Discussion and meme
Today, I led a twenty-minute discussion in which, after the first leading question, I said exactly nine words. It was awesome.
Unfortunately, it was with graduate students in my pedagogy class rather than with freshmen in a composition class. *sigh*
But it underscored the difference that teaching what you're interested in makes; instead of what the doctoral students I TA for are doing, I got to give people Irish poetry, which I love. ("What Language Did," by Eavan Boland, for those who care.) I must go find awesome texts I can sneak into 101...
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wintercreek gave me the following associations:
Thatcher/Fraser
I adore them. They are so AWKWARD, and it is HILARIOUS. I love how she just doesn't know what to do with him, and he is equally flummoxed by her. I think they're more similar than is generally seen at first glance, and they're perfectly in sync with each other out in the field (cf. "We Are the Eggmen," "Mountie on the Bounty," "Call of the Wild"). What also make their relationship interesting is the sadness they both obviously feel that they can't pursue it because of their respective roles in the RCMP, and later because Meg doesn't want to live in the frozen north. (Although I remain convinced that if she just gave it a chance she'd love it!)
Hem
I love a lot of different types of music, but this band is the one I will always return to and enjoy pretty much anything from. Their music is dense, lush, and uses a variety of interesting instruments not usually found outside of an orchestra. Their lyrics are masterpieces of storytelling in verse form. I discovered them in the spring of 2005, when I was in my last months at Exeter. This was right after Eveningland came out, I think; I remember it was the first album I bought, before getting Rabbit Songs. I've been following them avidly ever since.
Tennessee
Hmm. Well, I live here. I lived in Nashville from birth until eighteen, then came back every vacation from eighteen to twenty-two, lived there for two more years, and now live in Knoxville. Aside from the weather, which is better than the cold winters of the north, I don't know that I prefer it over the other state I've lived in, Ohio, or over any other state in general. I think living here has probably influenced my perspective on any number of things, although I'm not totally sure in what ways. I am a font of trivia and knowledge about the history and geography of the state. I know the plants which grow and animals that live here. I know when the redbud trees come into bloom (early March) and when the maples turn (mid-November). I can remember walking to the downtown bus stop from my high school on blazing hot August and September afternoons and being ready to die by the time I made it the five blocks, especially because all I had to look forward to was a thirty-minute wait for the bus to show up with little to no shade. I think the choreographer of the Nashville Ballet is awesome and I want to stalk him. I hate the country music image Nashville projects, and am more than willing to inform everyone how it's totally a sham, but a really annoying sham nonetheless. I've been too caught up in grad school to see a whole lot of Knoxville, but what I've seen, I've liked.
Northern Exposure
Babylon 5 may yet usurp the spot, but right now, this is my all-time favorite television show. I love the absurdist, magical realism aspects of it, I love that it's set in a small town a bit like the one where I went to college, and I love the characters--oh, the characters, who grow and change and have flaws and develop relationships. I love that I can watch 90% of the episodes multiple times and still get something new out of them on the fifth or sixth viewing. I love the literary allusions, the philosophy and psychology that gets put into the show in so many ways. I love Maggie and Joel's tempestuous relationship that eventually resolves into something beautiful and meaningful for both of them; I love Ed's troubled balancing act between writing and being a shaman; I love that Chris is the Greek chorus on the radio. I love that it can make me cry and laugh in the same episode. I love that it is wacky and fun and full of dreams and visions while still remaining arrow-true to human emotion. If I were to make a TV show, I would want to make one like this.
English
I was an English major; now I'm an English grad student. But I'm stopping after the MA and doing...something else. Preferably academic press-related. I knew I was going to study English from eighth grade onward; the story there is that in eighth grade I ran into algebra, and it killed my dreams of being an astrophysicist dead, dead, dead. I had to retake it the next year because I couldn't pass the exit exam. So I decided I would write science fiction novels rather than search for alien radio signals. Then, later in high school, I discovered I liked writing poetry, and decided I would go to a school where I could do that, and also read and write papers on books. Thus, Kenyon, which "does writing like Ohio State does football," or so goes the quote you can buy a mug or T-shirt at the bookstore. After getting an English degree with a concentration in creative writing from there, I spent two years missing writing papers and feeling unfulfilled by not having written a gigantic critical thesis (I wrote a small creative thesis), and so I wound up here, happily reading and thinking about Irish poetry and literature, and unhappily doing everything else grad school-related.
I love analyzing texts (where the definition of a text includes books, TV shows, movies, music, artwork, advertisements, and anything else I deem textish). I love it. I can't look at a text without wanting to examine it more closely and try to make connections within its different parts, relate it to a historical period or other text, and generally pick it apart. I love to write my own texts and think about their structure, and what allusions they're making and influences they've had. That may be why I don't get around to writing very much--I'm always thinking about what goes into the writing rather than just writing.
Language makes life worth living.
*
The iTunes single of the week is again a throwback to 1983. I don't know where this trend is coming from, but I approve.
Unfortunately, it was with graduate students in my pedagogy class rather than with freshmen in a composition class. *sigh*
But it underscored the difference that teaching what you're interested in makes; instead of what the doctoral students I TA for are doing, I got to give people Irish poetry, which I love. ("What Language Did," by Eavan Boland, for those who care.) I must go find awesome texts I can sneak into 101...
*
wintercreek gave me the following associations:
Thatcher/Fraser
I adore them. They are so AWKWARD, and it is HILARIOUS. I love how she just doesn't know what to do with him, and he is equally flummoxed by her. I think they're more similar than is generally seen at first glance, and they're perfectly in sync with each other out in the field (cf. "We Are the Eggmen," "Mountie on the Bounty," "Call of the Wild"). What also make their relationship interesting is the sadness they both obviously feel that they can't pursue it because of their respective roles in the RCMP, and later because Meg doesn't want to live in the frozen north. (Although I remain convinced that if she just gave it a chance she'd love it!)
Hem
I love a lot of different types of music, but this band is the one I will always return to and enjoy pretty much anything from. Their music is dense, lush, and uses a variety of interesting instruments not usually found outside of an orchestra. Their lyrics are masterpieces of storytelling in verse form. I discovered them in the spring of 2005, when I was in my last months at Exeter. This was right after Eveningland came out, I think; I remember it was the first album I bought, before getting Rabbit Songs. I've been following them avidly ever since.
Tennessee
Hmm. Well, I live here. I lived in Nashville from birth until eighteen, then came back every vacation from eighteen to twenty-two, lived there for two more years, and now live in Knoxville. Aside from the weather, which is better than the cold winters of the north, I don't know that I prefer it over the other state I've lived in, Ohio, or over any other state in general. I think living here has probably influenced my perspective on any number of things, although I'm not totally sure in what ways. I am a font of trivia and knowledge about the history and geography of the state. I know the plants which grow and animals that live here. I know when the redbud trees come into bloom (early March) and when the maples turn (mid-November). I can remember walking to the downtown bus stop from my high school on blazing hot August and September afternoons and being ready to die by the time I made it the five blocks, especially because all I had to look forward to was a thirty-minute wait for the bus to show up with little to no shade. I think the choreographer of the Nashville Ballet is awesome and I want to stalk him. I hate the country music image Nashville projects, and am more than willing to inform everyone how it's totally a sham, but a really annoying sham nonetheless. I've been too caught up in grad school to see a whole lot of Knoxville, but what I've seen, I've liked.
Northern Exposure
Babylon 5 may yet usurp the spot, but right now, this is my all-time favorite television show. I love the absurdist, magical realism aspects of it, I love that it's set in a small town a bit like the one where I went to college, and I love the characters--oh, the characters, who grow and change and have flaws and develop relationships. I love that I can watch 90% of the episodes multiple times and still get something new out of them on the fifth or sixth viewing. I love the literary allusions, the philosophy and psychology that gets put into the show in so many ways. I love Maggie and Joel's tempestuous relationship that eventually resolves into something beautiful and meaningful for both of them; I love Ed's troubled balancing act between writing and being a shaman; I love that Chris is the Greek chorus on the radio. I love that it can make me cry and laugh in the same episode. I love that it is wacky and fun and full of dreams and visions while still remaining arrow-true to human emotion. If I were to make a TV show, I would want to make one like this.
English
I was an English major; now I'm an English grad student. But I'm stopping after the MA and doing...something else. Preferably academic press-related. I knew I was going to study English from eighth grade onward; the story there is that in eighth grade I ran into algebra, and it killed my dreams of being an astrophysicist dead, dead, dead. I had to retake it the next year because I couldn't pass the exit exam. So I decided I would write science fiction novels rather than search for alien radio signals. Then, later in high school, I discovered I liked writing poetry, and decided I would go to a school where I could do that, and also read and write papers on books. Thus, Kenyon, which "does writing like Ohio State does football," or so goes the quote you can buy a mug or T-shirt at the bookstore. After getting an English degree with a concentration in creative writing from there, I spent two years missing writing papers and feeling unfulfilled by not having written a gigantic critical thesis (I wrote a small creative thesis), and so I wound up here, happily reading and thinking about Irish poetry and literature, and unhappily doing everything else grad school-related.
I love analyzing texts (where the definition of a text includes books, TV shows, movies, music, artwork, advertisements, and anything else I deem textish). I love it. I can't look at a text without wanting to examine it more closely and try to make connections within its different parts, relate it to a historical period or other text, and generally pick it apart. I love to write my own texts and think about their structure, and what allusions they're making and influences they've had. That may be why I don't get around to writing very much--I'm always thinking about what goes into the writing rather than just writing.
Language makes life worth living.
*
The iTunes single of the week is again a throwback to 1983. I don't know where this trend is coming from, but I approve.