I registered for Fall 2008 classes today but it was kind of silly. First of all, if I don’t get a TA position I’ll only be taking one class. If I do get a TA position I need to take two but I don’t know what times, so I figured better safe than sorry and I registered for three. I’m actually signed up for three with one pending approval, but I’ll be dropping either two or three of these classes regardless. Brilliant!
Oh, and did I mention that an overwhelming number of the classes are scheduled on top of each other? Yeah, on Wednesdays 4 of the 5 classes are scheduled to meet at the same time. And the vast majority of classes offered to grad students are on Tuesday afternoons so there’s something like 8 of 10 classes that conflict on Tuesdays. Doubly brilliant! Ah, grad school…
Anyway, the classes I’ve signed up for are:
Fiction Workshop: Electronica – promises to be not just another workshop
Rhetoric of Technology – part of the professional writing curriculum
Fiction Workshop: Novella – I’m almost certainly dropping this one
Modern Literary Theory – I’m almost certainly dropping this one too, although it would be handy
Word on the street is that the prospect for TA positions is “looking good” but nothing definite yet. Realistically, this probably means there are 3 or 4 positions opening instead of 1 or 2. But you tell me whether things are “looking good” when there are about 9 or 10 people needing these positions. I have to believe that I’m on the short list for 2nd year Ph.D. students but, as ever, there’s no guarantee of anything.
I’m never slow to bag on MLS but I have to say I was pretty entertained this past weekend by San Jose vs. Colorado. Good stuff. But do you know who I can’t stand? (if you read the post
title it should give you a hint.) That’s right, Landon Donovan.
If you watch this whole video you’ll get a great idea of the kind of player David Beckham is, but if you FF to about 1:40 or so you’ll see what a dick Landon Donovan is too. Yes, he’s being fouled by the defender, but homeboy shakes his way free and scores on a awesome diving header. Instead of celebrating, he stands over the defender and shouts at him. For about three seconds. They don’t show it in this clip but then he tries to get in his face again before going to the center circle. Dude, you scored a great goal. You beat the defender. Now shut up. Scoring is your response. Now, really, shut up.
I also caught the Premier League highlight show on Sunday and my question: what the hell has happened to Kasey Keller? I read in the Fulham match report that he made a hash of the second goal but the first was incriminating enough. He left his near post wide, wide open and Jermaine Penant managed to score at a bad angle due to Keller’s atrocious placement. And yes, the second goal was just a joke.
What happened? Keepers are one of the few positions where players get better with age. Look at David James. But the last time I saw Keller with the US National Team he looked tentative and not at all himself. His displays with Fulham have been nervy but this past weekend featured the two worst mistakes I’ve ever seen Keller make. With guys like Tim Howard and Brad Guzan coming up, Keller’s time in the spotlight has already gone. But geez Kasey. Get it together man.
Current Mood: Feh | 
6 Comments
Real genius is a program where the later courses don’t count until you take this one key course. Then in a snit with the administration, the department only offers one section which can’t accommodate all their majors. And pull this stunt several semesters in a row. Happened to someone I know. Wait to hate your own students!
Hope money flows your way.
Dr. Phil
Donovan reminded me of Thierry Henry retrieving the ball and handing it back to the keeper against, well I forget who it was, near the end of last season. Perhaps deserved, but come on, you scored.
You’d think in an era of rising tuition and costs that universities would go out of their way to make sure that schedules accommodate the taking of–and thus the paying for–as many courses as students can take. But that’s what you get for thinking. Good luck.
Phil, luckily I don’t have that problem. The only requirements I have left are one fiction workshop and one literature class, which they offer every semester. I also know of several MA students who could not take the one fiction workshop offered either in fall or spring and that pushes everything back because you need 4 workshops before you can move on. One of the big things about the program that I disagree with is that they let “outsiders” from library studies, education, and modern studies take CW classes as electives. With only one fiction workshop a semester (15 students) they fill up almost immediately, and I think the fiction writers should get priority for the fiction workshops. It sort of underscores the “hobby” notion of writing vs. “career” notion of writing.
The scheduling is likewise ridiculous. There’s nothing malicious in it but that doesn’t make it okay. Once it’s decided who is teaching what (which is often contentious too) the dept admin asks profs when they want to teach. They don’t take that next step to make sure classes are evenly distributed. So if there are say 20 classes on offer, realistically you’re choosing between like 4 or 5. And then there’s the fact that for five consecutive semesters now, we haven’t had a single literature class on 20th Century American fiction that wasn’t minority (native american or black) lit. It just so happens that 20th Century American fiction is what most fiction writers use as their area of specialization, so you’re pretty much on your own to figure out what primary and critical texts to use.
Well, you wouldn’t want the profs to do their work for them, would you? (grin)
Dr. Phil
we haven’t had a single literature class on 20th Century American fiction that wasn’t minority (native american or black) lit.
We have the opposite problem in my program. There aven’t been too many 20th Century minority courses. I would’ve LOVED a 20th Century Jewish Lit course or even a Native American course (rumor has it there was a Grad Native American Lit course the semester before I matriculated). So I might be being unfair to my department. There was a on ethnic humor which was supposed to be a great course, but not a lot on actual traditional literature.
On the other hand, we didn’t have that many 20th century American courses period. Mostly 19th century American, which makes sense as most of the professors in the program have a 19th century American background.
Are you looking for a list of titles of important 20th century American works?
There are a lot of 18th and 19th Century British lit people. No medievalist, no 20th Century lit. ‘Tis annoying.
I’m not just looking for a list of important 20th century novels–that’s easily done. The benefit of having a class is that you get to read some less-commonly known works and get a broad range of criticism, which is especially important. There are certain critics that you just end up liking more than others, and that helps lead you to other critical works you might find interesting. I find that it helps to read criticism in context of specific works and around specific ideas. Again, you can dig this stuff up on your own but it’s a lot of work and it’s a lot better when someone who specializes in a certain area can point you to the good stuff.