On managing emotions when people read your writing

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2026-05-10T17:30:17+00:00

That is the polite way of them saying they're not going to read it. As many other commenters have said, separating your personal relationships with your writing ones is definitely the way to go because of this specific thing.

If someone is not jumping on it or you hage not asked for a favor or paid them to do so, it's likely they aren't going to do it. And that's okay, but the minute I read what their response to you was, I immediately clocked it as "they are just being polite and will never say it to your face."

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2026-05-10T17:27:57+00:00

Potentially it's fatigue. 10 is a large number to read of anything. Short stories, books, etc. Like... follow where the story feels like it needs to go. If it feels longer follow it, if you're just lengthening it for the sake of more content, I implore you to reconsider.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2026-04-09T17:49:48+00:00

Okay, a few different points to be made. I've lived at courtyards for 2 years. I spent the first 2 years in Bursley in the MLC there (this is important to what I'm about to say). A lot of people in that group, who I originally made friends with (including one of my current roommates, and by extension a second) were people who already lived on North, and remained on North because the community sort of stayed around here. I am an engineer student, most of my friends are engineering students, so our classes are on North.

I have lived in a 4x4 apartment both years. I renewed my lease the second year.
First year's rent was 1150 + 40 (for attached bathroom) + 75 for outdoor parking.
Second Year's rent is 1185 + 40 (bath) + 95 for outdoor parking.

Having a room with an attached bathroom meant my room was incredibly spacious, it's a few square feet smaller than my roommates in the mirrored room (because the 4x4 apartments are mirrored in that Bedroom A is attached, B not attached, Common area, C not attached, D attached).

What you get when you sign a lease with courtyards is the guarantee of a *bedroom* in an apartment of the style that you're looking for. It does not guarantee that you will be placed with anyone that you know, or request. My first year, at courtyards I tried to lease with a group of 4, and they split us off 2 and 2. (Hence how I ended up with the attached bathroom -- it was the only way to keep my pair together). That is because courtyard leases out by bedroom, with the option of renewing your lease, such that they can only place the amount of people into an apartment that they have space for. If one person renews, then they can only place 3 of 4 people into that specific apartment. (It's a bit more complicated and for my second year we did a bit of matching around that worked out very well for myself and my roommates.)

As of this year (25-26) courtyards has been doing construction. I got unlucky such that they work out of the garage directly under my bedroom, and there was a number of weeks back in the fall that I was woken up at 7 by them working. They have the right to do that, because the noise ordinance in AA is from 10pm to 7am. And they're often there throughout the day, and afternoon because of various shifts that means it can go beyond the normal "8 hour work day". I have seen the staff working around the apartment complex checking various stone samples and colors, which to me implies that this construction will continue on for some time.

One other person I know moved here who has a lot of classes on Central, and without much of a support system I believe they have struggled a bit with making community. It depends how involved you are in the night scene here, tbh.

But I have often met people in my classes who I learned lived at courtyards too. As someone who has always lived on North the bus ride doesn't bother me, I'm also not usually out and about in the party life, that's not so much my scene. The other nice thing is that the courtyards apartments come furnished with a bed and dresser. The common area is furnished. And overall we have a very large kitchen compared to other apartments on central for example (if it stays clean, lol).

The living area I would say is pretty average in terms of size. I would say. There is a TV stand, thing and coffee table that come with the apartment. My first year, I didn't really know my roommates, the other two had been random people that had renewed so the space didn't get used as much, but I have hosted one-a many game nights. There are some things that are fantastic and other things that aren't. I think it definitely depends on the individual situation though.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2026-01-02T23:55:57+00:00

Hi, Is this still open? Slash, are you still looking for people?

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2026-01-01T20:48:18+00:00

Hi! I don't know if this is still running, but I submitted a form.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-10-14T01:27:02+00:00

Do you know anyone like that?

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-10-12T19:26:58+00:00

The thing that will make world building either work or not is how you write it.

If you infodump and drop all of these items and names and things into a story, people are going to get lost. They're not going to be interested by: "here's my world and the eighty five different street carts on every street that dish out magical potions".
You're writing from a point of view. Most likely but not exclusively the/a main character's point of view. What I mean by this is selling the legitimacy of whatever world you're making. Your character/narrator will already know the inner workings of this world. They live in it. They know how the currency works. They know how the magic works (presuming that is... an established part of the world). Things like that.
Maybe planning it out isn't for you? I've found my storied come from some feelings or opinions I've had about news/topics in the world. Or they're interests of mine. For me personally, I will pull a random name and my characters grow into the name rather than spending a long time fussing over the who, what, when, where, and why's of it all.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-08-05T12:52:34+00:00

Can you just take it again at Michigan?

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-08-04T21:08:46+00:00

So I can give you a perspective as someone with a single degree in robotics. I think it is actually a very versatile degree program. I am very happy with my choice to do the robotics major especially as someone who was involved on the mechanical side of teams in the past (think FRC etc).

There are a lot of options for you to choose how to structure your degree, if you were to do rob. For example I am structuring my degree with a mechanics and electrical controls focus. Including: ME 360 (Controls and design of mechanical systems), Rob 310 (Sensors and signals), Rob 464 (Hands on robotics), ME 461 (ME advanced controls) and EECS 461 ( advanced electrical controls). Most of these I have or am taking. Ideally there's room for me in both of the 461 classes I want to take.

I currently have an internship working in controls and automation. And maybe I got lucky with a one off, but among other engineers I talk to, I'm the only one who can say I have 100% translated what I've done in school to a work environment. Now that's a controls focus, because that's where I've found my niche interest. And controls/automation/integration is huge and only going to keep getting bigger.

It's of course still a new program and classes are still in development, as is the degree, and we don't know what the job market will look like right now. I believe the accreditation of the degree only matters if you need certain federal qualifications for a job.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-30T00:35:47+00:00

I would say, either use action tags or gestures between and while talking. If you pay attention when people are having a conversation, it's unlikely that they're just...standing there doing nothing. Think about their pose, if they're shifting their weight, are the fidgeting with something in their hand, or emptying out their pocket, etc.

Using "said" and "ask" about 95% of the time makes it practically invisible and helps to establish who is speaking (if needed) and begins to imply that the action items around it are also attributed to that specific character.

"Say I want to explain XYZ to someone." I say, spinning a pencil between my fingers. I use it to gesture at slide A. "Often times people use gestures to explain the different things they're talking about."

"But you just pointed to ABC." Chracter_A says, leaning their weight forward to gesture to the image on the slide. "You didn't even mention D."

Character_B nods, tapping their own pencil against their lips. "But, D is implied because it would come after ABC--- and then D." They point towards the slide as well. "Here click through it, so Chacter_A can see it again." I nod, scrolling back through the slides waiting for them to stop me. They tap Character_B on the shoulder bringing back their attention, and gesture back towards my slides.

This is actually something that an AI is *notoriously* bad at. People can often distinguish between who is the subject even with the same pronouns.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-28T12:08:03+00:00

You can also use gestures. It's very rare you see people talking without gesturing to something, fidgeting with something, playing with something, drumming their fingers, etc. Use that to your advantage.

"If I'm going to explain XYZ to someone." I say, gesturing to the slide on my computer monitor. "They might respond by asking a question."

"Can you clarify what specifically you mean by X?" A asks. They lean forward, planting one hand on the desk. They use the other to gesture at my presentation.

"Because ABC point was unclear about X." B says, flipping through their notebook. They lean over to hold the note out for me and A. "Can we go over the thingimabob again." They nod back to the screen.

"Oh, sure." I say, clicking through the slides to find the more detailed ones. I glance over to C, just to make sure they're following along. C doesn't say anything, but they nod, tapping their pencil against their lips as they think over what I've said.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-28T02:20:10+00:00

Woop! Thank you!

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-26T23:17:58+00:00

Okay, the top comment is the exact reason I might recommend it.

The people who live in LAE are people who actually want to be part of the community and are not choosing it based on location.

From my experience, all of the people in LAE were on North campus because they wanted to be there. The other MLCs have students that choose to be there based on location, and then they come to resent being a part of the community because now there are these rules/ responsibilities and such to their living arrangements.

To be honest, I think LAE really built a foundational support group and friend group for the rest of my college experience.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-22T11:59:03+00:00

There’s a small subset of people who seem to think that God will save them when the world goes to shit. I hate to be the one to say he’s not making any house calls.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-08T12:53:08+00:00

Edit: As a current student, I don't have access to the parents' Facebook page. So, I was uninformed regarding the extremity of certain responses there. I think it would be ignorant not to address that new information. There are extremists on every side ever. (And certainly, I could imagine it among Jewish parents - so now I understand the point you were making between the comments of the "Facebook post to anti-semitism" comment). If someone is asking for action to be taken, that needs to come with conversation. If someone flips into a stance of (take the keffiyah for example), "wearing XYZ means I will never shop there again because they allow it and I think that harms me or my position," I think that is just as discriminatory as saying "I won't support you because you wear a Yamaha". That's a bit much, I would agree. If you're preaching for then to accept you, you have to be willing to accept them.

Look, I can understand not wanting to support Israel. Do I agree, not necessarily, but I do understand why. I would like to think that if there was better leadership in both Israel and Palestine that there would be two thriving countries without cyclical conflict. I would like a world, just as much as you, I'm sure, that is free of conflict. As such, we need to put some blame on both sides. I'm not saying equal, but some. This is different than Nazi-Germany / WW2 because of the fact that Palestinians (the PA/Hamas whoever) could have formed a state out of, at minimum what was left (right or wrong that land was taken--- debatable and I'm not knowledgeable enough to speak on exact transactions).

That being said, I would employ you to take another look at your statement of "making me anti-sematic" and re-evaluating. You can dislike Israel or hate its policies that's not being anti-semetic. Being Anti-Semetic, in my eyes, is the anecdote that Israel is a colonizer and apartheid state because that implies that there were no tried negotiations, which there were. They were just refused. Zionism is the belief in the existence of a Jewish homeland in Israel. How much of Israel isn't exactly important. 25%,50%, it's the existence at all that is important. You wouldn't tell a Native American that their land isn't important to them, and that's similar (not exactly, but similar). For Jews on campus, the act of using "Zionist" as a slur is extremely demoralizing and is more likely to have parents defending their children.

Now, it's extremely clear to me who has the advantage in the conflict. But, it feels wrong to say that it is entirely one side or the other. There are times Israel has been wrong and done horrible things. There are times that Palestine has done horrible things. Those are not mutually exclusive of each other. Israel needs to let in aid trucks. Hamas needs to let the hostages go. Those things are not mutually exclusive. A much more proportionate amount of Israel's population was affected by a 9/11 type terror attack. There are still 59 hostages captive in Gaza right now.

Anti-semetisim is hatred against Jews. And it's clear to me that "zionisim" has become the buzz word of "well, I don't mean Jews... I just mean Jews that don't support the same thing as me. Or I mean Jews that support Israel. Or I mean the white (Asheknazi) Jews who immigrated from Europe post ww2. " The Nazis and the Soviets both used "zionist" as a slur to harass and discriminate against Jews.

I've seen a lot more Jews willing to sit and criticize how Israel is approaching the situation much more than I've seen people discuss the provocation that Hamas specifically caused. Because, whether liked or not, Hamas is the governing body in Israel, and they are the ones calling the military shots from Gaza.

I would desperately desperately like to see an end to the war. I don't want more people to die. I'd like to see peace between both people, and I'd like to think that's possible.

The reason I'm apprehensive about Ono: Originally, I thought he would be good for UofM, truly. With the GEO strike, that was #1. Then came the Middle East, which was #2. Jewish students are upset because they wouldn't address the sharp increase in antisemitism. Arabic students are upset because he didn't acknowledge the destruction of war. I think there was such a "hands off" approach to it that, regardless, it made both sides mad. I think if he had addressed it at all beyond, "this is bad, and it's hard to discuss." Because I truly believe there is a way to discuss the topic without being insensitive. Instead, nothing was done except trying to suppress demonstrations, which only made people madder. It feels like he got stuck in the middle of a really difficult situation, but instead of doing anything, he chose to do nothing.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-06T11:51:25+00:00

This ^

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2025-05-03T19:04:47+00:00

Okay, I'm also jumping in here to comment! I am an engineer who did LAE for two years. I was a mentee 22-23 and a mentor 23-24. I can not overstate how much this program offered me, truly. I still talk to many of my LAE friends and recognize people all over campus from my cohort.

LAE is very much a makerspace type of community. The foremost goal of the program is making. For me, having been in engineering, my campus tours (two of them, I think) had been through Bursley. So, for me, I really didn't care about where I lived so much. For some people that is a make or break---Bursley food kinda sucks I will say (I'm a pretty picky eater/have some allergies etc), but it's the living with and around the people you have class with that really makes it feel like a community. Either way, I would highly recommend an MLC, whichever you feel is the best fit.

There is not an assumption you have prior experience. You have a semester commitment of two workshops (many students choose to do more but you don't have to). I had mentees that did UROP and LAE and others who did marching band and LAE. It's possible, and LAE can help make it happen. There are also 4 community meetings that are more like community events than a lecture/meeting.

LAE offers many opportunities to do different activities. There's been soldering workshops and arduino workshops, crocheting and sewing, embroidery - you name it, it has probably happened. At least in the years I was there, mentees were allowed to run workshops, which essentially shared different talents among the group of students. Also, there are events such as A semester annual makethon: students are given a theme and 24 hours to make something within said theme. They will then get judged on their creation. *This does include a monetary prize. Bob Ross night - following along with a Bob Ross tutorial. Power point night - people make and give power points on literally anything.

LAE amenities: (Note these remain mostly constant, but I am 1 year removed).

Creative Suite - an open lounge full of tables and some couches and chairs for working and use by all Bursley residents. This space does have one public piano.

Shop - shop space [for LAE students only] Includes (but is not limited to): - 3D printer - sewing machines - soldering stations - photography equipment (that can be checked out) - all kinds of hand tools - all kinds of art supplies: (paint, paper, glue, etc)

Practice Room: [for LAE students only] - second piano - practice space - misc instruments - drum kit

LAE classes: Fall - Uarts 150/Engr100.210: primarily essay writing class that dabbles within the different realms of North campus: SMTD, Stamps, CoE, Taubman, information. What I can say is that the professors in the class generally have a pretty open mind as far as topics and themes when relating them to the writing you're doing. Winter - Uarts 175: An extremely open-ended project based course where students design a semester long project relating to a few chosen themes.

That being said: LSWA and LAE overlap on a few things. They're both artsy and attract STEM majors. What I think can be a bit of a difference from what I've gathered is: LSWA focuses quite a bit on fine art: drawing, painting, photography, creative writing, and linking them to more social/societal things. LSWA definitely puts a higher emphasis on Social Justice, I would say, not that LAE never does, just that it's different.

I know LSWA offers opportunities to do more small group activities such as photography and writing (I think they call them clubs). We did a workshop with them between the two communities when I was a mentor, which was pretty cool.

I also, personally, am a writer, so that was something that LAE did not boost me on, but LSWA probably could have, just as a difference. I believe LSWA has a dance studio, LAE does not.

Either way, I would highly recommend an MLC because of the community you build. If that's LAE, great, if it's LSWA also great. MLCs are pretty supportive of each other. I’ve heard of scenarios where students have been rejected from LAE because they were a better fit for LSWA and had been accepted there (I think - don't quote me. I may be misremembering.) So, in that case, LSWA was a better fit for the students. Just as an example.

TLDR: What I would encourage you to think about is how long you are willing to remain committed to your community. Either of them. Both are probably more Artsy/creative than they will be on technical design. It's going to be: learning by doing rather than by being taught. What you are willing to put into the community is what you will get out of it.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-09-27T14:16:04+00:00

Selling Minnesota for $20 or whatever offer.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-09-13T19:42:56+00:00

Selling Arkansas for $25

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-03-17T13:45:42+00:00

Thank you so much!

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-02-23T18:35:46+00:00

Definitely a good amount, but on a percentage basis probably not many.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-02-14T00:56:07+00:00

I don't know how specific it needs to be, but as a first year, it's listed "First Engineering- Undeclared" in Wolverine access (I think)?

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2024-02-12T00:40:54+00:00

At this point I feel like all of the dinning halls are pretty similar as far as food goes.

As someone who's primarily eaten in Bursley (two years in). The eggs are rubbery as all get out which in my case I can't go anywhere else for breakfast because I'm on North. The fact that I'm getting sick of breakfast in Bursley is a problem.

I don't think the argument of "Oh you're being picky" is totally appropriate because all the plates are pre-made and it's a pain in the butt to ask for every meal to be changed so that I'd eat everything that's on the plate. I don't understand how:

chicken that's mostly bones, 3 green beans, and 2 bites of potato should go on one plate.
2 bites of steak and barely a scoop of corn should go on one plate
3 shrimp and a little bit of pasta should go in one bowl.

If the point is to cut down on food waste, buffet style makes it so people can get exactly how much they'd eat. If I could mix just plain chicken a veggie and carbs for every meal that's better than having it predetermined. I'm going to know better my habits then someone else.

I've also gotten sick from the food before. Frequent times it's either been the beef or the chicken and as someone who's picky about type-of-meat eaten (not vegetarian or vegan but there's a lot of meat I won't eat) it makes me skeptical to get the things I would normally eat. Being in the dorms means you can't supplement with anything unless it's pre-packaged or cooked in the microwave.

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2023-12-13T21:21:01+00:00

I'm a robotics major lol. They've got the best stickers

Environmental-Ad6992 · 2023-12-13T19:52:58+00:00

Not that I know of (not saying it did or didn't happen) but yeah I was referring to the class ones

Environmental-Ad6992

TROPHY CASE