Commentary Assignment

Invention Process

1)
1. Dealing with strange roommates
2. Students vs. textbooks and the Campus Bookstore
3. The retro-sunglasses trend


2)

As I am awakened by a protruding sound through the walls of my 10’X12’ apartment, I struggle to open my eyes. I manage to find my surroundings and stand up out of bed, following the noise to the outskirts of my bedroom. I hear singing, but where is it coming from? Half-awake, I continue to follow the hallway into the kitchen where the noise is heard more vividly. I realize that it is one of my roommates singing in the shower; more like shouting, I would say. I stand in awe, pondering why my roommate would be doing this, does he have no respect for others and not think that his voice may wake up his neighbors? He is the only one awake in the apartment, and with 3 other roommates to consider, why is he making such noise at eight in the morning? I was in shock and dismay.

My mind begins to wander towards questioning his upbringing. He is the messiest out of all of us; his room is a pig-sty, he leaves a trail of dishes behind him, buys crackers and candy rather than meals, is not social with the rest of us, and now he is making so much noise that it wakes me from the other side of the apartment. Does this reflect how he was raised? Did his mother pick up after him, buy and make his food, and not teach him the manners demanded when living with three others. Apparently, because now that she is absent, he does not know how to live.

I begin to wonder how many others are facing my same dilemma. How common are strange and disrespectful roommates? The more I questioned the idea, the more I began to ask my peers. I quickly found that this is a very common predicament. I began to listen to conversations that went on among our apartment building’s floor, and quickly found that I should be thankful that I only have one strange roommate, for there are plenty of rooms on my floor that inhabit 4 individuals that do not get along at all. The volume of the problem began to drown the volume of my roommate’s protruding voice. This was a much larger and shared problem that I had imagined, for almost everyone had to deal with a “weird” roommate.

You are taught many things during your first year of college, and I found that tolerance is one of the most importance.