In our house we have a saying: The secret to happiness is low expectations. Thus Noah is happy with me. π I take it as a personal challenge though and I do my best to go above and beyond to make him happy. So when I went to the store this morning I brought home a breakfast of his favorite things. Continue reading
Tag Archives: school
Books I will be reading in the next couple of weeks.
I will cheerfully arrange being able to read one (or more) to line up with the reading speed/level of someone else if anyone wants to read with me.
William Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights
Edgar Allan Poe: Selected Poetry http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/262.html
Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass 1855 version
Stephen Crane: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
Frederick Douglass: Autobiography of Frederick Douglass
Joseph Conrad: Lord Jim
George Bernard Shaw: Pygmalion
Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway
Tom Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Seamus Heaney: Beowulf
A shitload of poetry by: Auden, Yeats, Thomas, Frost, Pound, Eliot, Ginsburg
Along with ten other books I haven’t selected yet because I need to figure out which ones I want to buy. π
(Have I mentioned that I hate poetry? Fully 10/29 things I need to read consist of masses of poetry. This is where I cry. Noah! Help!)
w00t! I is smart!
I was reminded that SJSU posted grades (Thanks Mitrian).
I got an A- in criticism and a B+ in genre studies. Yay! Considering how very little effort I put into the classes I am thrilled. π This ensures that my GPA is high enough to earn an MA. (Not that I was actually worried…) Now I need to study for a comp exam and study Spanish some more so that I can pass a written translation. I’m really rusty on Spanish, but I figure this is doable.
hell yeah
Barring Noah saying, “Wow these suck–you need to heavily edit these” I think I am done with my papers. I am turning them (and my huge stack of library books) today. That is it for this semester. I’m sure glad the Lizard didn’t arrive early because so much for my goal of turning in my papers early. π
Now I get to turn my brain towards nesting! Yay nesting!!
Although I get to spend today sitting at the car dealership because the car needs that 45,000 mile check up. Oy.
Out with a whimper?
My last class ever of my graduate career. What sage comment do I make? “Dude! Yoda is totally that old guy from The Karate Kid!”
My intellectual prowess is stunning.
Full of fail.
I just can’t get my head going to write these papers. I know I need to. I know that the earlier I do it the better because who knows when the Lizard will be arriving. I just can’t find focus. I’ve done the research. I’ve done more fucking research (as a procrastinating method) than I have done on any paper ever. I just cn’t figure out how to say what I want to say. I write so much better when I’m under pressure and that is terrible of me. π
This is why I didn’t come down on students too hard for last minute papers unless they were obviously bad. If you can write well at the last minute, go you. If you can’t then you need the lead time for planning and editing. Me, I write best at the last minute. But it increases my stress way more than is good. Erf. Fuck it. I’m taking a bath.
bits and pieces
-I’m tired. I’m always tired. But it’s nap time now and instead of curling up for my (almost) daily nap I have to go get in the (rental) car and drive to school. Does anyone else see why this is bad? I’m in class until 9:45 tonight. Then I get to drive home. No really. Does anyone else see why this is bad? Considering that I am driving a rental car cause I rear ended someone while falling asleep? Awesome.
-For some reason LJ isn’t showing me icons. Not mine, not anyone else’s and I don’t know why.
-The continued evolution of sex during pregnancy is confusing and difficult and complicated by a few very specific things right now. I really wish I could feel more secure right now.
-I messed up giving Puff her medicine this morning. π I was overzealous and I managed to push the medicine out harder and faster than is good and I think I sent it “down the wrong pipe.” She struggled to get away after that and was pretty miserable as she kind of coughed/sneezed for a while. I feel bad.
-I’m overall not feeling very intellectually with-it right now. Although, I have to say, despite feeling like I am walking in a foggy haze I like Derrida. He’s a snotty French Deconstructionist. Now I have a name for the pedantic over-analyzing that I like to do! Yay! You can’t take things at face value because language is inherently flawed. This rocks my socks off.
-Including today I have six days of class left. That’s it. Period. That’s the end of my classes for my degree. That’s pretty intense. Of course, I still need to pass the comp exam and the language test. I’ll worry about that later.
-Still feeling kind of sad and withdrawn. I’m sorry I don’t have more to give anyone.
-My therapist should be calling in the next day or two to schedule an appointment. Have I mentioned that I’ve missed her?
-Freaked out about selling the house now. I don’t know how I really feel about the possibility of not moving any year soon because we missed the housing market bubble. It isn’t worth it to sell our house at a really low price. It will mean staying for a while, maybe quite a while. I was really adjusted to the idea of leaving so now I don’t know how to reconcile staying. There are good things about staying, but in my head I was already half gone…
1st draft of critical response
I’m writing an essay criticizing a piece of criticism. There’s intellectual wankery for you. I’m not satisfied with it yet, but I’m not sure how I want to fix it. I figure that ye olde intarweb often gives me good feedback, so if you are bored and you want to skim it (about 3 pages) I’m not turning it in until Monday. π Feedback is appreciated.
Wasting my degree.
As I’m sitting down to read some Lacan (mofo is dense) I’m flashing back to a conversation I had last night which was like the 15th time I’ve had that conversation in the past few weeks. What do I want to do with my MA. Be a stay at home mom? But I will be wasting my degree!
*blink*
What the fuck is an MA in English supposed to be used for? Oh, teaching. Well, I know how much time and energy teaching takes and I think that energy would be better spent raising my kids. Oh! That makes me a traitor to feminism! Awesome. I hadn’t heard that feminism means having to tow the party line and work outside the home no matter what I want and no matter what is best for me and my children. I hadn’t realized that it is only ok to be a SAHM if I am uneducated and fit for nothing better. (Better? Is teaching better?) Although I have been assured that I could work at a variety of different jobs. It’s just a matter of finding the right one. But what if the right one for me is staying home with my kids? That’s not good enough.
I feel like asking people if it would make them happier if I just dropped out of school.
That’s that.
My work email was shut off today. Guess I won’t be looking at it again. Oh well.
Current countdowns:
Con begins in: 14 days. Woof. Are we ready?
I have 13 more class sessions left on my MA. No pressure.
The comp exam for my MA is in: 9 weeks. I need to freakin read more. Stupid poetry.
The kid is due in: roughly 16 weeks.
It’s really interesting to be aware that once I finish the con, the MA, and have the kid I’m not on any time schedules for anything. We want to move to PA as soon as is reasonable, but we don’t have a firm date on this. We want this house sold soon, but there isn’t a mandatory date. I’m going to be just sort of floating in space. I don’t think I have had that in my life before. I have had periods where I knew I didn’t have to do anything for a month or two before the grind started again, but I have no grind to look forward to.
Holy shit.
SJSU has redeemed itself.
I am still not fond of registration, but the woman in charge of my program and the head of graduate studies both bent over backwards to help me. Due to issues with computers (dang computers) I had to turn in a paper application today, but I was told that the woman in charge of graduate studies would be processing it today so that I can register. Now that’s service.
I’m bringing in flowers on Monday. I was in a tricky/bad situation and they bent over backwards for me. They both went above and beyond their job responsibilities and I am so grateful.
I will finish my MA this semester. YAY!!!
+/-
– The registration department at SJSU has no record of me filing for a leave of absence.
– I may have to reapply for the MA program and finish my degree next semester.
– We won’t be able to move to PA until the middle of next fucking winter.
– Going through my last semester of grad school with an infant.
– More boredom over the next few months because I will have precious little to do between now and the baby coming.
– Being denied my easy path to moving to PA that I have gotten good and set in my head.
+ Hey, more time to read for the MA exam and memorize some god damn poetry so I don’t potentially fail that portion of the comp exam.
+ All the Powers That Be within my actual department are fighting like mad for me to be able to finish this semester and they are arguing with registration as I type. Go them.
+ I will have much less stress during the pregnancy.
+ I will maybe be able to take Spanish classes at a community college and waive the language exam requirement if I have the time off from school.
+ I could take some classes for fun at a JC credit/no credit so that I’m adding no stress but some interesting learning. (Could be neat.)
Alright, I’ve managed to talk myself out of being super pissy, but this is still frustrating.
w00t! Math can be my friend! (also: classes for the semester)
I went through and did the math on my GPA for the MA program. (I’m a dumb ass and this took me a while.) If I get lowly B’s–which is unlikely, I am generally a very good student, my GPA is still high enough to graduate. Even with that F for the Incomplete I didn’t finish. I hated that teacher enough to be willing to fuck my GPA with an F just so that I never had to talk to her again. It was worth it. My life is better for it.
It looks like I am taking two classes. One of them is on Mondays which will require rescheduling Chris.
English 204 – Seminar in Modern Approaches to Literature (Prof. Brada-Williams)
M 1900-2145
The Russian Formalists argued that what made literary language different from other forms of language was that literature defamiliarizes, making us see the world in a new way. One could argue that the literary theory and criticism of the twentieth century has, in turn, made us see literature in new ways. The semester will be spent in examining various ways critics and theorists have come to see the way literature works, and to form the questions we must ask of texts, of readers, of authors, and of how literature continues to shape the way we see the world around us. We will read and discuss many rigorous and intellectually challenging critical and theoretical readings, mostly from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
English 254: Seminar in Genre Studies of American Literature (Prof. Douglass)
W 1600-1845
The Literature of Social and Political Change: Some of the literature of socio-political intent is sentimental, some sensationalist, some as didactic as Platoβs The Republic. Whether sentimental, sensational, teacherly, preacherly, or stealthy in its approach, however, a great deal of American literature has been produced from the desire to change the world. Politically engaged literature took a critical beating in the past century, as the New Criticism elevated the art object above the fray of particular political and social conflicts, but the critical schools that flowered in soil turned over by the New Criticism have argued that art is always implicated in the cultural conflicts that produce power and wealth. Instead of looking for the hidden or subconscious intent in works that ask to be accepted as β nonpolitical,β this course will focus on literature which overtly engages the social and political issues of its day. We will consider this literature in the light of aesthetic standards and from recent critical perspectives such as Deconstruction, Marxism, Feminism, Queer Studies, and Postcolonialism. Some authors to be considered include Sherman Alexie, Amiri Baraka, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lorraine Hansberry, Upton Sinclair, Dalton Trumbo, Helen Hunt Jackson, John Steinbeck, David Henry Hwang, Margaret Atwood, and Richard Wright.
These both sound interesting and challenging. I have a strong familiarity with some branches of criticism, but I’m completely non-existent in other areas. This should help me towards the final exam I need to take for the MA. I will be spending an inordinate amount of time reading and studying over the next few months as the next opportunity to take the MA exam is in April. I also need to start working on Spanish again so I can try to take the language test. Thank god it is written only. I think I will be able to handle it, but I may be recruiting my friends who know Spanish for a few study sessions. π
It’s going to feel weird to be a student again.
HA! Awesome!
Today I was presented with a onesie that says:
gibb-let [gib-lit]
-noun
1. a geek fetus: Mrs. Gibbs popped out her gibblet
2. little lizard that causes painful joy; joyful pain
Last day
I sent out an all staff email letting people know that today is my last day. The response is overwhelming. I think I will cry. I think I never understand how much people like me because I don’t like myself enough. This sort of thing is always so surprising to me. But I’m really glad to see it. I’ve only been here two and a half years but I’ve really earned the respect of my colleagues. That makes me feel really good.
And a kid came into class crying this morning. I took her outside and talked to her for a while. By the end she was smiling. I think the kids are really going to miss me. I succeeded at what I wanted more than anything career-wise. I became a good teacher.
A hard, but good thing
I like doing anonymous question time every so often. I get good questions. Things about: what kind of personality do I hope my kid will have. When did I lose my virginity. What is the hardest thing I went through as a kid. Touchy hard things to ask about sex. And today I was asked when does hitting become abuse. The kid qualified that he or she doesn’t get hit that much, but sometimes it gets kind of out of hand.
I really value this time because sometimes I am asked stupid questions, but I can tell that the kids store up these things they are afraid to ask about. I’m always painfully honest. (I didn’t give them an exact age on losing my virginity but I pointed out that some people measure from losing the hymen but I believe that virginity goes when you first *choose* to have sex. I told them that I was younger than I hope will be true for them and I made the decision then because I had a bad childhood and believed that was the way to get someone to like me. I said that I hope they have a better sense of self-esteem than that because they all deserve better.) The question about hitting lead to a very serious and intense conversation about abuse and how to get out of it. I expressed that the person who submitted the question is brave for being willing to ask, even in an anonymous setting. I talked about how much shame and guilt exists around this topic and why people tend to feel guilty. I told them about the process for reporting abuse and what will happen to them if they do report it and why going through that is worth it.
They were very intense as they listened. I was impressed. I think this is one of the best things I do as a teacher. I’m going to miss this.
And I told them about the tattoo. They are stunned.
Shit.
And apparently I am still the only teacher they have for my classes. The person who was going to cover for me fell through. They are interviewing three people tomorrow. I’m going to cross my fingers.
I’m also going to guilt trip myself into making lesson plans for the next two-three weeks so that a new teacher can hit the ground running.
Shit. I don’t need this.
{insecurity} Disappointment
It’s probably not “lately” or “for a while now” but more just right now I feel really frustrated and caught up in small disappointments. I’m tired of trying and failing. I’m tired of being unable to make my commitments. I’m tired of other people not making their commitments to me.
Tonight I physically feel worse than I have in almost a month. Why is that? Oh. I went back to my job. I went back to people being demanding and fussy and having no interest in anyone other than themselves. I’m not really even talking about the kids. The pissy emails from parents hit me really hard. The attitude that I am failing my students because I hold them to standards is really hard. Right now I feel more guilty than normal because I believe I have let my students down this semester. I didn’t coax them through every single step this time. I didn’t baby them through doing all of their work. I didn’t keep them in after school repeatedly until I had a freakishly high passing rate. So I feel like I failed them. On some level I believe that I didn’t fail them, they failed themselves. But I can’t help feeling like I disappointed them.
I have nine more days at my job and I’m not sure how I will get through them. π
Great.
Another workday another hysterical interaction with this obnoxious parent. I so hate her. No. I will not take this assignment 16 days late. I just won’t.
Awwww
I sent out email to my kidlets and parents explaining that I am still pretty sick and I don’t know when/if I am getting back to school. I’m really tired of not being able to keep down a reasonable amount of solid food. I’m dropping weight again. π I also gave instructions as to what the kids should do between now and Friday. I told them that I miss my daily dose of kidlets and I hope to get back soon.
The return emails are making me smile. They miss the water bottle. They miss my snark. They miss the class being “more fun”. I feel so loved. π