October 31 - Robot and upper margin exposition

So sometimes the top margin of my class notes is filled with things other than the delightful Robot (to whom I introduced you before). I have decided to share my notes from a class that happened this Thursday (October 29, as you can see by the date on the page). The course is titled “Introduction to Theory: Critical, Literary, and Cultural,” and it involves reading all of the stuff you might expect (or, if you’re lucky, are not really familiar with at all). This kind of stuff is not really my bag. Anyhow, I’m going to explain all of the little notes I’ve made (to accompany Robot, of course) since these comments are relatively fresh in my mind and can be elaborated upon without much trouble. Oh man, it’s almost like this has relevance to whole “Ship of Theseus” idea! But whoa, let’s not get crazy. Instead let’s just pretend nothing important is going on here and just (hopefully) enjoy the rambling of my in-class mind. (Note: I noticed after uploading this that the image is too small to see on the blog, so unfortunately you'll have to click on it to see all its glory.)

Stop the cover sheets.

In this class we are supposed to turn in ten reading response papers over the course of the semester, so there are short essays being turned in (and handed back) every single meeting. This one guy in the class named Daniel (who the professor calls “Dan-yell,” the way you would normally pronounce a girl’s name like Danielle), always turns in essays with a full-blown cover sheet and bibliography. To me this seems a little extreme for a three page paper. Any time you are inflating the length of your paper by 66%, I think it’s okay to leave out the bibliography since you only consulted one source and just use a heading instead of a cover sheet. But hey, that's just me.

Yes, this is the way my brain works. Welcome to it.

Not by Dr. Pucci?

Dr Pucci is the professor of this course. Although technically a part of the thrown-together Social Theory Department at UK, the course is actually listed in the French Department, which means that it is filled with almost entirely French graduate students. But I digress. Anyhow, when talking about bell hooks on Thursday, a girl in class commented about how we are taught by scholars to accept only “elitist, jargonistic, obtuse” theory, but quickly added, “but not by Dr. Pucci.” Since the woman spent weeks cramming Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault down our throats, I found this comment a bit false and annoying.

Procreate?

Eventually the discussion on Thursday began to wander, something that can be irritating when you come to class, you know, prepared to talk about the text at hand. Anyhow, in the midst of the impromptu discussion about stripping and prostitution, all of the girls in class used the term “procreate” in lieu of any other term that might be used to indicate sexual intercourse. Obviously, I found this is a bit strange and/or troubling.

Oh God: IIII I. Wandering: IIII IIII. Stop: IIII IIII I,

The “Stop” counter is a trademark of mine that I use to keep track of the number of times people in class begin to ramble and talk about useless, silly nonsense (hence, I want them to “stop”). Because the class Thursday was so intensely ridiculous (and to me, detrimental), I decided to add two new counters: “Oh God,” which I used for moments when people insisted on making comments that blew my mind (like steering the discussion into whether or not prostitutes are feminists) and “Wandering,” which I used any time one of my classmates would take the floor and use the opportunity to steer discussion away from anything that could be called practical or instructive. Maybe this created a sort of downward spiral that encouraged inaccuracy, but in the years I’ve done this, I never had a “Stop” counter higher than four. This was a landmark class meeting. (Note: the strikethrough is used in this case to indicate the grouping of five since I couldn't find a more appropriate way to depict it in Word.)

“They are waiting for the male gaze.” Holy. Shit.

As a side note, I sit next to a kind older gentleman in this class named Garland, and I feel weird making comments like this sometimes because I don’t think it’s becoming to write such nastiness (albeit in my small handwriting) when he might see it. Anyhow, when talking whether or not prostitutes and strippers are “empowered,” one girl in the class tried to connect the argument to a previous article we read that suggested that woman obtain agency as objects by being looked at by men (I apologize for trying to synthesize and summarize these arguments). She suggested that that the women in question were not outside of the patriarchal system because they were still “waiting for the male gaze.” Wrap your mind around that for a second. No, seriously, think about it.

A break? Seriously?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this little note-taking is my passive (and not so aggressive) way of responding to things I take issue with during class. In this case, my professor asked us if we would like to take a break for five or so minutes, which is customary (at least at UK) in the middle of 150-minute seminars. In this case, however, there were only thirty minutes left in the entire class period when she asked us if we were interested in breaking. I kept waiting for her to stop the class in the middle (when we would normally take a break) but instead she plowed through until class was almost over and then asked if we wanted to stop. I don’t want to be a pedant or a jerk, but why the hell would we want to break when we’re that close to being done already?

Continue for a while?

If a break is not taken, 150-minute classes are supposed to be let out early. A lot of professors ignore or break this rule (treating more as a suggestion), but Pucci hadn’t done so yet this semester. But with about five minutes left in the scheduled class period, when people were beginning to pack up their things and preparing to leave, the professor suggested that we "continue for a while. " Clearly this was not a suggestion I enjoyed.

Twilight? Really. REALLY.

I don’t know if you can tell that the second “really” is in all-caps, but I assure you that it is. The difference is subtle. Anyhow, this was the first note I made during the class (which is why it is in Robot’s speech bubble). As much as I take issue with this course and dislike the general approach of some of the grad students from the French Department, it cannot be disputed that the course is absolutely loaded with very cute girls. Before class began, however, two of them were discussing the next Twilight movie, which apparently involves a werewolf and a vampire fighting for a girl’s affection. This is the kind of stuff that haunts my nightmares, and there might be no better way to make me lose interest in someone (male or female). God, it makes me sick just thinking about it.

IT WOULD BE NICE IF WE STARTED PRESENTING??? NO, IT WOULDN’T!!!

As class started, the professor handed out a list of “presentation guidelines” and told us that we would all be giving presentations on one of the texts in class. Although talking about things outside of my specialty is not really my strength, I can appreciate this as a good idea. What I cannot appreciate, however, is telling us about this project with a month left in the semester (a month during which we are supposed to write a response paper a week and produce a twenty-page essay) instead of planning it from the beginning of the term. Trying to set this up so late in the semester is pure bullshit, especially when you force people to pick texts (and dates for presenting) right on the spot without prior notice. I don’t care if you disagree with everything else I’ve written so far as long as you agree with this.

So sad.

This was one of those classes where people felt encouraged to contextualize their comments by noting how they were engaged or had a boyfriend/girlfriend. It always makes me feel weird to know that there are so many people around me who are already married. I guess you could say this is my reaction to it. Moving on…

YES. WE HAVE GONE FAR.

Near the end of class, Dr Pucci noted with a smile that “our discussion had really gone far” today. Given my other comments, particularly the “Oh God/Wandering/Stop” counters, one could assume that I didn’t really share her positive view of the undefined, rambling breadth of our conversation. I’m not trying to limit discussion, but I would like there to be some sort of linear, rational path to follow instead of ridiculous tangential commentary.

Don’t lie, you think men are the enemy.

I love to make note of things people say in classes. In the past I spent a lot of class time recording stupid/silly comments, and while there are certainly still idiotic claims made in graduate school (although to a lesser degree, I feel), I do like to latch on to these sort of unprompted, unnecessary explanations. As is my usual tact, I also like to reverse the comment (since I don’t really feel that the comment needed to be said in the first place). One of the girls in class was explaining that she considered herself to be a feminist, but felt it necessary to say that that “didn’t mean she thought men were the enemy.” Oh yeah? Well I think you do think men are the enemy. Take that!