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If one were to go onto a college or university website, they would be bombarded with smiling faces, people talking and helping one another, diversity, and happiness. All of the best facts are listed on the website, and it is easy to forget the reality that lies behind these pictures.

Although the acting was sub par, the monologues presents were very real and relative to anyone in the audience. Each scenario presented showed a person that each member of the audience have known, will know, or some of the presentations described themselves. Unfortunately, you had to lean in and really follow along with each monologues because it was evident that the performing arts students had just been informed to learn their monologues.

It was easy to lose track as the student would speak, because there was rarely any comedic value, aside from Bebe, whom was simply a recorded of the counselor's secretary. It was also blatant and distracting that the counselor never said a word to his clients.

Aside from lack of preparation and powerful delivery, the stories were very real and pertained to every college student. I would go see it again if it were done differently.

7%

Webster describes liberal arts as "academic subjects such as literature, philosophy, mathematics, and social and physical sciences as distinct from professional and technical subjects." This definition basically means that it is a concentration of general ideals that can be beneficial to anyone.

It only makes sense that a liberal arts education focuses on teaching and instilling general values from literature, philosophy, mathematics, and the social and physical sciences, instead of specializing in a set curriculum or specializing in only one subject. Because of this, there are many benefits to acquiring a liberal arts education. Having a generalized knowledge of a lot of subjects and still having a concentration on a major means that you have a broader base of knowledge and insights than having one major, intense concentration on one thing.

Although specializing in one thing can have major benefits, more jobs and opportunities are available to those with a broader sense of knowledge. The conversation of a person trained under a liberal arts college is very apparent and colorful, and the mind of a person trained under a liberal arts college is introduced to many more things which promotes a greater understanding of new concepts and overall enhanced critical thinking.The overall environment of a school of liberal arts is not overly structured and aids in deeper learning.

It is ideal to begin one's education in a liberal arts setting, and then once they have the basics of many subjects, they can then attend a specialized school or program.

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White envelopes addressed to you, emblazoned with the school's logo hardly ever bear good news. They usually carry bill or a notice of some sort of impending money collection. Sometimes they carry letters discussing the academic conduct of a student. They scarcely bring happiness; this is very rare.

However, the chances worked in my favor, and I received a letter announcing that I had made the Dean's List with a 3,786 GPA. I had truly worked hard my first semester in college, and the hard work paid off in full. I had all A's, and one B by a few points. I knew that I had actually tried, this time, but it was still a shock because my high school marks were sub par.

Despite my great grades, I had a few setbacks. I remembering thinking more times than once at four o' lock in the morning how I wished I had finished this paper earlier or how I wished I hadn't waited so late in the day to finish my homework. I felt like a slave to my school work late at night, unable to sleep because of it. The lack of sleep would cause me to wake up in the morning, still tired. Because I was tired, it was hard to focus in class because I was nodding off or the lecture failed to hold my attention. Sometimes, I would even skip class because I was tired, and then again, sometimes I would skip, and I wasn't tired at all.

I hope to try to get over my chronic procrastination issues so that I can get good grades with ease, not by sacrificing my sanity just to take a few more glances at Facebook.

I'm starting now with this blog, because last night, I was up doing a paper that was due today before midnight. I am doing thing blog on time, the day it was assigned.

I'm kind of proud of myself.

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Only a few students fully prepare for their classes each day and completely commit to taking advantage of homework to learn all they can from it. Only a few.

Countless students all over the nation prepare enough just to get by, and I am a living example of this fallacy. My history teacher randomly assigns days to give quizzes, and just today, I walked into the class knowing that there was a rather large possibility of a quiz. I borrowed a book from a neighbor, and I read the chapter summary with haste. I then scanned the chapter to look for bold words. I figured I had the quiz in the bag, should he assign it. This is a regular routine for me, and I usually pass the quiz with flying colors. My book smells horrendous (all of the history books do, fresh out of the plastic), and it hurts to read and study because of the stench, and procrastination and laziness also plays a huge role.

He passed out the quiz, and I looked at the questions and drew a blank. The teacher kept droning, "I'm just looking for evidence that you have read." And I couldn't fill in the blanks. I probably received a 30 for the quiz, and the week before, I received a 50.

I make pristine grades in that class, and the bad grades are enough to make me start to read every single night to be prepared for such quizzes, but to some students, bad grades aren't enough. Students don't prepare because there are no consequences to motivate them, but then some of them don't prepare because they seem to do fine in the class and many times, that is true.

I believe it is subjective to the person, but knowledge is a wonderful thing to obtain. And homework is especially important for your major. You need to retain this knowledge for potential careers. I think that professors should consider the well-being of the student and offer strict consequences for not helping themselves.

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The theatre production of Dead Man Walking has opened my eyes in a number of ways.

Reading a book on something as serious as the death penalty is more personal, but a reader tends to stray away from the story and often drones out. This happens to me several times a book, but a visual production of the play with real people in a real situation seems to capture my attention.

A group of my friends got together to support a close friend in the production, and at first, the play seemed unrealistic and slowly moving. I wondered if it was going to pick up, but as soon as the convict's mother stepped onto the stage I began to think about how she must feel to inevitably face the reality of losing her only son. The skill of her acting added to the realistic properties of the play.

See and hearing Matthew, the convict, actually speak to Sister Helen Prejean added life to and a soul to death penalty, and I have come to the realization that the death penalty does not only punish and effect the criminal but also the family directed related to them. Once the convict is dead, that is it. There is no more suffering, if you discard the notion of an afterlife. The only people that suffer are the family, and the government will have wasted millions of dollars on someone they view worthless enough to kill.

Life in prison costs about the same as killing someone, and I believe that there could be a use for someone who has life in prison. They could test medications or do surveys on them, make them work to build houses for charities, anything, and the family can still rest in solace that their loved one is still alive, albeit locked in a cage forever.

I person who has stolen someone else's life does not deserve to roam free, but killing them because they have killed seems to be hypocritical.