Response and decisions:
I really don't want to respond to something because I like the other person, but I will say that a failure to communicate is not only the failure of the listener to understand exactly what is being said but also the failure of the speaker to have a sense of empathy and foresight. Believe it or not, this isn't necessarily directed at one person, either. It's also directed at a certain someone a friend of mine knows and a few people who think I'm evil because I got pissed off at them for "no apparent reason." And it's a bit directed at myself because I really shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place, but.
And that's all I really have to say about matters, so let's move on to something more important.
I'm right now taking five classes, the last of which I just came back from. I've decided to keep three of them (Aliens because it's hilarious, Old English because I swore I'd take a course with Craig Davis eventually, and Middlemarch because Michael Gorra is awesome and I need a seminar to complete my major). That means I'm going back and forth about the last two.
Arthurian Legends
Taught by: Nancy Bradbury
Number of Major Assignments: Two short papers and one self-scheduled exam.
Number of Books: Eleven
Why I Want To Take It:
- Arthurian. Legends.
- It's Nancy Flipping Bradbury. That's like taking a class with Awesome. She's a sweetheart, and she's an incredible teacher. I've gone to two of the classes in this course already, and I can already tell that.
- We study Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the end.
- It's something I haven't studied all that extensively.
Why I Don't Want To Take It:
- Do you see how many books I have to buy for this course? Eleven. Eleven.
- Two analysis papers. Oh, and the self-scheduled exams are always fun.
- While I can do the run between Hampshire and Smith, it still has to happen for me to take both classes.
- The class is huge, and part of the grade is participation. Haha, like I'll be able to get in a word edgewise. (Not that I ever do anyway.)
- While the reading isn't that bad and I've actually read some of them before (hello, Idylls of the King; I haven't seen you since high school) or would like to read some of them, the beginning stuff is a bit dry. Ridiculous (because the first story has a character who talks to a salmon)... but dry.
Writing Short Stories
Taught by: Sue Miller
Number of Major Assignments: Two short stories. One three-paragraph response to the readings each week.
Number of Books: One reader.
Why I Want To Take It:
- Yay, creative writing workshop!
- Yay, getting objective opinions from readers on my writing!
- Yay, getting opinions from a published author on my writing!
- Yay, only one book to buy!
- Yay, only two papers to do! And they're both creative writing!
- Yay, short stories I might want to read!
Why I Don't Want To Take It:
- Scott warned me about this professor, and I don't know her at all.
- I've already taken a creative writing class at Smith, one in high school, and several workshops smattered all over the place. While this doesn't qualify me as an expert, there's also some people on the waitlist who haven't taken a creative writing class at all.
- Blargh, writing only realistic fiction. Expands my horizons, but still.
- Weekly responses make me go :( because I'm also fairly lazy. And by lazy, I mean "working on every other class I'm taking."
- No Nancy Flipping Bradbury.
- So, basically, it doesn't sound like it has much of a structure: most of what we're doing will be based on what we submit, meaning there's no real lesson plan. I can only wonder what I can actually learn from this class, especially since most of my learning will be based on the opinions of my classmates. Smith lit critics tend to focus a lot on attempting to find some sort of profound meaning in a work instead of, you know, looking at the actual meaning. As I wrote in my sample (which I'll post if I decide to drop my class), not everything has to be deep and zen, but Smithies are inclined to believe a short story should. Or, at least, that's the impression I got back when I took English 120 (the basic creative writing course I've had at Smith).
So, there you have it. I'm leaning towards keeping Arthurian Legends because at least I know I'll learn something in it, but at the same time, I know I'd have a lot of fun in creative writing, lit critics be damned. As silly as this might sound, I'm looking for opinions here. Go for the class taught by Awesome with stuff I probably will learn but dry reading and hundreds of dollars spent just for one class or go for the one taught by someone I don't know but in a subject that's pretty much my passion in life, even if I'm not sure I'll actually learn anything in it?
Also, on a less important note, I want to do a movie series for my library hours in SSFFS. It'll be basically the sci-fi/fantasy classics that I feel pop up in pop culture a lot (EXCEPT FOR STAR WARS BECAUSE EVERYONE'S SEEN THAT), especially now that I've got The Fly (which, incidentally, was even more ridiculous and heart-wrenching the second time around) AND Ghostbusters with me and can easily get a Netflix account to nab more awesome movies like Men In Black and Back to the Future. The problem is I can't decide when to hold it. Part of me wants to do it Friday afternoon before the meeting as a matinee, but I'm afraid no one will go to it. On the other hand, doing it Friday night means wrestling away the TV from people who will want to play video games, and I haven't been in the library enough to know if people flood it every other night. Thoughts?
And that's all I really have to say about matters, so let's move on to something more important.
I'm right now taking five classes, the last of which I just came back from. I've decided to keep three of them (Aliens because it's hilarious, Old English because I swore I'd take a course with Craig Davis eventually, and Middlemarch because Michael Gorra is awesome and I need a seminar to complete my major). That means I'm going back and forth about the last two.
Arthurian Legends
Taught by: Nancy Bradbury
Number of Major Assignments: Two short papers and one self-scheduled exam.
Number of Books: Eleven
Why I Want To Take It:
- Arthurian. Legends.
- It's Nancy Flipping Bradbury. That's like taking a class with Awesome. She's a sweetheart, and she's an incredible teacher. I've gone to two of the classes in this course already, and I can already tell that.
- We study Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the end.
- It's something I haven't studied all that extensively.
Why I Don't Want To Take It:
- Do you see how many books I have to buy for this course? Eleven. Eleven.
- Two analysis papers. Oh, and the self-scheduled exams are always fun.
- While I can do the run between Hampshire and Smith, it still has to happen for me to take both classes.
- The class is huge, and part of the grade is participation. Haha, like I'll be able to get in a word edgewise. (Not that I ever do anyway.)
- While the reading isn't that bad and I've actually read some of them before (hello, Idylls of the King; I haven't seen you since high school) or would like to read some of them, the beginning stuff is a bit dry. Ridiculous (because the first story has a character who talks to a salmon)... but dry.
Writing Short Stories
Taught by: Sue Miller
Number of Major Assignments: Two short stories. One three-paragraph response to the readings each week.
Number of Books: One reader.
Why I Want To Take It:
- Yay, creative writing workshop!
- Yay, getting objective opinions from readers on my writing!
- Yay, getting opinions from a published author on my writing!
- Yay, only one book to buy!
- Yay, only two papers to do! And they're both creative writing!
- Yay, short stories I might want to read!
Why I Don't Want To Take It:
- Scott warned me about this professor, and I don't know her at all.
- I've already taken a creative writing class at Smith, one in high school, and several workshops smattered all over the place. While this doesn't qualify me as an expert, there's also some people on the waitlist who haven't taken a creative writing class at all.
- Blargh, writing only realistic fiction. Expands my horizons, but still.
- Weekly responses make me go :( because I'm also fairly lazy. And by lazy, I mean "working on every other class I'm taking."
- No Nancy Flipping Bradbury.
- So, basically, it doesn't sound like it has much of a structure: most of what we're doing will be based on what we submit, meaning there's no real lesson plan. I can only wonder what I can actually learn from this class, especially since most of my learning will be based on the opinions of my classmates. Smith lit critics tend to focus a lot on attempting to find some sort of profound meaning in a work instead of, you know, looking at the actual meaning. As I wrote in my sample (which I'll post if I decide to drop my class), not everything has to be deep and zen, but Smithies are inclined to believe a short story should. Or, at least, that's the impression I got back when I took English 120 (the basic creative writing course I've had at Smith).
So, there you have it. I'm leaning towards keeping Arthurian Legends because at least I know I'll learn something in it, but at the same time, I know I'd have a lot of fun in creative writing, lit critics be damned. As silly as this might sound, I'm looking for opinions here. Go for the class taught by Awesome with stuff I probably will learn but dry reading and hundreds of dollars spent just for one class or go for the one taught by someone I don't know but in a subject that's pretty much my passion in life, even if I'm not sure I'll actually learn anything in it?
Also, on a less important note, I want to do a movie series for my library hours in SSFFS. It'll be basically the sci-fi/fantasy classics that I feel pop up in pop culture a lot (EXCEPT FOR STAR WARS BECAUSE EVERYONE'S SEEN THAT), especially now that I've got The Fly (which, incidentally, was even more ridiculous and heart-wrenching the second time around) AND Ghostbusters with me and can easily get a Netflix account to nab more awesome movies like Men In Black and Back to the Future. The problem is I can't decide when to hold it. Part of me wants to do it Friday afternoon before the meeting as a matinee, but I'm afraid no one will go to it. On the other hand, doing it Friday night means wrestling away the TV from people who will want to play video games, and I haven't been in the library enough to know if people flood it every other night. Thoughts?