I really love Margaret Ely Webb’s illustrations so I thought maybe embellishing my “diary” posts with them would add a little something.

Anyway, last post I mentioned studying for my midterm which was yesterday. I know @redtea was curious about it so I figured it would be nice to share what the content was.

So before the midterm we were given review and practise questions to get a gist of what the exam would look like. I’ll say that the real exam was in the exact same format, down to identical essay prompts.

So the first half was all short answer, we had to answer 10 out of the 13 given, so dealer’s choice. there were no multiple choice as my professor believes it to be juvenile; high school level. The questions themselves were fairly simple, along the lines of defining certain terms, understanding who said what, differences between Canadian and American systems, and a geography question.

The second half is the more interesting bit in my opinion: the essay portion. We were given 4 prompts and had to choose one to write about. I won’t mention the prompts I didn’t choose (unless you’re curious) because I think the one I chose is the most polarizing.

The one I chose asked me to write Marxism and Conservatism based on: conception of society and the economy, and application to current politics. This was ballsy of me considering the other essay questions would have been way easier to write without either outing myself or at least finishing the exam early. But I just couldn’t help myself.

I literally started off with the quote “A spectre is haunting Europe… the spectre of Communism” then proceeded to write about the differences between Marxism and Conservatism, which was simple enough. I mentioned the foundation and superstructure, how labeling certain art work as “degenerate” pushes conservatism (we’ve all even the weirdos with the statue profile pics), and just how conservative and capitalist ideology dominates most of global politics. When I wrote about Marxism in our current climate I did get a little enthusiastic about how certain states have survived capitalist violence despite all odds, how the ghost of the USSR still permeates, and that there is a bit of a new red scare going on (I did bring up the Chinese weather balloon). Would I have liked to be a bit more detailed and what not? Yes, of course, but this was a midterm and I wasn’t allowed to pull up sources to cite verbatim although I did make sure my information was factual. Vietnam, Thomas Sankara, the Korean War, stuff like that.

In terms of content I believe my essay deserves full marks, I answered the prompt and that’s that. But I am fearful that I may have “fucked” myself. I mean, my professor is on the record stated that the USSR was a colossal failure and just hasn’t been friendly to Marxist thought at all. And while I know that he’s supposed to be impartial and mark me based on what I’ve learned, but the second I handed in my exam and stepped out of the classroom a wave of dread washed over me. I’m worried that, even if I don’t get docked marks, I’ll be reprimanded or put on some watchlist or something.

Did I put a target on myself? Yes, 100% and it probably didn’t help that I ended off my essay with “A spectre is haunting the world… the spectre of Communism” because I love a good call-back with a twist.