do, we would need 7.25 Earths; that is so ridiculous!! It was a short, simple quiz that spoke volumes of my careless lifestyle and my nonchalant attitude towards the environment.  Its scary to think of how many "me's" there are out there!  Some things that I could do to reduce my ecological footprint would be to eat more organic foods with less packaging and to eat less meat; according the quiz results it is estimated that up to 18% of all greenhouse gases are from meat consumption.  I didn't even know that! I can't think of a meal where we don't eat meat, we are definitely carnivores! Pork chops, tacos, chicken alfredo, etc.  Chicken sandwich or beef burrito for lunch....it never ends!  It actually seems odd to me NOT to have meat at a meal....if I even take meat off my menu for one day a week, I could make a difference.  Another thing to do is to walk or ride a bike more, or try to use public transit; where I am located, it is somewhat difficult to arrange that, but only because a 45 minute bike ride to work seems extremely unreasonable to me.  There is little in the way of public transit for my area, especially since I live on county lines;  I live in Sarsota County but work in Charlotte County, and I don't think the sarasota county transit drives into charlotte county, so this proves to be a problem.  I could also flush less often, brush with the water turned off, turn off all the lights, use energy efficient light bulbs and appliances.  There are so many things we can do to reduce our ecological footprint, and most of them aren't that difficult!!

The One Degree Factor-Reflection

The One Degree Factor was a chilling video; it was well represented and as always with National Geographic, the videography was stunning. The concept of the video was about how the temperature keeps rising and how this is going to affect the way we live our lives and how it will affect our environment--the first thing that really caught my attention was how the rising temperatures of the water were affecting the crab species; they hooked heart-rate monitors up to the crabs and monitored them during a rise in temperature.  Their hearts stopped beating when the water reached just 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer...this is astounding!  If our waters/climates keep rising in temperature, incidents like this will happen to many, many species of wildlife.  Another species that was discussed in the video was the Caribou--as the climate gets warmer, these Caribou are swarmed with mosquitoes that have longer breeding periods due to the warm weather.  This causes them to get distracted and wore out from trying to rid themselves of the mosquitoes all day, and from the blood that is being sucked from them all day long; this keeps them from foraging for food.  In addition to this annoyance, the warmer weather is bringing more snow/precipitation which in and of itself makes it harder to find food--this leads to more death and less calves being produced.  It amazed me that these sort of things were happening across the world due to climate change, things I've never thought about before watching it.  On a day-to-day basis we may not notice much change, but if we are to look at the world 10, 15, 20 years ago and compare it to now in terms of wildlife and plants, we would see how much has changed...

Fort Myers Downtown Trip

I absolutely loved the trip to downtown Fort Myers! It was by far the most fun in college that I've ever had. :) I live in Port Charlotte, so I only drive to Fort Myers for school, never for fun, so visiting downtown FM was very new for me.  I took in all the sites and had fun exploring my surroundings.  I think the thing that fascinated me the most was how much history and culture was in downtown FM!  I always assumed it was just nightclubs, but there are so many little boutiques, museums, art galleries, and performing theaters.  It was very interesting--the scavenger hunt itself was difficult! I thought it was going to be much easier than it actually was and we did not come in first place; on top of that my legs were burning and I could barely walk the next day! Haha! I must be out of shape....but I kept up!  It was hot, sweaty, and hard work, but very worth it.  I think that it was a great field trip and I'm pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves.  At the end of the scavenger hunt, we were all allowed to sit and eat and relax--this would have been fine if we hadn't lost track of time, got lost on the way back to the bus, and were so late the bus had left its spot without us!  We ran (yes RAN) around looking for it, and then we saw it driving toward us-thank God. I thought we were going to be stranded; I should have known Prof. Muldoon wouldn't leave us but whatever, it was a stressful situation nonetheless. ;)

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary

When I heard we were going to a swamp, I wasn't too excited; although Prof. Muldoon promised we weren't going to get dirty or anything, nothing about a swamp sounded like the way to spend an enjoyable evening....the ride there was made enjoyable by a video about our water supply.  It was an interesting video and held my attention during the hour drive to the sanctuary; again, it made me think about things that I never think about (like the water that runs into the culverts that have oil and chemicals in it...this water eventually runs into the ditches, then to creeks, rivers and the ocean).  

When we got to the sanctuary, we were split into two groups, and we started walking across this boardwalk that winds throughout the swamp.  The swamp was GORGEOUS...I've lived in Florida for 12 years, and I've never seen a swamp, let alone a preserve like that. It was so peaceful, so untouched by development, or industrialization.  I can see why our professor would want us to experience this place, and for someone who has not spent any time in nature, it was overwhelmingly beautiful.

The tour however was completely UNDERwhelming; we did not stop more than a handful of times to discuss any of the plant or animal life in the sanctuary, and we were practically running across the boardwalk to reach an overlook point.  Our tour guide thought that it was ultimately important to reach the spot, and while it was a great photo op, and significantly more awesome than anything nature related I'd ever seen, I would have rather slowed the tour down to LEARN more about the swamp.  It felt like were just running to the overlook so we could see the swamp...that's fine, but I want to learn about the swamp! I could tell that Prof. Muldoon felt the same, and that we should have rather taken the shorter route so that the trip would have been more meaningful.

Overall, I value the experience and I have encouraged everyone I know to go see the sanctuary, and I got some great pictures ;)

My Home

This is a layout of my home; I absolutely LOVE being home....there is nothing like being able to relax and feel comfortable just being yourself at home.  I guess that's why I love it so much; there is no pretense there is no show to put on, nobody to impress, just the home you work hard to maintain and the people/animals that share that space with you.  There are two spaces that I really value in my home: my bedroom and my living room.  I really need my sleep, so this is the very basic reason that I love my bedroom so much; my bedroom represents a night of awesome sleep.  I absolutely love my living room, because it is where my husband and I spend the majority our time together; we watch our favorite television shows or just sit and talk there. Its comfortable and usually represents a good time.  

 The living room has a large fluffy loveseat and two recliners to kick back in, along with two end tables...it is the epitome of relaxation! Our bedroom has just enough space for our queen size bed and our large dresser...this is all we have so it works out perfectly! The bed is a pillow-top with a warm comforter and black-out curtains hang over the windows to invite sleeping in too late (which I love to do...). 

When I read the journal prompt for this entry, I initially just thought about it in a physical sense, but as I'm writing about my home, it really isn't about the physical space of our home, but more about what that space represents.  Our home isn't large, but it is the perfect space for me, my husband, our baby (Lilah~bear the dapple dachshund) and our two kittens.
What else could I ask for?  :)

The layout of my home

Reflection: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Cultures

This article was absolutely eye-opening for me, and made complete and utter sense.  Of course consumerism is deeply rooted in culture; in our norms, values, beliefs, traditions, etc.  It all makes sense.  As I was reading this article, not only was I astounded (and horrified) by the facts and statistics, but I couldn't help but think of my own consumption and how my own personal beliefs, values and traditions had shaped my levels of consumption.

Growing up, my parents NEVER recycled. I thought it was weird that all of neighbors recycled, but never us...my parents were just not concerned.  Our air conditioning was always kept at a comfortable 75-76 degrees (which meant it was running all day in our 95 degree Florida weather) and we always brushed our teeth with the water running.  Naturally, these same customs became a part of my own personal belief system, and I don't recycle, my air is always kept cold and I still brush with the water running! Am I proud of this? Not now! Especially after reading this article.  

My mom has been telling me since middle school that I need to get a college degree and get a good paying job so that I can live the "American Dream"--to me that means large house, nice car, and any amenities I could wish for. I've always been concerned about making enough money, and I would be lying if I said that making money wasn't one of my ultimate goals in achieving a college degree; however, every now and then I am plagued by a thought: what if, at the end of the day, I've achieved a great job that pays great money, but not a meaningful life? The article mentions that an annual survey of first year college students shows that being well-off financially has trumped developing a meaningful life...and sometimes I worry that I've fallen into this category.

The article also mentions that it will take decades of hard work to change the attitudes and beliefs of our current culture of consumerism, and I can see that this is true, just by examining by own day-to-day life.  It would take hard work and a level of commitment just for me to start recycling and trying to lower other levels of my consumption (such as water and air conditioning)--so trying to get an entire world to change is going to be a monster of a job. Where do we start??

My FGCU Comfy Spot

There is a spot on our campus that I am specifically drawn to, for a couple different reasons.  My "comfy spot" is the seating area directly in front of the library.  This seating area is literally overlooking one of FGCU's lakes and always has seats and tables available, so I don't have to waste time between classes trying to find a seat.  Having the water so close is very peaceful and can be calming, especially before an exam.  

Another great thing about this spot is that it is steps from Starbucks, and I love coffee! So in between classes, I can grab a frappe or a latte, and relax; also, with its close proximity to the library, I can easily go in and use the services offered there and use the internet quickly if I need to.  

Because it is an outdoor space, it is usually warm, which is usually a pleasant reprieve from the ice cold temperatures of most of my college classrooms; and in the winter, there is a nice crispness in the air that is to be enjoyed in this spot (with a steaming Starbucks latte of course).  

Maybe you should check it out for yourself...

My Sense of Place

I am having a hard time answering this question; I think it's because I don't ever remember having a connection between my sense of place and outdoor educational experiences.  I've never felt a strong connection with Florida environment...I hate snakes, alligators and red ants; and I think that in SWFL the landscape is pretty boring, and ugly. The seasons don't really change in appearance, and this really bothers me!  

In the physical sense of the word, I've never really felt that SWFL is my "place"; I was born in Michigan, lived in West Virginia until the 4th grade, and I've lived here in SWFL since the 4th grade. My sense of place is somewhere where the leaves change color and the trees are tall and bushy; where the landscape involves some hills, maybe even mountains.

In the conceptual sense of the word, my sense of place is is in limbo right now; I am a married woman, who works and is a full-time student. Is my sense of place at home? At work? At school? It's a little of each, and to me, none of these are connected to educational experiences in the outdoors.  My job requires me to work inside all day, everyday; and in my entire college career, I don't remember a single significant outdoors educational experience. 

I am excited to see how this class might change my view of SWFL, and maybe even give me a sense of place right here where I've lived for 12 years.  I am interested to see how this class will connect my sense of place and outdoor experiences.

My Expectations and our first class

So, I'm not going to lie...I was pretty much dreading this class. I mean, I am a Senior, in my last semester and put this class off until now. I've heard mixed stories of the course; there were some students I spoke to that absolutely hated the course, thought it should be a Gordon Rule class because of the amount of writing, and couldn't find a single nice thing to say about it.  Then there were those who said it was the easiest "A" they've ever received. I figured out that it depends on the teacher you get for the course! I wrote down names of the hated, and the loved...and I ended up with neither. I've never even heard of Prof. Muldoon! 

At first, I thought it was a bad thing..."man, stuck with a teacher that I have no heads-up about"...however, the more I thought about it, it occurred to me that perhaps it's better that I don't have any pretenses about the teacher of the course; no pre-determined notions, no pre-meeting judgments and biases...maybe I'm over thinking it, but come on. It's my last semester and getting this done the least painful way possible is all that's on my mind. I don't want you to think that I'm looking for easy "A's" because that's definitely not it; I love to be challenged and I am so sick of taking courses that are just full of BS assignments that the teacher themselves don't even seem interested in. What happened to teachers being passionate about what they teach? Seems like most of them have lost this...except Professor Muldoon, which I learned on Wednesday during our first class. 

I came in, in sort of a sour-ish mood (from pure dread I imagine) and he was so upbeat and full of interesting facts that I was instantly fascinated. I tried to remember as much as possible because all I wanted to do was share this information with my husband and my friends; corny? Maybe, but the class has already opened my eyes and made me take my blinders off. Climate change? Over/under population? Peak oil? These are things I normally try to AVOID thinking about. Not anymore!  

My expectations for this course are now EXTREMELY high, thanks to Prof. Muldoon; I'm pretty sure you stated in class "This will be the best class you ever take at FGCU"...that's quite a challenge and I look forward to seeing how this course will leave a lasting impression of my final undergraduate semester at FGCU! 

(Personally, I'm glad that he has already changed my opinion of the course...its so much easier to take a class from 5-9pm that you actually WANT to go to, rather than one you hate.)  :)