Revisiting College Notes

When I was probably a sophomore or junior in college, I came up with a very specific way of taking notes in class. I think that the whole system started because at one point I was running low on sheets of paper. Then, over time, it just became the way that I took notes in every college class. Really, I was kind of proud of my system. I thought it was unique and environmentally-friendly. I liked that the notes appeared very personal, too; the system was specific to me and couldn't be wholly understood by others without a bit of explanation.

First, I would try to write as much information on the slide lists or handouts that were given to me in class. I would try to write as small as possible, so I could fit a lot of information between the double-spaced slide lists. Then, if I ran out of room next to a certain work of art or concept, I would start to write more information on a lined sheet of paper. However, I would purposefully write in the margins and not leave any blank spaces on the lined paper; I would only separate ideas by drawing two vertical lines (see image). In essence, each page of my notes is filled completely with text and ink.

I would always dedicate a different color ink to each class day, so that I could easily match up the notes on the slide lists and the accompanying lined paper. (I also thought it was fun to see such colorful pages of notes in my binder.) At the time, this whole system seemed to work. After all, I kept it up for a few years. Perhaps I could follow things well since I was in the throes of the class and easily remembered where things were located. But now, as I am trying to transcribe my handwritten art history notes from years ago into digital format, I've found this whole system to be a ridiculous mess! What was I thinking?!?

While transcribing I have felt like I'm relearning some content and retaking these classes all over (which on a fundamental level is fun), but in a garbled and disorganized way. I feel like I'm listening to music that is being played backwards. If only I could go back in time and tell my college-age self that this system was silly. I would also love to have given my college-age self either a ream of paper, or better yet, a laptop for notes.