#uncrcow

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. After generations of systemic white supremacy, settler colonialism, and capitalism reigning in the United States, we need more than equality. 

 What we need is equity.

Equality, as a method, is making sure that everyone is provided with the same amount and quality of resources. Equity, on the other hand, is tailoring the amount and quality of the resources to match the need. Equity means that those who have been negatively affected the most by racism, colonialism, and capitalism get more resources. On the flip side, those who have benefited from racism, colonialism, and capitalism will get fewer resources. In fact, those who have benefited from racism, colonialism, and patriarchy will probably have to give up some of their resources for equity to become a reality. 

In practice, equity can look like reparations, decolonization, and prison abolition.

Paying reparations is one way to make up for the harm done to groups by those who abused power. For example, Princeton Theological Seminary recently announced it will give $27 million to account for the school’s historic ties to slavery. However, the notion of economic reparations for past injustices and continuing disparities has the potential to be about more than just money. For supporters, a reparations program would aid in helping people imagine and create peaceful futures after centuries of crippling injustice.  Reparations are about helping people imagine and create “peaceful futures” after centuries of death and strife.

Decolonization is the complex and “unsettling” work of acknowledging Indigenous sovereignty and returning stolen land and resources to Indigenous people. As Tuck and Yang write, “Decolonization eliminates settler property rights and settler sovereignty.” Perhaps it is becoming clear that equity might be a tough future to look forward to for those who have historically held power. Equity requires the tearing down of structures that are the foundation of our nation.

Another step toward equity in the United States is prison abolition. Critics contend that the prison system in the United States continues the work of slavery by keeping many Black Americans poor, disenfranchised, and locked up. Advocates of prison abolition argue that money that is spent building jails could be put into education, housing, healthcare, and restorative justice projects. All of these options look more like equity than prisons do.

References:

Cohen, P. (2019). What Reparations for Slavery Might Look Like in 2019. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/23/business/economy/reparations-slavery.html.

Dotson, K. (2018). On the way to decolonization in a settler colony: Re-introducing Black feminist identity politics. AlterNative: An international journal of Indigenous peoples, 14(3), 190-199. doi.org/10.1177/1177180118783301.

Kuttner, P. (2016). The problem with that equity vs. equality graphic you’re using. Cultural Organizing. Retrieved from http://culturalorganizing.org/the-problem-with-that-equity-vs-equality-graphic/. 

Roberts, J. & Matz, A. (2014). Prison abolition. In B. A. Arrigo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of criminal justice ethics (Vol. 1, pp. 702-704). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781452274102.n253

Shanahan, E. (2019). $27 million for reparations over slave ties pledged by seminaries. The New York times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/nyregion/princeton-seminary-slavery-reparations.html.

Tuck, E., & Wayne Yang, K. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, educations & society, 1(1), 1-40. Retrieved from https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/18630/15554.

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Americans seem to have a funky relationship with umbrellas. Some outsiders and visitors have observed this little phenomenon: they see Americans forgo the umbrella and just trudge through the rain.

In contrast, some East Asian cultures (Japan, for example) practically require an umbrella for rain AND shine. It’s just what people do to protect themselves from the rain and the sun.

So what’s the deal with Americans and umbrellas, then? Don’t they want to get protected from the elements?

While there aren’t any scientific explanations to determine what causes this phenomenon, a handful of social articles and observations in people’s blogs on the internet give way to a few reasons:

1. People don’t want to be inconvenienced and hassled by having to carry umbrellas.

2. People aren’t so bothered by a little rain here and there; if it’s gonna rain, you’re probably gonna get wet!

3. People will just deal with the weather as it comes (sometimes forgetting the umbrella or sometimes just purposefully leaving it).

People in Oregon and Washington (and most of the Pacific North West, really) for their year-long rainy weather, are some of the people who are most notably anti-umbrella. One of the main reasons that Oregonians don’t carry an umbrella is the sheer inconvenience of having to carry it.  People want to keep their hands free, and for a place where there seems to be varying levels of perpetual mist, it’s just too much of a hassle having to worry about it if you’re going to get wet anyway.

Another reason that people have cited for keeping their umbrellas at home is because it’s just rain! If it’s not a hurricane or some torrential downpour, people don’t see the big deal when it comes to getting a little wet. After all, it’s not as if most people are going to be walking in the rain from destination A to destination B for much too long. And if they are, a lot of people prefer to wear raincoats and parkers – again for convenience and to keep their hands free.

Plus, think about the wind! So many people have endured the demise of their umbrellas in the midst of a downpour when it inevitably turns inside out. Sure, there are companies who have created much stronger and sturdier umbrellas that can weather (ha!) the storm, but most people would rather just turn their head away from the rain and keep it moving.

Something that’s a little bit subtler about this phenomenon is the “cool” factor of being able to brave the storm. For people in the PNW, seeing someone with an umbrella can show natives of who is from that area and who isn’t. Something a little bit more insidious is this notion of going through the rain without an umbrella can be seen as “tough and masculine” considering the history of umbrellas, by way of parasols, were considered as feminine accessories in years past.

Ultimately, for the people who forget their umbrella or leave home without it, the world doesn’t stop. People will just have to think of much more creative ways of covering themselves, with newspapers or backpacks or plastic bags over their head. Or, they’ll accept their fate from the rain gods.

References:

https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2017/03/do_oregonians_really_hate_umbr.html

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/the-complexities-of-using-an-umbrella-in-new-york-city/

https://bite-japan.com/kako-m/umbrella-e.html

https://blog.willamette.edu/worldnews/2015/02/27/why-don%E2%80%99t-you-americans-wear-socks-and-use-umbrellas/

https://q13fox.com/2017/10/17/we-dont-want-no-stinkin-umbrellas/

https://midnightamane.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/umbrella-culture/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11169323/Why-real-men-dont-use-umbrellas.html

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All memes go through a life-cycle. How quickly they go through them however, is dependant upon the meme’s popularity and how widespread it becomes. Patrick Davidson, in “The Language of Internet Memes,” a chapter in The Social Media Reader (2014), defines an Internet meme as a “piece of culture, typically a joke, which gains influence through online transmission,” such as social media.

This, of course, is helped along by Internet culture and sites such as Tumblr, Facebook, and Omegle. These sites often take memes and “run with it,” turning the image or GIF into almost a joke of itself at its peak popularity. The constant cycle of memes being selected, adjusted, and reposted, allows for many iterations of the original meme, with the original intent usually lost. A sign of the downfall of a meme is when it over-saturates social media, to the point where even your grandparents are sharing it on Facebook (think of all the Minion memes - they couldn’t be escaped).

Sometimes corporations, such as Arby’s or Chili’s will try to “cash in” on meme culture to appear hip and cool. The most notable one of these is Denny’s, a 24-hour breakfast restaurant. Through their tumblr, they are an “early adopter of the corporatization of memes,” and have since built a legacy around their usage of social media.

The lifecycle can be long or short. In the instance of the “Harlem Shake” phenomenon from 2013. Everywhere you looked on YouTube, there was a “Harlem Shake” video; perhaps you even participated in one! You might have thought the trend died rather quickly after it shot to fame, but it actually is still going, as evidenced in this article from 2014. Since the meme is “always...new to someone,” it will continue to evolve and thrive online, even in the quiet corners of the Internet.

We now turn to Tumblr, a hotbed of meme activity. The intensity of meme-fans vary here, from a passing “like,” to entire blogs dedicated to tracking the histories of individual memes, from their first inception to when and where they spread to. One Tumblr user however, has figured out the lifecycle of a meme, based on their own experiences. Originally six steps, other people have added on to make it eight steps (at last count). Starting with Birth, the meme then goes through a rise in popularity, peaking at Stage Four: Oh Lord It’s Everywhere, before being used ironically, and eventually dying off; in rare cases, it could become a Vintage Meme.

So when you miss a meme, bring it back yourself! Or, wait long enough and it’s sure to make a comeback as tales of old.

References:

(n.d.). Denny’s Blog. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://blog.dennys.com/

(n.d.). Meme Archives. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://memearchives.tumblr.com/origins2013

(2015, July 15). Meme Documentation. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://memedocumentation.tumblr.com/post/124203616590/margotkim-tedathon-margotkim-ah-i-see

(n.d.). Meme Documentation. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://memedocumentation.tumblr.com/tagged/memes+explained

(2016, October 8). Themysticdreambouquet. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://themysticdreambouquet.tumblr.com/post/151540756154/the-life-cycle-of-a-meme

Davison, P. (2012). The language of internet memes. In M. Mandiberg (Eds.), The Social Media Reader. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/uncch/reader.action?ppg=131&docID=10535662&tm=1490127372994

Dewey, C. (2014). What makes some internet memes immortal. Washington: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1623136801?accountid=14244

Rankin, S. (2017, February 7). After 11 Long Years, Chili’s Finally Forgave The Office’s Pam Halpert. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://www.eonline.com/news/827456/after-11-long-years-chili-s-finally-forgave-the-office-s-pam-halpert

Shugarts, A. (2013). Survival of the fittest: An examination of the high park fire news meme lifecycle on news organizations' facebook and web pages. Retrieved from http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1413313931?accountid=14244

Image References:

Harlem Shake GIF. Digital image. GIPHY. https://giphy.com/gifs/harlem-shake-ENfPkrr3m1o1G

I Want to Believe GIF. Digital image. GIPHY. https://giphy.com/gifs/i-want-to-believe-Hv4gRoRw2MmjK

Justin Gammon GIF. Digital image. GIPHY. https://giphy.com/gifs/lol-halloween-wtf-l2JhLtBeXBa3hOq64

This climate science arm of the United Nations highlights the causes of climate change and how to mitigate it. You can read a digestible version of the IPCC’s latest findings in its 2014 Summary for Policymakers. The next IPCC reports (AR6) should start coming out next year.

The policymaker summary explains that the main human contribution to climate change is the consumption of fossil fuels (i.e., oil, coal, natural gas) for energy. Burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases (GHG), including carbon-based molecules like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, into our atmosphere.

Drilling down a bit (pun intended), The Guardian and climate scientist Richard Heede identified 20 fossil fuel and energy companies responsible for a third of the total carbon emissions since 1965.  Most are government owned.

With much of our carbon emissions coming from huge corporations and government entities, how can any of us make a difference?

Columbia University’s Earth Institute lists broad categories to help you assess your current lifestyle and provides tips to minimize your carbon footprint. How you go green will look different depending on your circumstances. More than anything, reflect on the major ways you contribute to carbon emissions and identify steps you can put into action.

1. Food

o   Consider that vegetarian or vegan life. Purchasing and consuming less meat and dairy means less CO2 and methane from feed production and processing.

2.  Clothing

o   Buy less new and more second-hand clothes. 80lbs of the apparel we each throw away per year produce methane as they decompose in landfills.

3. All purchasing habits

o   Use reusable bags at check out and support environmentally conscious businesses when possible.

4. Home

o   Energy is a large contributor to carbon emissions. Think about how to be energy efficient at home. Swap out incandescent light bulbs for more efficient LEDs. Use less hot water, keep your thermostat a bit higher in summer (or use fans) and slightly lower in winter.

5. Transportation

o   Find greener forms of transportation when you can. This may mean biking or walking more, or using public transportation instead of driving yourself. If you fly a lot for work or pleasure, this is likely the biggest part of your carbon footprint. When you have to fly, go non-stop (landing and takeoff use more fuel) and sit in economy class (more people are transported per flight in economy compared to business class).

6. Carbon offsets

o   Financially support climate protection projects and organizations.

So you make all these lifestyle changes. Then what? The major carbon producers are still massive fossil fuel and energy companies.

7. Political Action

o   Like it or not, we all play a role in getting the policy and law makers to prioritize reducing carbon emissions while moving us toward more sustainable energy solutions. This means voting and getting politically involved at the local and national level to let your representatives know your stance on climate change and carbon emissions.

References:

Taylor, M. & Watts, J. (2019). Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions

IPCC. (2014): Summary for Policymakers. Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Edenhofer, O., R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S. Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx, eds.). United Kingdom and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.  https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_summary-for-policymakers.pdf

Cho, R. (2018). The 35 Easiest Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/12/27/35-ways-reduce-carbon-footprint/

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There’s a long history of calendar reforms in the Western world that go roughly from pre-historical lunar-based calendars, to the Roman calendar (still lunar, and very complicated), to the solar-based Julian calendar, which eventually led to what *most* of us follow today, the Gregorian calendar (still solar based!). That’s not even including calendars from non-Western traditions (of which there are tons, some that are still in common modern use).

To throw another layer on top of all that, there are sometimes distinctions made between civil calendars (typically used for civil/official/administrative purposes) and religious calendars (such as the Islamic calendar, which is lunar based). Some countries even use a dual calendar system that incorporates both, such as Saudi Arabia, which didn’t adopt the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes until 2016. Phew, that’s a lot already!

Historical searches for the “perfect” calendar have run into issues integrating lunar-based phenomena, such as the seasons and equinoxes, with solar-based phenomena, such as months. Lunar-based calendars were so popular in pre-history because the moon goes through phases which are easily, physically observable without the use of additional instrumentation; thus, the oldest/traditional holidays are usually based on lunar cycles. Tradition is difficult to break, so in keeping a traditional holiday calendar, it’s impossible to throw out the concepts of months and other lunar-based schematics. However, seasons and equinoxes also have their important traditions, some of which are functionally necessary (such as for planting and harvesting).

And yet, solar-based calculations come with their own issues. The solar (or tropic) year on Earth doesn’t come down to an equal, round number of days, and it varies depending on what you use as points of reference, the calculations you use, and it changes over time (*insert complicated mathematics here*). If the nitty-gritty of all of this fascinates you, you might consider a career in physics and astronomy!

So, what’s the deal behind the Gregorian calendar’s popularity? It’s basically a “close enough” situation that comes down to accuracy and consistency. It improved upon previous iterations of the calendar (which were already pretty accurate to the solar/tropic year) by shortening the average calendar year by 0.0075 days to prevent calendar drift caused by precession of the equinoxes.

What does this mean for alternatives? Leap week calendars seem to be some of the most popular suggestions (as opposed to our current leap year type calendar)- they maintain a whole number of weeks every year, and with every year starting on the same weekday. Some of the most common alternative proposals are based around leap week calendars, most of which are considered perennial calendars. Perennial calendars are based on a solar year, and would keep the same dates, weekdays and other features – some common proposals involve 13 months of 28 days each (International Fixed Calendar, Invariable Calendar, Positivist Calendar). This means that the day of the week that you were born on, would be your birthday every year – great for Saturday birthdays, not so great for Monday ones!

You know my biggest concern with any sort of calendar reform, though? Space travel and aliens, obv. Any calendar that’s based on the Earth’s lunar OR solar cycles will become moot once we get out into the great beyond! Whether it’s extraterrestrials coming here or us moving to other planets, how do we use mutually understandable dates with those populations in the future?

Of course, this is a conundrum that has already been resolved by the galactic experts in Star Wars! The Galactic Standard Calendar was (is?) based around the solar cycle of Coruscant, the capital of the Republic, and thus the most “politically important world in the galaxy.” What does that bode for us Earthlings? TBD. Once we establish interplanetary relationships, it’s anyone’s guess who will be the “big dog in town.” Call me cynical (or maybe just hopeful for better options!) but it would shock (and disappoint) me if we were the most advanced/“civilized” planet out there in the entirety of the cosmos (not to mention it’s very statistically unlikely), so I’ll be betting against an Earth-based standards calendar for the future. Sorry fellow humans! #teamalien

Not buying all the alien talk? My personal “alternative” calendar of choice is a whole lot simpler: give me an advent-style calendar (but year-long!) with treats inside. I have no preference at all what system it follows - lunar, solar, whatevs. What day of the week is it? Who cares! Have some chocolate. 😊

References:

Cohen, E. (2000). Adoption and Reform of the Gregorian Calendar. Math Horizons, 7(3), 5-11. www.jstor.org/stable/25678248

Doggett, L.E. (2012, Oct 14). Calendars. NASA Eclipse. https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/calendars.html

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (N.d.) Precession of the Equinoxes. https://www.britannica.com/science/precession-of-the-equinoxes

Galactic Standard Calendar. (n.d.) Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Galactic_Standard_Calendar

NASA Glenn Research Center. (n.d.). Calendar Calculations. https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k12/Numbers/Math/Mathematical_Thinking/calendar_calculations.htm

Nothaft, C.P.E. (2018). Scandalous Error: Calendar Reform and Calendrical Astronomy in Medieval Europe. Oxford University Press. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/DUKE008292861

Richards, E. G. (1999). Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History. Oxford University Press. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb4000676

Steel, Duncan. (2000). Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. J. Wiley. https://catalog.lib.unc.edu/catalog/UNCb4325098

Šuráň, J. (1997). The calendar of the future. A world calendar with leap week. Vistas in Astronomy, 41(4), 493–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0083-6656(97)00033-0

Van Buitenen, J.A.B., Bickerman, E.J., et. al. (N.d.). Calendar. Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar

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The study of language is fascinating, and dialects are interesting in particular because of their different sameness. How that different sameness develops—in North Carolina and around the world—is a story with elements unique to time, place, and peoples.

The story beings with human migration. Where people settled, who they were, and how they spoke all have a large influence on dialects (Etter and Lantolf, 2005). Throughout history, new migration patterns have been created and new settlements have formed. As this happens, dialects can change to reflect a shifting population, or they can be erased altogether as the population of a place diminishes. In this way, dialects can tell us a lot about a place’s history (Reaser and Wolfram, 2014).

So, let’s take a look at North Carolina’s story. Wolfram and Reaser (2014) write extensively on what they call “the origin of language diversity in North Carolina.” 12,000 years ago, North Carolina’s linguistic landscape started to be shaped by groups of nomadic Paleo-Indian hunters. These separate groups had little contact. Eventually, some of them created permanent settlements, and the Siouan, Iroquoian, and Algonquin peoples had a presence in North Carolina, each with their own languages. The linguistic imprint of these peoples is felt across North Carolina, as many American Indian words made their way into the dialects associated with the regions they inhabited.

In the 1600s, the English colonized the Carolinas after a failed attempt resulted in the disappearance of a colony, known now as the “Lost Colony.” These new colonizers came from different parts of England, which had their own unique dialects, and from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. Classes and regions of England—and their dialects—mixed in the colonies. Later on, the linguistic variation of the colony was broadened with Dutch, German, and Polish settlers, small groups of homesteaders, as well as victims of slavery from Africa. Tobacco and the wealth it generated brought more settles from Europe, and southeastern England in particular. These dialects informed the regional dialect of northeastern North Carolina.

Charleston, South Carolina was another popular colony, attracting settlers from England, France, Scotland, Ireland and Germany. The large population of slaves in the region spoke pidgin and creole English. All of these linguistic influences spread into North Carolina.

In the 1700s, most of North Carolina’s population lived in the eastern part of the state, along the coast. As the 18th century progressed, settlements moved west into the mountains and populated the piedmont. More Europeans from increasingly varied parts of Europe settled at this time, and the slave population increased.

It is these European, African, and American Indian languages and dialects that continue to influence how English is spoken in North Carolina today. The coastal dialects still contain a mix of features from the various English dialects of the colonizers that settled there, the highland dialects are influenced by the large Scots-Irish population that settled there, the Outer Banks was shaped by early English arrivals.

The concentration of dialects in the coastal and mountain areas today are a direct result of the pattern of small groups establishing themselves and being separated by terrain or water, allowing the dialects to strengthen, while the piedmont has always been the part of the state in which dialects mix together and populations shifted more easily, diluting the presence of dialects. This same pattern can be seen today, in which immigrants and people from other states move to the most populous counties of North Carolina in the piedmont, further changing the dialect landscape there. Dialects continue to grow, change, and be replaced as the human story continues both here and across the world.

References:

Etter, S. and Landolf, J. (2005). Probing Question: How did regional accents originate? Available at https://news.psu.edu/story/141216/2005/08/29/research/probing-question-how-did-regional-accents-originate

Reaser, J. and Wolfram, W. (2014). Talkin’ Tar Heel: How Our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.

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To break down this question, I want to talk about the sixth sense. And no, I’m not talking about the M. Night Shyamalan classic film.

I instead mean proprioception. Broadly, proprioception refers to one’s ability to sense bodily position and the cognitive awareness of the body in space. According to a 2012 paper by Uwe Proske and Simon C. Gandevia, proprioception encompasses “the senses of position and movement of our limbs and trunk, the sense of effort, the sense of force, and the sense of heaviness.” In part supported by our other senses, proprioception gives us our sense of our being located in a body.

While the term proprioception has been used since the early 1900s and efforts to study the sense of bodily self have been ongoing since the early 1800s, recent technological advances (especially the MRI) have expanded the potential for research on this topic. Through modern neuroimaging, researchers have found how other sensory inputs (like vision and touch) influence our proprioceptive sense.

A popular experiment commonly referred to as the Rubber Hand Illusion can shed light on how the brain understands the body and how it can be manipulated. To see this in action, you can watch this 2011 video from BBC. Beginning in 1998, researchers have used the following general setup to help us learn how the brain understands its sense of ownership over the body: a participant sits at a table with one hand resting on the table top while the other hand is hidden from his or her view. In some experiments, the hand was placed in a special box under the table. In other scenarios, one hand is placed outside the participant’s view behind a wall on the table. A realistic rubber hand is then placed in the participant’s line of sight, often parallel with the participant’s shoulder. The forearm and wrist of the rubber hand are covered, but the fingers remain visible. The experimenter then often uses paintbrushes to stroke fingers on both the participant’s visible hand and the rubber hand.

The combination of tactile and visual input has multiple effects that have been reproduced in repeated studies. When surveyed, participants often report that they feel what the rubber hand feels, that it feels like the rubber hand is their own, and that their hidden hand does not feel like it belongs to them anymore.

A 2011 variation on the experiment  found that the illusion of ownership of the fake hand could still be induced even when someone’s finger was anaesthetized and passively moved by the experimenter. This showed that muscle receptors activated through movement, and not just skin and visual receptors, heavily influence one’s sense of body ownership.

Questions related to our sense of body ownership have far-reaching implications. Francesca Garbarini seeks to apply proprioceptive research findings to rehabilitation efforts for people who have a distorted sense of body ownership as a result of a stroke or other brain damage.

References:

(10/15/10). The Rubber Hand Illusion - Horizon: Is Seeing Believing? - BBC Two. Retrieved October 28, 2019, from BBC website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk

Bennington-Castro, J. (2013, November 29). Sensing your own body is more complicated than you realize. Retrieved October 28, 2019, from Gizmodo: https://io9.gizmodo.com/sensing-your-own-body-is-more-complicated-than-you-real-1473461740

Proske, U., & Gandevia, S. C. (2012). The Proprioceptive Senses: Their Roles in Signaling Body Shape, Body Position and Movement, and Muscle Force. Physiological Reviews, 92(4), 1651–1697. Retrieved from https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00048.2011

Sample, I. (2016, October 20). “Rubber hand illusion” reveals how the brain understands the body. Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/20/rubber-hand-illusion-reveals-how-the-brain-understands-the-body

Walsh, L. D., Moseley, G. L., Taylor, J. L., & Gandevia, S. C. (2011). Proprioceptive signals contribute to the sense of body ownership. The Journal of physiology, 589(Pt 12), 3009–3021. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.204941

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You’ve probably heard the saying “college is what you make of it” at some point in your life. That quote may sound like it’s just telling you to work hard, but it’s also telling you that there are infinite customizations on the college experience, and what you choose to do outside of class will give your degree context and meaning.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work hard, but there are ways to work smart that can free up some of your study time for other things. The UNC Learning Center has a whole host of tips and tools dedicated to easing the path to academic success, whether you need help with taking notes or test prep. Some of my favorites are:

1. Get enough sleep

2. Create a positive self-script (easier said than done, but life-changing)

3.  Find a time management system that works for you, whether it’s a planner, Google Calendars, or something else

4.  Don’t be afraid of using office hours or talking to your professor 

5. Get enough sleep

And what are those “other things” you now have time for since you’ve studied so smart, you ask? There are student clubs, for one! With over 800 student organizations here, there’s probably one for you. Joining a club can help you stay in touch with your hobbies (a constant struggle) and make friends outside your major. You could also get involved in your field of study outside the classroom through your department’s events or through undergraduate research. If you want to learn a new skill, UNC Libraries have got you covered! If an internship is what you crave, start your search at University Career Services.

This is all to say that “making the most” of your time at UNC is subjective. Unfortunately, there is no universal combo of clubs and events and classes that unlocks The Ultimate College Experience, but there is definitely a combo (or multiple combos) out there that will unlock the opportunities you want to get or the skills you want to learn. Taking classes that interest you, talking with your professors and other students in your major, and exploring extracurriculars will help you discover what combo is right for your goals.

Good luck, and welcome to UNC!

References:

Tips & Tools. (n.d.). UNC Learning Center. Retrieved from https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/

Discover a Student Organization. (n.d.). UNC Carolina Union. Retrieved from https://carolinaunion.unc.edu/departments/student-life-leadership/student-organizations/discover-student-organization

Find a Research Opportunity. (n.d.). UNC Office for Undergraduate Research. Retrieved from https://our.unc.edu/opportunities-and-courses/find-a-research-opportunity/

Upcoming Events. (n.d.). UNC University Libraries. Retrieved from https://calendar.lib.unc.edu/calendar/unc-libraries/?cid=2998&t=d&d=0000-00-00&cal=2998

Internship Search. (n.d.). UNC University Career Services. Retrieved from https://careers.unc.edu/students/internship-search

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