I know it's been a long time.
It has been awhile since I've updated. I'd be surprised if any of you are still checking up on this thing due to my lack of updates. If you have, my apologies for not updating often to at least provide something new for you to read.
It was been a very stressful and busy semester, quite possibly the busiest and most stressful one I've ever had. But I've done all the work. Finished with final exams and projects ::deep breath:: Ahh....time to get out of this place.
What would I say is the theme of this semester? Change. And not in the deep sense of the world changing all around me, or stuff like that. Those changes, at my current state, are pretty much expected. Change that I'm referring to would be...what I was subjected to in about four out of six of my courses. I felt like the majority of my professors didn't have a grip on their curriculum, and didn't have and solid idea how it was going to unfold. This happens every now and then....but four out of six courses? It was profound. It was almost like I chose four courses that were experiments, ones the professors felt were alright to alter several times during the semester. Due dates for things changing is one thing, but twisting around about 95% of a project is something else.
In my Anthropology of the Music Industry course, we had two major projects. The first one was to essentially act as the promoter for a real life musician, Joshua Millard (he plays classical guitar, in case you're curious). This project didn't go through too many changes, other than Millard not being able to be a judge for the presentations, and the due date being changed at least once. The second project was (and this was a solo project) to, initially, form a record company based on a genre of music. We were to discuss the genre and how we would deal with copyright and distribution issues and blah blah blah. Midway through the course, the project is changed entirely. Now we have to create an album based on a genre of music. The record company became a little objective in a list of about seven or eight other objectives, one that most people forgot about entirely. We had to design a booklet that was to go with the album, complete with liner notes and a description of the genre. The due date for this changed...I don't even know how many times. And it was never quite clear what he expected as a finished project. He basically was using us to determine how to structure the course the next time he teaches it...so I think a little leniency would be nice.
Operations Management was a major pain in the ass most of the semester. First of all, look at the name. Yep, that reeks of business, and you know how I feel about business classes. The professor was a decent guy, although he would intentionally try to scare you in front of everyone to make an example out of you, and once he sensed your fear, he would say "You don't need to be afraid, I'm just messing with you," occasionally he'd end with "You're a good sport." as if you knew you were participating in his twisted game. Ah well, anyway, this guy was also all over the place in defining what he wanted us to do. The handouts describing the assignments would be one thing, but the in-class explanations differed. Usually these explanations were brought upon by someone asking for clarity, only to end up making several more students confused or intimidated. Sometimes he'd just say he wanted something entirely different, with no acknowledgment to him changing anything, as if it had always been that way. I played it safe and went by what the handouts said. Hard evidence wins.
Senior Seminar in Critical Literary Theory (I always get confused as to what this class is officially called) didn't change things up too much, at least not in a way that would screw anyone up. We had about three different schedules handed to us that differed from what was stated in the syllabus, and presentation dates were always getting rearranged. She did change a few policies, mostly to help us out, like giving us the option to revise one of our papers, doing all four of the papers (we only had to do three) for extra credit, and so on. Some of these things came a bit late in the course, so most people didn't take her up on the opportunities, but hey, she tried.
Advanced Film Topics. Well, you'd look at the name and say "Film, that's gotta be fun! You get to watch movies, maybe write a paper on them or something stupid and then go on your way!" ....Not exactly. First off, why is it that every professor I've had in regards to film on campus always seems high. Well, I KNOW one of my other film professors has smoked pot before, and I'm pretty sure that this one was taking a page from his book too. Taking it out, rolling it up and lighting it up. The first class was a teaser, as in we actually did watch a full length movie (Citizen Kane, which I was surprised at the number of people who hadn't even heard of it). But this didn't last. In the entire course, we watched a total of two feature length movies. The rest of the classes were comprised of either film clips (which usually didn't provoke much discussion, due to their brevity and lack of context), or short films. A lot of what we watched would be considered avant garde, especially toward the beginning of the semester. If anyone's ever watched Un Chien Andalou...yeah, that kind of stuff (in fact, we watched that one, and that eyeball scene gets me every damn time...ugghhh). The stuff was at least bizarre enough that it wasn't boring to watch (most of it), but as the semester dragged on, the lectures got longer...and she went at snail's pace (even down to how long it would take her to finish a sentence), complete with awkward pauses. It made the gap between watching and discussing film clips longer, and I think one of my pages of notes captures the essence of my losing sanity well. The slow speed of the lectures taking up time, of course, lead to several schedule changes, films being dropped, and alterations on our final project. But since I've talked enough about this class, that whole thing will be for another entry.
Psychology and Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop were the only two classes where the professors said "Look, this is how I have it planned, and we're sticking to it." I can't really think of a time where anything significantly changed. And poetry was by far my favorite class out of them all. Professor Chandler, the poet laureate of Rhode Island, was an outstanding professor for the course. And it was refreshing to be in a class where I felt that most of the students gave a damn and actually wanted to write and read poems, or at least express themselves. I will miss that class, as I miss my high school creative writing classes.
Wow, I really talked a lot. Probably because it's early and...I probably won't remember what I was talking about. But anyway, I really hope all of you are well. I know some of you are also nearing graduation or the end of final exams, so I wish you all well and that you will soon be able to relax!
Much love,
Andy
It was been a very stressful and busy semester, quite possibly the busiest and most stressful one I've ever had. But I've done all the work. Finished with final exams and projects ::deep breath:: Ahh....time to get out of this place.
What would I say is the theme of this semester? Change. And not in the deep sense of the world changing all around me, or stuff like that. Those changes, at my current state, are pretty much expected. Change that I'm referring to would be...what I was subjected to in about four out of six of my courses. I felt like the majority of my professors didn't have a grip on their curriculum, and didn't have and solid idea how it was going to unfold. This happens every now and then....but four out of six courses? It was profound. It was almost like I chose four courses that were experiments, ones the professors felt were alright to alter several times during the semester. Due dates for things changing is one thing, but twisting around about 95% of a project is something else.
In my Anthropology of the Music Industry course, we had two major projects. The first one was to essentially act as the promoter for a real life musician, Joshua Millard (he plays classical guitar, in case you're curious). This project didn't go through too many changes, other than Millard not being able to be a judge for the presentations, and the due date being changed at least once. The second project was (and this was a solo project) to, initially, form a record company based on a genre of music. We were to discuss the genre and how we would deal with copyright and distribution issues and blah blah blah. Midway through the course, the project is changed entirely. Now we have to create an album based on a genre of music. The record company became a little objective in a list of about seven or eight other objectives, one that most people forgot about entirely. We had to design a booklet that was to go with the album, complete with liner notes and a description of the genre. The due date for this changed...I don't even know how many times. And it was never quite clear what he expected as a finished project. He basically was using us to determine how to structure the course the next time he teaches it...so I think a little leniency would be nice.
Operations Management was a major pain in the ass most of the semester. First of all, look at the name. Yep, that reeks of business, and you know how I feel about business classes. The professor was a decent guy, although he would intentionally try to scare you in front of everyone to make an example out of you, and once he sensed your fear, he would say "You don't need to be afraid, I'm just messing with you," occasionally he'd end with "You're a good sport." as if you knew you were participating in his twisted game. Ah well, anyway, this guy was also all over the place in defining what he wanted us to do. The handouts describing the assignments would be one thing, but the in-class explanations differed. Usually these explanations were brought upon by someone asking for clarity, only to end up making several more students confused or intimidated. Sometimes he'd just say he wanted something entirely different, with no acknowledgment to him changing anything, as if it had always been that way. I played it safe and went by what the handouts said. Hard evidence wins.
Senior Seminar in Critical Literary Theory (I always get confused as to what this class is officially called) didn't change things up too much, at least not in a way that would screw anyone up. We had about three different schedules handed to us that differed from what was stated in the syllabus, and presentation dates were always getting rearranged. She did change a few policies, mostly to help us out, like giving us the option to revise one of our papers, doing all four of the papers (we only had to do three) for extra credit, and so on. Some of these things came a bit late in the course, so most people didn't take her up on the opportunities, but hey, she tried.
Advanced Film Topics. Well, you'd look at the name and say "Film, that's gotta be fun! You get to watch movies, maybe write a paper on them or something stupid and then go on your way!" ....Not exactly. First off, why is it that every professor I've had in regards to film on campus always seems high. Well, I KNOW one of my other film professors has smoked pot before, and I'm pretty sure that this one was taking a page from his book too. Taking it out, rolling it up and lighting it up. The first class was a teaser, as in we actually did watch a full length movie (Citizen Kane, which I was surprised at the number of people who hadn't even heard of it). But this didn't last. In the entire course, we watched a total of two feature length movies. The rest of the classes were comprised of either film clips (which usually didn't provoke much discussion, due to their brevity and lack of context), or short films. A lot of what we watched would be considered avant garde, especially toward the beginning of the semester. If anyone's ever watched Un Chien Andalou...yeah, that kind of stuff (in fact, we watched that one, and that eyeball scene gets me every damn time...ugghhh). The stuff was at least bizarre enough that it wasn't boring to watch (most of it), but as the semester dragged on, the lectures got longer...and she went at snail's pace (even down to how long it would take her to finish a sentence), complete with awkward pauses. It made the gap between watching and discussing film clips longer, and I think one of my pages of notes captures the essence of my losing sanity well. The slow speed of the lectures taking up time, of course, lead to several schedule changes, films being dropped, and alterations on our final project. But since I've talked enough about this class, that whole thing will be for another entry.
Psychology and Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop were the only two classes where the professors said "Look, this is how I have it planned, and we're sticking to it." I can't really think of a time where anything significantly changed. And poetry was by far my favorite class out of them all. Professor Chandler, the poet laureate of Rhode Island, was an outstanding professor for the course. And it was refreshing to be in a class where I felt that most of the students gave a damn and actually wanted to write and read poems, or at least express themselves. I will miss that class, as I miss my high school creative writing classes.
Wow, I really talked a lot. Probably because it's early and...I probably won't remember what I was talking about. But anyway, I really hope all of you are well. I know some of you are also nearing graduation or the end of final exams, so I wish you all well and that you will soon be able to relax!
Much love,
Andy