One of the challenges instructors face today, especially in higher education, is developing courses that offer something beyond what students could teach themselves faster, and perhaps better, with the help of the internet. I've often felt that hours of my time are sucked away, just because I had to have my body in a fluorescent lit box in order to receive credit to meet some requirement to get a good grade, to graduate with a high GPA, so can get into a graduate school with name recognition, so I can meet requirements by sitting in uncomfortable boxes again, so I can get an MFA, so I can check certain boxes when I apply to faculty positions at colleges and universities, so I can stop being in boxes eventually by changing things somehow, eventually, hopefully. Dear god, make it end. Too many people in school, and at work, are required to be physically present for literally no reason connected to anything other than the fear that if they don't, their livelihood will be taken away from them because of some mystically enshrined order of things. This burns petroleum, robs people of time and money, instills a culture of obedience based on fear of punishment that's reinforced by gaslighting those who challenge or question it, and squanders human potential through slashing daylight hours into disparate puzzle pieces that can only be navigated using the assistance of industrial technology, the same way cities are often butchered into segments that can only be accessed by risking your life on the highway. It's enough to create difficulty with forming a thoughtful personal narrative, as life can feel like a barrage of pointless events and obstacles where self-reflection is marginalized as neurotic, and recklessness is rewarded as productive.