在哈佛上了一个暑假的feature writing课，回到高中后，写校报时能感觉到自己在遣词造句，对文章结构的把握，以及总体思路上的进步。
这个月虽然没什么时间在简书上写文章，却以editor的身份给校报写了两篇feature stories。和自己暑假前写的相比，这两次的文章中都有加入对人物physicality的描写以增加文章的生动性（慈祥的教授教给我们的trick）。
另一个重大的改进是自己能有意识地减少主观的generalizations了。以前最喜欢的就是在段落与段落之前加上一些听上去很对却没有证据support的观点。后来在教授多次强调下才慢慢把这个毛病纠正了过来；再读以前自己写的还算满意的文章，就觉得不忍直视了。
我从来不觉得写作，特别是以非母语写作，是一件简单的事情。可能是自己本来就有一些完美主义倾向，每一次写essays写校报都能把自己折腾得身心俱疲 -- 但又充满了成就感。目前自己的写作能力上有太多不足（英文也没多好，中文也不如从前顺溜了），但只要多写写，多用脑子写，最后应该也能进步？
以后的改变嘛。。。开学这几周没怎么碰的New York Times和经济学人还是要继续坚持每天阅读，不能断。还有就是要多向优秀的作者学习其行文和逻辑。然后。。。Keep writing.
最后，为了凑点字数，附上自己最近给校报写的拙文一篇：
Returning students from summer break gaped at the inside of the Ricklefs Library: over 12,000 books… vanished, bookshelves… removed, DVD spinners… gone. Newly placed into the space are lines of soft couches, plastic chairs, and clustered, movable desks, along with a monstrous carbon-fiber wall that divides the room in half. In the Hsu Study Room, widely dubbed “the quiet room,” rectangular tables now stand, replacing the individual study desks available a summer ago.
“It’s really hard to work [here]. You have to sit on the ground,” said a senior in the entry lounge, fingering the large gap in between the long, fixed couch behind her and the nearest table. The narrow couch was hard for her to sit on and reaching her laptop on the closest desk was a stretch. “The minimalist layout — I get it, but it is not comfortable,” she added, pointing at some scattered, monocolored tables and chairs, “They honestly look like [people] just clicked the first thing they saw on Amazon.”
Senior Charles Alliston casted doubt on whether the space could fulfill its role in fostering learning, “This more or less feels like a living room, where you can sit down and watch TV.”
Some returners also ached for the past, yearning for the individual study spaces of original design. “Whenever I went to library, I always went [there] to study, because I would have my own private space and [didn’t] have to be distracted by others. But now [they are] gone,” lamented junior Chloe Moon.
According to the Library Director Sarah Stewman, the redesigning of the Hsu Study Room allows it to hold group meetings while supporting individual study with its superior soundproofing capacity. “Let’s say you have a chemistry exam and you want to study with your friends, you can now talk in the study room and at the same time, avoid outside distractions,” she commented.
“There are new thoughts every year about how people learn best. So we are always looking for flexibility,” said Stewman.
She also mentioned several ongoing plans for the future. One is to add a presentation screen on the gigantic wall in the middle (which she coined “the divider”). When necessary, the portable chairs now surround the wall could be cleared aside, creating a large meeting space that can harbor up to 120 seats.
“We are still watching, and we will make adjustments,” said Upper Division Head Dan Griffiths, while sitting on his office couch. However, certain features will be forever gone — including the individual study blocks that many long for. “I have sympathy for those who miss the individual workspace in the study room,” Griffiths said, “but the reality is that those spaces are rarely available in life.”
According to him, one central paradigm behind the Learning Commons is the creation of a learning community, where teachers and students mingle and learn together. “We want students to study in the same space with all kinds of people — not just your classmates — and get used to that as a norm… so [they] are better prepared for what’s gonna come after school,” he stated.
On Griffiths’ desk shelf lied a stack of design papers bearing elaborative blueprints for the Learning Commons, from block patterns on the carpet to bird-shaped, sound-absorbing ornaments. He explained that the school collaborated with a San Francisco-based studio to work out the entire design: “It was weeks and months of meetings back and forth, working with the studio that has previously designed for well-known brands, including Nike and Microsoft.”
“So [our furniture] is not from IKEA,” he laughed.
Griffiths summarized the entire construction as an “iterative process” — newer versions will emerge, piling upon the old ones. What will the future of the Learning Commons hold? He wasn’t quite certain, but nevertheless, felt hopeful. “The spaces will evolve in the coming weeks and months,” he said.
