the politics of notebooks

"at vassar, you take notes. you sit in class and you scribble whatever the professor says, whatever is written on the board, and/or whatever the idiot across the table from you has to say that sounds remotely interesting. for some, note-taking is a way to remember but for others it is merely a way to stave off in-class somnolence. it’s how you take your notes that is most important though… because, let’s be honest, you’ll probably never look at them again. it’s probably a given that whatever you just wrote down will stick if it’s really THAT important (i.e. you think about it when you can’t sleep at night).

here are a few modes of note-taking:
-moleskin: absurdly expensive, kind of “over” when you think about it, and oftentimes too small/not lined. covers easily tear. next please. they are pretty though.

-legal pad: the new moleskin. you don’t give a fuck if your papers end up looking raggedy… writers use legal pads dammit.

-plain notebook in some conservative color: whatever. i’m just here til the teacher says so. maybe i’ll doodle a bit…. woah, look at that cloud. has it been an hour and fifteen minutes yet?

-3 ring binder feat. notebook paper: does anyone use these anymore? hey, 8th grade called… it want’s its trapper keeper back.

-the fancy “enviro-note” variety they sell in the book store: i mean, i have to take notes anyway… i might as well be able to recycle this shit after the fact… but if i BURN this notebook at the end of the year will it emit less toxic fumes?
that’s all."

via Taylor Self

I am pretty sure that goes for all colleges/universities, though the first option is probably more rampant on campuses with a higher concentration of hipsters.