There's No "I" in Team

I've always been the type to handle stress somewhat decently. When I'm told I have to a presentation (solo or group) I freak out, though. I tend to procrastinate, and get pre-production anxiety (so-to-speak.) For lit + film I signed up for the very first group presentation, even though I had that nagging feeling of dread and despair.

The subject of our presentation was Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth. It was, to say the least, a very interesting book. I'm not a prude, but I have to say it was shocking to read the combination of every filthy word imaginable for a class.

The group I worked with was one of the more positive experiences I've had with group work. All of the girls were very willing to contribute and make sure the work was equal. Because of conflicting schedules of crazy work and school hours, we didn't have much face-to-face time. Instead, we spent the given class period working and devising our strategy. We also corresponded via e-mail and made sure any new ideas were run by each other.

My particular portion/contribution to the presentation was the analysis of themes between Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Woody Allen's personal/professional life.

One issue we faced was the no-show in our group. From the beginning, we wondered who our sixth group member was. We asked around class and made an announcement, but #6 never connected with us. Low and behold, presentation day came and we heard, "Who's in group one? Who's in group one?" Not paying attention, most of us called out, "We are!" to which we heard, "Cool, cool. I'm good to go!"

Uh - what?

Apparently the no-show felt no excuse was neccesary, and didn't take into account all of our glaring faces. So, all six of us went to the front of the room to give our spiel...

The kicker was #6's very professional, prepared contribution to our presentation: sitting and TEXTING (while we all stood [even our group member with a severly sprained ankle.])

To finish off, we were treated to this gem...

#6: (after some very general commentary about the book) "Thank you all! We hope you enjoyed our presentation!"

ARE YOU SERIOUS?! We're in college, people!