because this is my LJ, and I can whine about school if I want

[cynthia_arrow]

So, shall I tell you some glowing things about my writing that the Professor (hereby psuedonymed Professor Asswad) who will be conducting my PhD-level writing workshop this semester has already written about the paper I'll be working on, two days before the semester starts? (Keep in mind it's about Faulkner, and I'm trying to work toward

Comments

[isis2015]

There you have it. My prose is "wordy and dull" and my ideas are "simple and cliched."

That's an incredibly rude thing to say. :/

Professors are really the luck of the draw, aren't they? Personally, I know I wouldn't respond well to the 'scare tactic' approach to teaching, where teachers are harsh from day one to weed people out. It would probably just piss me off. But I have yet to have a teacher like that.

Unfortunately, there are going to be some people like that. I think that your approach is probably the best: use him for what he can give you and ignore the rest.

[cynthia_arrow]

In my own teaching, I don't particularly go for the scare tactic either. Some do, but I don't. And even those that do, I'm not sure they'd go this far, especially BEFORE the semester even STARTS. Arg.

Thanks for the advice and the support, dear, as always. Have I told you lately that I'm so glad you're on my flist? *smishes*

[isis2015]

Have I told you lately that I'm so glad you're on my flist? *smishes*

Aw, you're too sweet. *hugs* I'm happy to be here.

[spinkkitty]

maybe you should slip professor asswad some of what we've been reading here.

coz judging from what i have already seen and yesterday's probing uh questions whatever you seem to be producing on the sam/lee front could be i suppose wordy but never never dull.

professor spink has not read but already gives u an A++
professor asswad would eat his bowtie and then choke on it

HEEEEEEEEEEEEE

ps i am listening to a song called "kate is great" - it's a sign!

[cynthia_arrow]

I can live with being called wordy, because I AM, lol, but it's just...nasty to call a future English professor's writing dull. He KNOWS what sort of insult that is, so his only motivation has to be, well, INSULT. Rat bastard.

Thanks for the encouragement, darling. :D

[crowgirl13]

Oh, give me a break.

Comparing literature from different eras is a relatively common practice; compartmentalizing writing by its time period alone not only shows a lack of contextual comprehension, but also reveals hidebound thinking. Talk about *dull*.

And what does Whitman have to do with WWII?? Hello, he wrote work specifically in response to the CIVIL WAR. At the very least he's a springboard for addressing the modern development of a uniquely American Literary treatment of war. Also? Post-WWII has EVERYTHING to do with Whitman, as Whitman is considered one of the major influences in post-modern American WRITING.

Dink.

Being this harsh out of the starting gate just shows you what you'll be fighting against. And yeah 'cliched' and 'dull and wordy' are so very much fighting words. Here's hoping he'll make a good striking post for you.

Or to sum up: Kick his bitchy little ass, Granger!

[cynthia_arrow]

The stupidest thing was I didn't bring up Whitman. Two very intelligent and respected and long-dead Modernist critics brought up Whitman, and I just plugged into their train of thought. And, yeah, telling an Americanist that something she's working on has no connection to Whitman? That's just asking for 0_o

I hope I won't have to do any ass kicking, but he's sure as hell not gonna make me wither up and die. He's a fucking 18th century scholar, for God's sake! Didn't Alexander Pope INVENT dry and dull?

I thought they were fighting words, but I also thought maybe I was being overly touchy. Good to know I was right. *gets in Karate Kid flying kick pose*

[siluria]

Hmmm, what a lovely man *not*. There's criticism and then there's constructive criticism and being the 'teacher' that you are! But much, much, kudos to you for sticking with it regardless of the mad professor.

[cynthia_arrow]

Yeah, he went right on over "constructive" and into "harsh." And, being a lit and writing professor, he knows precisely what tone he took. That's what bugs me. *sigh*

Oh, well. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

[cynthia_arrow]

I grade student papers, too, so it makes me want to be really, really careful in the future and not be so...stupid. I did tell a student once to stop using so many 75-cent words, because his ideas were perfectly clear without them, but even that, at my bitchiest (and that kid deserved it, BTW), I would never say someone's prose was "incredibly dull." It's not the sentiment that bugs me; it's the fact that he had the gall to say it like that. *hrumph*

Anyway, I like your strategy. :) Thanks, babe!