Jack of 3 or 4 trades

It’s my last semester at IU, and I’m thrilled to have the privilege of continuing to write for the Indiana Daily Student.

In the words of Lil’ Kim, “I’ve been gone for a minute, now I’m back at the jump off.”

In the few years I have spent writing for the opinion section, I have received such meaningful feedback from so many people, including my mom, my friends who “forgot to read it but will totally read it later” and even some of my mom’s friends.

But being a writer for the IDS has only been one small part of my constantly changing college experience.

I do not want to spend time here trying to analyze and critique the value of my degree. We have plenty of other writers on staff who can do that.

However, after three and a half years of schooling, I am still not entirely certain what the next step is.

I feel like my academic career is not coming to any kind of big conclusion — no thesis or exhibition to reflect on and encapsulate my time spent here.

I don’t even like making scrapbooks, so that is never going to happen.

I don’t know that I could call myself a “jack of all trades.”

More accurately, I could probably be a jack of a maximum of three to four trades with mediocre results, but my interest in constantly developing new skills and exploring different avenues has never really fit into the educational formula.

I’ll be graduating with a bachelor’s degree in studio art, and even within my major I’ve tried so many things that it wasn’t until this last semester I realized I had run out of credits.

I have loved learning about graphic design and painting and even recently discovered an affinity for textile arts. Outside of my major I’ve felt compelled and engaged by classes about history, gender studies and media.

I still feel strong connections to my previous years as a performer, musician and athlete.

But what does it all add up to? To where can I submit my résumé as “person” interested in “things” with special experience at “being alive” and a weakness in “making decisions?”

I do not even have a professional Twitter account. I do not even know what a professional Twitter account is. What do you tweet about on it?

Is it professional to tweet about the weather and only Instagram what you ate for lunch, instead of the pink leather-cased flask you had custom-engraved online for $9.99 plus shipping?

Even though I don’t feel like I am quite ready to enter the professional world, or to let go of the college world, I’m still not really worried about it.

Anyway, if you are a professional businessperson reading this, please hire me. Please.

­— alliston@indiana.edu