As a Sandbox noob, I naturally asked Recess editor Ross Green, quite simply, what is the Sandbox? Not an altogether crazy question. I’d imagine some of you reading this are wondering, or have at one point wondered, the same thing. When the answer I received included the descriptions “funny,” “not all that serious” and “about current events/ pop culture,” my stomach dropped. Let’s be real. Current events aren’t typically on my “must get done today” crumpled-up post-it note. I’m no Jerry Seinfeld [or Aziz Ansari].
And so I asked myself, what is the current event on the forefront of my and many a Duke student’s mind this week? And bookbagging took the cake. Bookbagging, for all those non-Duke student or professor readers, is choosing prospective classes from which you later choose the classes to actually take. It’s like registration without the commitment, cupcakes without the guilt, tailgate without the following Sunday. It is truly a glorious exercise in noncommittal decision-making.
Some bookbaggers take the “less is more” approach, choosing classes only that are practical, that are “validatable” or fulfill a requirement. Some do it mid-Locopop, others naked in their dorm room. I personally adopt a Kesha-esque mantra and start by creating my “hot and dangerous” schedule, of sorts: no Friday classes, no 8:30 a.m. nonsense, no weed-out pre-med courses, yes social dancing (Why have I never gotten off the social dancing waitlist?) Too often though, the glaring gaps in my areas of knowledge and modes of inquiry come out of the woodwork. So around this time every semester, it’s farewell dear Kesha and hello orgo: the only thing mildly amusing about it is it’s one letter difference from “orgy.” Rage. Silliness aside, take your bookbag and tear it apart—it’s about damn time to live it up. Treat yourself to a little academic intrigue. Feed your inner Kesha Rose Sebert. You know you want to.
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