Procrastination by Ethan Marxhausen Posted on November 1st, 2009 by Deborah Lasswell

Alright now, what to write about? What to write about what to write about what to write… I could be reading right now. All of chapter six still needs doing. That would still be productive. Still reading, but I wouldn’t have to… if this is going to get done by Friday I’m going to need to get started…two days ago. Yikes. This is going to be a long night. Five pages on Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s Republic coming up. Now, desk or lounge? Or Courtyard Café. Ooh, I should go to the Courtyard Café. It’s a walk, but then once I get there I’ll be obligated to at least get something done…maybe I should just go to the lounge. What time is it? Oh god. I don’t even know where to start. You know what would get me thinking? An energy drink. Mmmm, I knew I was saving you for something, you Toro Roja, you. Geez, Spanish. Think in English, man, this’ll be much easier. Ok, thesis. That’s where I’m supposed to start, right? No, start with the body, then the conclusion, introduction last…but first I need a good idea. An idea that fills up once sentence with as much as I can fit in it. Five pages worth of an idea. No more, no less. Maybe an outline will help. Yeah, here we go, new Word document. Roman numeral one: Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s Republic is an extension of the social contract theory. Needs work, but we’ll come back to that. Ok, numeral two, the first point: summarize social contract theory. Whoa. That’s an undertaking. We’ll get more specific later. Uummm, maybe I should write a paragraph and see how it feels? Page uno, you have been breached…hold on. Is this going to fill five pages? No, it’s going to fill ten pages. This doesn’t work. Step back. Breath deeply. It’s still early in the game, we can pick another topic. Or maybe…isn’t Locke the one who talks about negative freedoms? Ok, so Locke’s social contract theory can be applied to Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s Republic. Still too broad. What do Locke and Aristotle both have in common? Personal freedom? Oh yeah, here we go: Aristotle’s political theory can be interpreted as an early version of Locke’s “freedom vs. security” social contract theory. Much better. Hard part’s over. Only four and a half pages to go.