This year’s been… quite the ride. Some ups, some downs, some all arounds — in the waning days of 2025 (yikes), I thought it’d be good to take stock of everything that happened. Granted, this is an admissions blog, so this will be an extremely Oberlin-centric review; other things did happen, but they won’t be making an appearance here (any unfounded claims of chupacabra summoning will be refuted).
Spring semester was… hard. I’ve written previously here about my independent research project on gendered depictions of witches in video games which took place over January… and February, and March. I am proud of the finalized piece — I think it may be the best work I’ve written (sorry, other blog entries) and I’m excited to see it out in the world of academic journals (date tbd) — but I was so into my research that the semester snuck up on me. I just kept on working through the end of January and was unprepared for classes to start up again; February in particular was cold, dark, and busy. None of my usual self-righting strategies worked — though Beethoven and Mahler symphonies helped shake the February doldrums, I was still badly shaken by how bleak everything (had?) seemed. I was clearing out the rest of my general requirements this past spring, too, and that fact certainly didn’t help my feelings of general malaise. Computer science and aural skills are cool — I’m glad I took the classes but I’m equally glad they’re done. I had academically overloaded that semester for five classes, was teaching my course on Arcane, running an a cappella group, and figuring out contra dance organizing. It’s something of an inside joke on campus how busy Oberlin students are, but it’s not (entirely) inaccurate. February took the wind out of me, and these activities that I loved made it difficult to catch my breath. This sounds entirely doom and gloom; it wasn’t, there were some lovely bright spots (some of which are in past blog entries) and I can say that I learned a lot — academically and… not — but it’s not an experience that I’d care to repeat.
Luckily, I was headed home for the summer! I had applied to a variety of internships, one of which was the audience analytics position at Minnesota Public Radio. I’d assumed that the newsroom summer internships would go like mini donuts at the State Fair and applied instead for one that I figured very few people would chase. I was right, and had a delightful few months working there. ‘But wait, Marcus,’ I hear astute readers saying; ‘You don’t have any background in statistics, marketing, or… even general analytics!’ To which I reply that you were (mostly) right — when I started the summer, I had a little experience in these respective fields. What I did know, however, was how to communicate large amounts of information effectively and how to learn on my feet, two skills that ultimately made it a great experience. Though it was a stressful summer to be in public radio, I loved the people and the place. Home was also the best place for me to be, I think; finally, I caught my breath and, by August, I was excited to return to Oberlin for the start of another year.
This semester has been far more positive than the previous one — a high bar, that… Though I’m still running the contra club, chairing an a cappella group, and teaching an exco, I have a more manageable list of classes that I’m actually excited about and have balanced responsibilities among other members of the previously mentioned organizations. If this were a good winter fable, I’d have a moral at the end of the story… so I guess it’s ‘pace yourself'?
Oberlin is a place where there’s so many amazing things happening — concerts, lectures, symposiums, parties, hikes — but there’s only so much that one person can do. I love it here and am so glad that all of these events occur, but have learned the hard way that just because one can does not mean that one (always) should. Here’s to 2026!
