Hi! I’m Dylan Gandy, and I use he/him pronouns. I am a third year majoring in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Community Building and Social Change. I positively adore math more than one person should. I am most interested in how math intersects with the fine arts to create a more inclusive and less academic subject area where everyone can enjoy the beauty of numbers. Someday, I hope to become someone who sees numbers everywhere, but I am not quite there yet. Instead, I create my own manifestations of functions and graphs in the form of art and dance (and yes, I would be thrilled to talk about any of this outside of this blog post). When I’m not dreaming of expressions, I spend time with my beagle, Annie. She is the light in my life, and it is possible that I love her more than math. Maybe I can convince Tyler to hold an outside class sometime so that I can bring her along to be a nuisance to anyone but me.
When it comes to reading and writing, I would not describe our relationship as healthy. Reading requires a present mind, and I struggle to stay attached to reality. I always find my mind wandering about possibilities when I start reading. For this reason, I don’t often enjoy reading. Well, it could also be that I find many readings to be unnecessarily inaccessible. I find that scholars often get caught up in their self-perception of what it means to be an expert in their field, and they draft their writings to be incomprehensible to anyone without a graduate-level education. So, the experience frequently becomes disheartening and exhausting when I attempt to read.
Writing is no better. I struggle even now to write this blog post. My first draft of this post was more poised, sophisticated, and mimicked the writings I have come to despise. It’s a bad habit, but it’s how I’m conditioned to write. I am trained to remove “to be” verbs, avoid passive voice, add participle phrases to vary my sentence structure, and only use the most complicated combination of words to make my reader do a double-take, because I’m supposed to be an “academic;” I’m supposed to be a “scholar;” I’m supposed to be an “Emory student.” Anything less than mimicry of the best is an insult to what I should be. However, before I am any of these things, I am me, and I do not agree with what academic writing has become. Why am I not allowed to be present in my writing? Why must I be a willing accomplice in the privatization of education by producing papers that exclude anyone without the means to acquire higher education? It’s disgusting.
As for the writing you’re reading, this required little to no effort. I actually enjoyed it because it flowed from my being without censorship or interruption. I find these words to be far more compelling and get across my point better than some garbled string of intricate wording. The readings and writings I enjoy the most follow this philosophy of personability and accessibility, and they are the ones I learn the most from. The thoughts are not hidden. The writing is clear. I am taken on the author’s journey as they articulate their argument, and I am happy to be there. I hope this class allows us to explore what reading and writing can really mean.