Paint and Pixels
The lecture hall smelled like burnt coffee and dry-erase markers, a combination Emily Carter had come to associate with Tuesday mornings and existential dread. She sat in her usual spot near the back, third row from the top, close enough to hear Professor Alvarez but far enough to avoid being called on. Her charcoal pencil moved in lazy loops across the margin of her notebook, sketching the curve of a jawline she'd glimpsed on someone in the coffee line an hour earlier. The actual notes she was supposed to be taking—something about design thinking and empathy mapping—sat abandoned beneath a tangle of half-finished doodles.
"Now," Professor Alvarez said, clapping her hands together with the enthusiasm of someone who genuinely loved Tuesday mornings, "I have some news that's going to shake up the rest of your semester."
Emily's pencil paused mid-stroke. Around her, the room shifted—laptops closed a fraction, phones slid beneath desks, the particular rustle of thirty students deciding whether to actually pay attention.
"This semester, Intro to Design Thinking is partnering with the business school's Marketing Strategy course." Alvarez beamed as though she'd just announced free…
