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Microprocessing
The Case for Learning Something Useless Right Now
Online classes can help you cope
In Microprocessing, columnist Angela Lashbrook aims to improve your relationship with technology every week. Microprocessing goes deep on the little things that define your online life today to give you a better tomorrow.
This might end up being the nerdiest story I’ve ever written, which is a tough contest since I’ve written about my devotion to spreadsheets, my love for my vacuum, and why Americans should consider investing in fancier toilets. Today, though, I reveal my deepest, darkest secret.
I love to learn.
I freaking love it. If I were really rich, I’d be in school forever, getting degrees in art history, literature, religion, folklore, and creative writing. I want to know more about Artemisia Gentileschi and how she uses paint to convey terror and triumph in Judith and Holofernes, or about how local legends and fairy tales manifest in regional practices of Christianity, or about daily life of women, children, and families in ancient cities all over the world.
While a lifetime of gathering degrees like a bouquet of flowers is next to impossible without a trust fund, there are alternatives that require a lot less of your finances, your energy, and…
