You know, ever since I could remember starting college, I would always get random questions from my family members about college. I would get a range of questions asking me how school was going, was I getting straight A’s, or was I making a lot of friends. Sounds like pretty reasonable questions, right? Well, it gets worse. You see, while I love my family and friends, the two questions I hate to hear from them are, “Why did you choose English as your major” and “What are you going to do with that”? You ever watch the movie Kill Bill directed Quentin Tarantino? You know the part when she’s ready to have a fight scene and the screen keeps flashing red symbolizing her anger? That’s how I feel sometimes when I hear those dumb questions. But out of love of my family, I just take a deep breath, relax, and answer those questions as kindly as possible.
I remember one time I got asked those same questions at the library when I was at school. I was busy working on a paper for one of my classes and this old guy right next to me just started talking to me out of nowhere. He was going on telling me about how he was a townie in Clarion and how he wanted to go to college but he had kids to take care of at a young age. He said how if he did go to college he would major in business because he said, “that’s where the money is at”. We were having a completely normal conversation and you would think nothing could go wrong, right? Wrong! Of course he decides to ask me about my major and of course I tell him my major is English. As soon as I said that he made a twisted face as if I said something that offended him. The kind of disgusted face you make when you see someone throw up or the kind of disgusted face I make when someone tells me they don't like pizza. He then had the nerve to say, “That’s just a waste of time and money, don’t you think. Other than being a teacher what could you possibly do with that”? Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know I had to pick a major only because I knew it was going to make me a lot of money. But hey, that’s just me being a dumb English major I guess.
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It’s not like when I got to college I just randomly decided that I wanted to major in English for four years. I fell in love with English way before then. During my sophomore and junior years of high school, I had some awesome English teachers who opened my eyes to literature I never thought in a million years I would enjoy. I even got the experience of working at my high school writing center to not only improve my skills as a writer, but also help others with their work as well. I always knew I wanted to make stories when I was younger, but those years in high school was when I knew for sure that this is what I wanted to do as a career by becoming a writer.
Now look, I’m not trying to put down any other college student majors in something like business or biology, but the reason why I chose English as my major is, well…it makes me happy. I like being able to write my own stories and be as creative as I want with them. I like reading books that deal with mystery and suspense. Hell, I even like reading confusing ass poetry that makes me want burn it in the deepest part of Hell, but I still read it over and over again until I understand it. I’ll admit getting into the field of writing is hard profession to get into, especially right after college. But there’s not a doubt in my mind that says I won’t make it as a writer and won’t become successful. I know there will probably be dark days to come, but I also know I’ll have enough confidence in myself to be prepared for those days as well. So for all those people who question why I chose English as my major and think I’m making a mistake by doing it, in the words of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “It doesn’t matter what you think”!
