As many problems as I have with communication (i.e.: only conversation with a person other than Stephen today ending in tears because of pure awkwardness and frustration as a result of said awkwardness), I just seem to make things worse.
As a student in college, the only extensive knowledge I can bank on is my major. Sure, we all have interests and know many things about them, but majors are different, and we know this. College is surprisingly thorough - at least it has been in my experience. And, since I have almost nothing else to draw upon - like many of my peers - my major is what I am able to speak about.
As a criminal justice major, it's been annoying to interact with people. It's like I'm majoring in nothing because everyone thinks they know more than me about police, law, and social issues relating to such. Granted, I am "just a college student" at this point (and it seems I will be forever), but I actually know a lot. I've learned a lot over the...10 years I've been a fan. I know things - frivolous and essential - about this field and forensic science. For someone to tell me how things are is irritating.
A couple that seem to come back to me a lot are "mean world syndrome" and "actually, did you know violent crime is going down?". Did you know that we can't really pin a time of death? Did you know that luminol is carcinogenic and we don't actually use it much anymore? Did you know that the reason cops pull people over for dumb things is so they can try to use "plain view"? We use superglue to get latent prints. Stippling (or lack there of) helps us figure out how far away a shooter was or if the person may have shot him/herself. Domestic violence calls are the most deadly for police. It's blood spatter. Oh yeah, and the sky is blue. These are BASIC babytown frolics things you should know as a student. Heck, they're things every layman should know! This was all CJ1010 stuff. So don't talk to me about "mean world syndrome" or the crime rate going down, because it's insulting to both of us. And especially irritating for me.
My short, semester-long, illegitimate stint as a social work major was interesting at least. That is, if I could tell anyone about it. Adults and peers alike would ask what I'm majoring in. "Social work." I'd say, with a childlike gleam in my eyes. "Oh." They'd say before turning to my husband. "And what are you majoring in?" Okay, so it sounds lame at first. Like psychology or sociology or something uninteresting and womanly. But it's not. Social work is like...THE major to go into if you want to make a real difference. You learn about what causes the problems in society and social groups, and then you learn how to help people fix them. So you hold therapy sessions for drug abusers. You help get abused kids out of abusive homes. You watch child molesters and other convicts to make sure they're behaving. Heck, my teacher was a guy who'd go catch the guys who escaped from prison. You do some really cool stuff, but no one cared.
Next was my slightly longer legitimate (aka: declared) stint as a mortuary science major. That was somehow worse than both of the previous majors. First of all, when I'd say what my major was, it was interesting. Way interesting and cool, even. Well, it royally sucked to have everyone telling me how interesting it was, yet no one wanted to hear me actually talk about what I was learning. I can't talk about it at dinner, I can't talk about it at social gatherings, so even though it was supposedly so interesting, I still couldn't talk about it.
Okay, I guess I can understand that (I guess), but what else can I talk about then? My other interests are viola - not many people even know what it is, criminal justice - not interested in arguing police issues with you or getting told what I know, geology - which no one cares about, and forensic science - which most people don't want to hear about.
I know this is all over the place, but my point was supposed to be that majors influence what you talk about. Most people will major in something they like. But can I talk about anything I like? I LOVE talking about what I'm passionate about. I just finished a book written by a medical examiner. There was obviously some really cool stuff in there. Can I talk about that? No. I can't talk about my interests because no one knows anything about them or they don't want to hear about it.
But I'm happy to say I'm going back to mortuary science. It may not be this upcoming semester (maybe I'll finally finish my associates in CJ), but it will happen. And, while I'm excited for people to not argue with or belittle me, I'm not excited to know and learn all this cool stuff and then not be able to talk about it again. Maybe this is why people choose to gossip. Their jobs are either too boring or too taboo to have conversations over.
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