college embarrassment
so it’s about 35 degrees out, and i’ve got a fan in the window that’s been running all night. yes, steam heat is efficient — just a little bit too much so.
this is my before-Purgatory (i.e. Historical Perspective) entry. today is a “discussion” day, meaning he’ll only blab randomly for half of the time instead of the full period. i swear this class is punishment for something sinful i did.
two
oh, God. the post-Purgatory entry. and yes, it really was punishment this time…
let me first make it clear that every Thursday is a mini-hell for me. 10:30-12:00 i have a mind-bogglingly random and boring lecture from Launay in “Historical Perspective” (although the class itself seems to have no real perspective). then, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm — yes, that’s 3 hours — i have a Research Methods class with Bledsoe. oh, Lord.
but tonight was the worst. it was probably the most awkward feeling i’ve ever had in a college class. i hope you find this amusing.
so here’s the background. the entire Research Methods class is centered around a single quarter-long project. we work on these in groups of two or three. each week, we turn in a new “installation” to the project — a proposal, then participant observation, etc. prior to each class, we’re supposed to read some articles, and then we discuss both these articles and students’ projects in that three-hour block of torture known as class. that’s the format.
tonight’s topic was participant observation. we had a few articles to read, but i just skimmed a couple of them. i think this is what most of the class does, and i know a fair amount don’t do any reading at all, because we’re not tested on it and our projects aren’t based on the readings. so in the initial part of class, where we’re discussing the articles, i’m doing some heavy-duty ZONING OUT. now believe me, with this class and Historical Perspective in the same quarter, i’m getting pretty damn good at this. it really is a skill. anyhow, i’m sitting there, zoned out, staring at the book. i’m seated in the back, behind some other students, so the teacher can’t even see me. it’s optimal.
evidently, they’re talking about “tension.” this is about all i pick up on. something about tension between something and something else. whatever. so the teacher asks some open-ended question about tension, and no one answers, probably because no one’s read the shit. we’re just sitting there. it’s going nowhere.
then, straight outta left field, the teacher asks, in a strangely matter-of-fact, conversational tone — like she wasn’t addressing a student and asking him a question — “what do you think, Tom?”
what?
i barely heard my name. i couldn’t even tell if she was talking to me.
Tom: [quickly clears throat] “uhh, did you say my name?”
Bledsoe: “yes, what do you think about this tension?”
Tom: “uhh, what tension are you talking about?”
Bledsoe: “the tension that [whoever the hell wrote the article] talks about between science and subjectivity in anthropology” (i’m paraphrasing here, because i’m basically numb with shock)
oh, fuck.
well, i think the whole class knows i haven’t a goddamned idea what’s going on. furthermore, i think they understand how strange it is to specifically call on someone in a college classroom setting. who does that? the whole thing was SO DAMN AWKWARD.
so i managed to choke out some bullshit about the classic paradox in anthropology between cultural anthro and archaeology. as an example, i mentioned that anthro and arky are under the same umbrella here in the States, but separated elsewhere. then this grad student, Noah, has to chime in and say there are schools in the U.S. that don’t follow this. well what the fuck, Paco? thanks for making the most awkward situation EVER even more awkward.
i spent the rest of the class with an upset stomach and a real, real strong hankerin’ to get the hell out of there.
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a few random things in this late-night, last post of January (well, technically it’s Feburary)…
i don’t normally link random, funny Web sites, because i think the task of finding and linking them is best left to someone else, but this ninja thing is just absofuckinglutely hilarious.
i’ve mentioned it before, but i love that show Elimidate.
i’ve got a midterm in Human Origins tomorrow morning. i took a look at last year’s exam, which the teacher had posted on CourseInfo. um, uh oh.