Greetings!

Dante's Inferno is the bane of my existence.

I thought it would be an easy and interesting class about hell... Sometimes it's interesting (like when we talk about sinners stuck eternally in rivers of blood while being hunted by killer Centaurs with bows and arrows) but it's extremely difficult to stay awake/enjoy life when the professor is an arrogant literature snob who expects all students to read his mind and snickers when they don't answer questions precisely how he expects. This is why I choose to sleep instead of speak in class. That all changed when he threw a D- in my face. Needless to say I at least keep my eyes opened these days.

Today he brought up an interesting observation. According to my literature professor, self-reliance is stressed too heavily in our culture today. It is "disgusting" that we are encouraged to rely only on ourselves. According to Dante, he told us, the notion of self-reliance is just an illusion.

For once I agree with him. It's unreasonable to think we can truly rely on no one but ourselves. Independence is essential and the ability to eventually live alone and control your emotions and your life is vital but so is a support system. It's impossible to live without the influence of others. You need other people to help put life in perspective. You need Christina screaming "stop being a bitch" in your face. You need Noelle stuffing pillows up her shirt and challenging you to a belly smashing contest. You need 426 screaming the words to Stay by Lisa Loeb for no apparent reason. Otherwise life would be unnecessarily dull. Self-reliance means nothing unless it's accompanied by crazy friends.

That is all.

Now excuse me while I write a 5-8 page letter to the CEO of General Motors explaining why the corporate communication function is necessary to his business.