I signed up for a healthy and sane schedule of 48 units and a UROP, but then I realized I could also sneak into a comic book class with the same professor that I’d had in Brazil. This was too tempting, so I am now taking 60 units and a UROP, which is not terribly more sane than previous semesters. I think it will be thrilling.

class schedule

do not look at the purple one shhh

1. 2.008: Design and Manufacturing II [The Yo-Yo Class]

The goal: design and manufacture many many yo-yos. We’re in groups of 3-6, and we have all semester to CAD our designs, CNC molds for them, injection mold the parts, and assemble — each step of which involves a lot of iteration. I met with my team this weekend to finalize our design: the moon fish Tui and La from Avatar. Shout-out to Audrey for designing the fish in Illustrator!⁠01 and look out for a joint post from us when this project is done

One of the seniors took the lead on guiding our design. She’s super competent, I loved bouncing ideas off each other, and I’m excited to see where this goes. I’m also hyped to learn the injection molding process.

our whiteboard sketches

2. 2.671: Measurement and Instrumentation

This is my final core MechE requirement before 2.009. The tl;dr is you design your own research project, and you also learn about the research process in MechE. I’m planning to design an experiment around blacksmithing.

2.671 is unique in that rather than having one pset due each week, it has 1-3 assignments due throughout the week. Often one assignment is a pre-lab, due the day of one’s lab section, and another is a post-lab, due a few days after a lab. Other assignments are sprinkled in on any given day. I find this quite stressful as it requires you to shift other work around 2.671 in different ways each week. There is a lot of material to cover, and this is a CI-M; but it seems convoluted and difficult for difficulty’s sake.

3. 2.679: Electronics for Mechanical Systems II

This class is a 6-unit follow-up to 2.678, a core class in MechE. I took it partially because I wanted to learn more about electronics, but mostly because I really enjoyed Prof Banzaert’s teaching style in 2.678. He’s down-to-earth and gives insightful lectures, which are easy to follow even for someone without much electronics experience. This class is mostly lab-based, which has proven to be quite fun given how many people I know in the class.

I’ve been taking classes with MechE for 2 years now, and it’s lovely to come into each classroom and see many faces I know.

this little man (who is also a fridge magnet) activates a magnetic sensor on the circuit board, which switches on the LED.

4. CMS.306: Making Comics and Sequential Art

I signed up for this class on a whim after looking through the entirety of the literature, writing, history, and CMS department course catalogs this December.⁠02 finals week, y'know? One of my close high school friends does a lot of art, and I’d been toying with the idea of writing a graphic novel ever since I read Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. 

I currently draw stick figures and the language of comics is foreign to me, so I knew the best way to make myself begin was to take a class. I think that breaking down scenes into shot-by-shot and line-by-line scripts will help me create stronger scenes in graphic novels and prose. So much language can be carried by art, and what is ‘told’ versus ‘shown’ takes on new dimensions.  This class feels like a new perspective on old storytelling principles.

I find myself extremely intimidated by drawing, probably because it’s the first thing I consciously gave up due to carpal tunnel. I bought a sketchbook for the first time since eighth grade. Walking around the art store, seeing this language I’d set down a decade ago, made me incredibly sad. I want to overcome this and fit drawing back into my catalogue of skills. I’m just gonna see how long that takes, how much it hurts.

notes on converting Fahrenheit 451 and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep into comics, plus a self-portrait.

5. 21L.504: Race and Identity in American Literature

This class overlaps with 2.008 lecture, so shshshsh don’t tell them I am taking it!⁠03 for this reason I may also have to drop it one day :(

This year, 21L.504 is focused on race and identity in American comics. It’s a perfect tie-in to my graphic novel writing class, especially since I don’t have extensive experience in comics to begin with.

This class is also so fun because I love criticizing media. In middle school my big sister asked me to not talk about movies after we saw them because I always had something snarky to say. I have since toned down my inner hater… but sometimes I get to unleash it.

The professor makes sure to highlight the strengths of the works we read, as well as the limitations imposed on authors who publish with big companies like Marvel and DC. It feels like we’ve struck a good balance between studying comics and criticizing them too.

I’m learning the basics and historical origins of classic heroes, like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. I’ve been introduced to many new comics, too. Last week, we read several issues of Nubia and Yara Flor/Wondergirl, two characters who are new tellings of the Wonder Woman mythos.

Extracurriculars

UROP: GEAR Lab

For my UROP, I’m designing the hydraulics of a small scale tractor. It’s more or less in the global development space, which I want to learn more about in MIT and the world at large. The parts for the hydraulic circuit are full of oil.

Half-Marathon

A group of Beast residents are training for a half-marathon! I personally found one half-marathon to be rather exhausting, but peer pressure is an excellent motivator. Maybe I will train this time.

MIT Monologues

I’m writing and performing a new piece! It’s nerve-wracking the second time around, too, but fortunately I have an amazing editor and director to guide me.

Misc.

I am having a bit of a mid-life crisis about concentrating in design or energy, and I’m trying to learn more about both those spaces in industry. I’m trying to be more involved in clubs and to meet new people. I also have some PE requirements left, which feel a bit more pressing now that I am old.

I successfully went to a Berklee house concert. It was a metal concert in a basement and had the youngest, cleanest, and most chaotic mosh pit I have seen.

I found more geese

I’m tryna prioritize having a life over throwing myself into classes. As happens every semester, however, I’m excited by all these classes and what I will learn from them. Let’s see how it goes.