{"id":18696,"date":"2013-10-30T17:05:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T21:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=18696"},"modified":"2013-10-30T22:55:30","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T02:55:30","slug":"in-which-we-talk-about-how-to-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2013\/10\/30\/in-which-we-talk-about-how-to-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"in which we talk about how to focus"},"content":{"rendered":"Wandering around clubs fair during Orientation Week often produces an overwhelming adrenaline rush; we grab brochures, freebies and put our names down on a lot of mailing lists.\r\n\r\nNew year. New start.\r\nSeptember is the month to try new things.\r\nThen October comes and hits you where it hurts with its large selection of assignments, midterms and other anxiety-inducing products.\r\n\r\nWe\u2019ve survived one midterm season and are steadily making our way toward the next maelstrom of due dates.\r\n\r\nThe university experience offers so much besides an academic education: events, resources, clubs, fitness drop-ins, and interest classes\u2026the list goes on and on.There are too many good things out there, we just don\u2019t have enough time.\r\n\r\nWhat are we to do? How do we ensure we get the best experience possible? How do we maximize our time here on campus to enjoy and try what is offered?\r\n\r\nI spend a lot of my time writing poetry.\u00a0A particular interest of mine is blackout poetry, where you take a piece of text from somewhere, usually a newspaper, and create poems by eliminating words \u2013 literally blacking them out.\r\n

\"photo\"<\/a>simple.\r\n<\/em><\/p>\r\nIn many ways, I think the university process is similar to blackout poetry.\r\n\r\nThere are plenty of well established aspects of university life laid out before us, clamouring for our attention at clubs fair, on posters, in emails, or by peers and professors.\r\n\r\nAll of these are like the words on a page I\u2019m about to start blacking out.\r\nIt isn\u2019t possible to say, \u201cI will do all of this\u201d just as Blackout poetry can\u2019t just present the page as it is, and say, \u201cThere. Good.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn my poem writing process, I usually begin by taking a pencil and boxing the words I am going to use. This allows me to get a tentative idea of where the poem is going and what my final message will be.\r\n\r\nSo take a pencil and box what you want to do, identify:\r\n