Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Christmas Past
I traveled north this past week to visit the Invisible Family in New England. Last year, my girlfriend and I traveled south to spend the holidays with her family, so this time around it was my family's turn. As always, my parents were gracious hosts, spoiling both of us with presents and home-cooked meals. Although work related responsibilities forced my girlfriend to return home a few days earlier than I, we were still able to see a large number of my friends and relations. My aunt and uncle drove in from Boston, marking my girlfriend's first encounter with my mother's side of the family. (All in all, I think it went well.) In addition, I had a chance to meet up with several of my friends from high school.
Even though the activities were similar to those in which we participated for the better part of a decade (and in some cases even longer)--video games, movie screenings, and even a one-shot D&D campaign--this visit reiterated how much has changed since homeroom freshman year. Two of the friends who visited were married (Mrs. Sevensor even gave the rest of us a run for our money in Robo-Rally!) and one was engaged. Almost everyone had exciting jobs, or was en route to getting one, ranging from video game design to industrial chemistry, from video game design to medicine. (No matter how hard one tries to spin it, graduate school in the humanities pales in comparison.) And perhaps most significantly, I realized how unlikely it would be to get everyone in the same place...because ultimately, we're all scattering off to different parts of the
country...or in the case of the Sleeper, the world. The Internet makes it easier to keep in touch, but no one has mastered the art of being in two places at once, and as everyone goes off to start their own families and their own lives, the odds are against recapturing the past. Not that the probability of that happening was particularly high in the first place.
Compounding this pessimism was a request from my parents to empty out some of the old boxes and files which have rested, largely untouched, under my bed since my undergraduate days. A quick perusal at home confirmed first that I am allergic to dust and that my room needs a good vacuuming. Second, I learned that the boxes in question contained papers extending back to the sophomore year of high school, including two out of the three parts of my 10th grade examination on The Scarlet Letter, my campaign speech for student council treasurer, and practically every calculus exam I ever took. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Birthday cards, old photographs, blue book exams from college...they were all there. And now I had to winnow them down. I packed up the relevant boxes in my car and headed towards home, stopping overnight at the Maestro's place for his annual holiday party. (I confess to being a little nervous leaving the full documentary record of my past locked the back seat of the Ben-mobile overnight, but fortunately the car somehow survived.)
And so I spent the last day of 2008 sifting through what might, under more fortunate circumstances, be considered critical documents in the Invisible Ben Memorial Archive (est. 2091), trying my best to determine what was representative or at least possessed sufficient sentimental importance to merit saving. I filled up two large white garbage bags with paperwork, but there is still too much to be contained in one, or likely two, 3-inch three-ring binders. I have come to the conclusion that the past is messy, both literally and figuratively, and that, for me as for so many others, it will be impossible to hold on to everything. Letting go remains the challenge. As an aspiring historian, the task becomes even more agonizing, but in the end, practical reality trumps hypothetical scholarship.
Still, as this is likely going to be a multi-day task, I think I'll hold off for now and try my best to celebrate the coming of the New Year. At the end of 2008, the world seems politically unstable, the economy is on the verge of collapse, and the future looks relatively bleak. If you believe some, recovery is on the horizon and it's always darkest before the dawn and so forth. I'm not sure how much I actually believe such optimistic pronouncements, but it sure would be nice if they were right. Here's hoping for a better world in 2009 and making time to spend with the people we care about...no matter where they are.
(0) comments
I traveled north this past week to visit the Invisible Family in New England. Last year, my girlfriend and I traveled south to spend the holidays with her family, so this time around it was my family's turn. As always, my parents were gracious hosts, spoiling both of us with presents and home-cooked meals. Although work related responsibilities forced my girlfriend to return home a few days earlier than I, we were still able to see a large number of my friends and relations. My aunt and uncle drove in from Boston, marking my girlfriend's first encounter with my mother's side of the family. (All in all, I think it went well.) In addition, I had a chance to meet up with several of my friends from high school.
Even though the activities were similar to those in which we participated for the better part of a decade (and in some cases even longer)--video games, movie screenings, and even a one-shot D&D campaign--this visit reiterated how much has changed since homeroom freshman year. Two of the friends who visited were married (Mrs. Sevensor even gave the rest of us a run for our money in Robo-Rally!) and one was engaged. Almost everyone had exciting jobs, or was en route to getting one, ranging from video game design to industrial chemistry, from video game design to medicine. (No matter how hard one tries to spin it, graduate school in the humanities pales in comparison.) And perhaps most significantly, I realized how unlikely it would be to get everyone in the same place...because ultimately, we're all scattering off to different parts of the
country...or in the case of the Sleeper, the world. The Internet makes it easier to keep in touch, but no one has mastered the art of being in two places at once, and as everyone goes off to start their own families and their own lives, the odds are against recapturing the past. Not that the probability of that happening was particularly high in the first place.
Compounding this pessimism was a request from my parents to empty out some of the old boxes and files which have rested, largely untouched, under my bed since my undergraduate days. A quick perusal at home confirmed first that I am allergic to dust and that my room needs a good vacuuming. Second, I learned that the boxes in question contained papers extending back to the sophomore year of high school, including two out of the three parts of my 10th grade examination on The Scarlet Letter, my campaign speech for student council treasurer, and practically every calculus exam I ever took. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Birthday cards, old photographs, blue book exams from college...they were all there. And now I had to winnow them down. I packed up the relevant boxes in my car and headed towards home, stopping overnight at the Maestro's place for his annual holiday party. (I confess to being a little nervous leaving the full documentary record of my past locked the back seat of the Ben-mobile overnight, but fortunately the car somehow survived.)
And so I spent the last day of 2008 sifting through what might, under more fortunate circumstances, be considered critical documents in the Invisible Ben Memorial Archive (est. 2091), trying my best to determine what was representative or at least possessed sufficient sentimental importance to merit saving. I filled up two large white garbage bags with paperwork, but there is still too much to be contained in one, or likely two, 3-inch three-ring binders. I have come to the conclusion that the past is messy, both literally and figuratively, and that, for me as for so many others, it will be impossible to hold on to everything. Letting go remains the challenge. As an aspiring historian, the task becomes even more agonizing, but in the end, practical reality trumps hypothetical scholarship.
Still, as this is likely going to be a multi-day task, I think I'll hold off for now and try my best to celebrate the coming of the New Year. At the end of 2008, the world seems politically unstable, the economy is on the verge of collapse, and the future looks relatively bleak. If you believe some, recovery is on the horizon and it's always darkest before the dawn and so forth. I'm not sure how much I actually believe such optimistic pronouncements, but it sure would be nice if they were right. Here's hoping for a better world in 2009 and making time to spend with the people we care about...no matter where they are.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The Holiday Movie Quote Contest VI: The Final Nightmare
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the steady patter of wintry mix flicking against my windowpanes confirms that it is once again that most magical time of year. For no matter how dramatic the economic turmoil, no matter how massive the political upheavals, no matter how inclement the weather, there are some traditions that should not, nay dare not, be ignored.
And what better example is there of this group of traditions than the annual movie quote contest. Yes...this is the 6th incarnation of my regular holiday quiz and the format remains the same as always: 50 quotes from 50 movies. Identify as many as you can to demonstrate your mastery of matters cinematical. (Even better if you can do so without search for them online.) Also, a friendly reminder that I have a comments section where you can post your thoughts or rant about how no one in their right mind could possibly know Quote #X.
Best of luck and a happy holidays to all!
Answers will be posted after New Years.
1. “How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear.”
2. “Also, you'll find a pair of safety glasses and some earplugs under your seats. Please feel free to use them.”
3. “All right. I'm gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll stay asleep.”
4. “H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love.”
5. “My name is Robert Hawkins. It's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. I don't know what it is.”
6. “Do you know how many times a week I go without lunch because some bitch borrows my lunch money? You know, any halfway decent girl can rob me blind, because I'm too torqued up to say no.”
7. “I've got five terrorists going southeast on Bakalakadaka Street! “
8. “We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.”
9. “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”
10. “The penis shoots seeds and makes new life and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill! “
11. “It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”
12. “I sped. I followed too closely. I ran a stop sign. I almost hit a Chevy. I sped some more. I failed to yield at a crosswalk. I changed lanes at the intersection. I changed lanes without signaling while running a red light and speeding!”
13. “Who do you think you are...a Kennedy?”
14. “Well, I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen "The Exorcist" about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!”
15. “Joey, there's no living with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her...tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.”
16. “No. Didn't you hear what that purser said? He said to stay here and keep calm. Help will be here, and I'm staying right here.”
17. “Alex! You're walking away from history! History, Alex! Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No! What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?”
18. “How do you like working for Nazis, Valentine? Does he pay you in dollars or Reichsmarks?”
19. “Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was disturbing you. You see, every once in a while I suddenly find myself dancing.”
“Oh, I suppose it's some kind of an affliction.”
20. “God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see! He plays His games, we play ours! To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls! God was here before the Marine Corps! So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps!”
21. “You'll never be a first class human being or a first class woman until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty. It's a pity your own foot can't slip a little sometime, but your sense of inner divinity wouldn't allow that. This goddess must and shall remain intact!”
22. “Don't argue or make a scene. Because if you say anything more about witches or witchcraft, we're gonna be forced to take you to a mental hospital. You don't want that, do you?”
23. “Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. And everybody is about as excited and tense as can be.”
24. “What happened? Why so glum? Your business should be booming.”
“No. When the fighting gets this bad, they don't bother with coffins.”
25. “Earth is amazing! These are called 'farms.' Humans who put seeds in the ground pour water on them, and they grow food...like pizza!”
26. “I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
27. “Free will. It's like butterfly wings: once touched, they never get off the ground. No, I only set the stage. You pull your own strings.”
28. “One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!”
29. “We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing.”
30. “A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.”
31. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!”
32. “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost.”
33. “Dick, you're a bad man. You know what we do to bad men? We punish 'em. Dick, you've just entered the Xander zone.”
34. “Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!”
35. “No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say 'affirmative,' or some shit like that. You say 'no problemo.' And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say 'eat me.'”
36. “Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks.”
37. “He's the first one to kill a vampire in over a hundred years. I'd say that's earned him a drink. “
38. “You know who's on this boat?”
“No.”
“Maurice Chevalier, the movie actor. I just ran into him.”
“Did you hurt him?”
39. “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
40. “Sensual blind chick seeks three-ton, rock-hard he-man for deep spiritual relationship.”
41. “You know what your trouble is, Willy? You always took the jokes too seriously. It was just jokes. We did comedy on the stage for 43 years. I don't think you enjoyed it once.”
42. “We deposit money from a fund that doesn't exist into a box we don't know about in a bank we've never set foot in. We can't help you because we never heard of you before.”
43. “I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
“I'm afraid my people haven't.”
44. “I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Damn it! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.”
45. “Oh, it's just Neddy the Nut out flying his old Model T.”
46. “Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them. Punch the keys for God's sake!”
47. “I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me, drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me. “
48. “How can you outwit Death?”
“By a combination of bishop and knight. I will break his flank.”
49. “I'll tell them after a big bee ate my brother you smacked me around. No jury in the world would fail to convict you.”
50. “It's like playing a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game.“
(4) comments
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the steady patter of wintry mix flicking against my windowpanes confirms that it is once again that most magical time of year. For no matter how dramatic the economic turmoil, no matter how massive the political upheavals, no matter how inclement the weather, there are some traditions that should not, nay dare not, be ignored.
And what better example is there of this group of traditions than the annual movie quote contest. Yes...this is the 6th incarnation of my regular holiday quiz and the format remains the same as always: 50 quotes from 50 movies. Identify as many as you can to demonstrate your mastery of matters cinematical. (Even better if you can do so without search for them online.) Also, a friendly reminder that I have a comments section where you can post your thoughts or rant about how no one in their right mind could possibly know Quote #X.
Best of luck and a happy holidays to all!
Answers will be posted after New Years.
1. “How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear.”
2. “Also, you'll find a pair of safety glasses and some earplugs under your seats. Please feel free to use them.”
3. “All right. I'm gonna disconnect your air machine, then you're gonna go to sleep. Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll stay asleep.”
4. “H-A-T-E! It was with this left hand that old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother low. L-O-V-E! You see these fingers, dear hearts? These fingers has veins that run straight to the soul of man. The right hand, friends, the hand of love.”
5. “My name is Robert Hawkins. It's 6:42 AM on Saturday, May 23rd. Approximately seven hours ago, some thing attacked the city. I don't know what it is.”
6. “Do you know how many times a week I go without lunch because some bitch borrows my lunch money? You know, any halfway decent girl can rob me blind, because I'm too torqued up to say no.”
7. “I've got five terrorists going southeast on Bakalakadaka Street! “
8. “We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it.”
9. “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!”
10. “The penis shoots seeds and makes new life and poisons the earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the gun shoots death and purifies the earth of the filth of brutals. Go forth and kill! “
11. “It's all there, black and white, clear as crystal! You stole fizzy lifting drinks. You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!”
12. “I sped. I followed too closely. I ran a stop sign. I almost hit a Chevy. I sped some more. I failed to yield at a crosswalk. I changed lanes at the intersection. I changed lanes without signaling while running a red light and speeding!”
13. “Who do you think you are...a Kennedy?”
14. “Well, I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen "The Exorcist" about 167 times, and it keeps getting funnier every single time I see it!”
15. “Joey, there's no living with a killing. There's no going back from one. Right or wrong, it's a brand. A brand sticks. There's no going back. Now you run on home to your mother and tell her...tell her everything's all right. And there aren't any more guns in the valley.”
16. “No. Didn't you hear what that purser said? He said to stay here and keep calm. Help will be here, and I'm staying right here.”
17. “Alex! You're walking away from history! History, Alex! Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No! What if the Wright Brothers thought that only birds should fly? And did Galoka think that the Ulus were too ugly to save?”
18. “How do you like working for Nazis, Valentine? Does he pay you in dollars or Reichsmarks?”
19. “Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize I was disturbing you. You see, every once in a while I suddenly find myself dancing.”
“Oh, I suppose it's some kind of an affliction.”
20. “God has a hard-on for Marines because we kill everything we see! He plays His games, we play ours! To show our appreciation for so much power, we keep heaven packed with fresh souls! God was here before the Marine Corps! So you can give your heart to Jesus, but your ass belongs to the Corps!”
21. “You'll never be a first class human being or a first class woman until you've learned to have some regard for human frailty. It's a pity your own foot can't slip a little sometime, but your sense of inner divinity wouldn't allow that. This goddess must and shall remain intact!”
22. “Don't argue or make a scene. Because if you say anything more about witches or witchcraft, we're gonna be forced to take you to a mental hospital. You don't want that, do you?”
23. “Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the little republic of San Marcos where we're going to bring you a live, on the spot assassination. They're going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. And everybody is about as excited and tense as can be.”
24. “What happened? Why so glum? Your business should be booming.”
“No. When the fighting gets this bad, they don't bother with coffins.”
25. “Earth is amazing! These are called 'farms.' Humans who put seeds in the ground pour water on them, and they grow food...like pizza!”
26. “I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.”
27. “Free will. It's like butterfly wings: once touched, they never get off the ground. No, I only set the stage. You pull your own strings.”
28. “One of us! One of us! Gooble gobble, gooble gobble!”
29. “We can teach these barbarians a lesson in Western methods and efficiency that will put them to shame. We'll show them what the British soldier is capable of doing.”
30. “A lie keeps growing and growing until it's as plain as the nose on your face.”
31. “Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!”
32. “That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost.”
33. “Dick, you're a bad man. You know what we do to bad men? We punish 'em. Dick, you've just entered the Xander zone.”
34. “Why are they doing this? Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!”
35. “No, no, no, no. You gotta listen to the way people talk. You don't say 'affirmative,' or some shit like that. You say 'no problemo.' And if someone comes on to you with an attitude you say 'eat me.'”
36. “Do you know anything about a guy going around playing the harmonica? He's someone you'd remember. Instead of talking, he plays. And when he better play, he talks.”
37. “He's the first one to kill a vampire in over a hundred years. I'd say that's earned him a drink. “
38. “You know who's on this boat?”
“No.”
“Maurice Chevalier, the movie actor. I just ran into him.”
“Did you hurt him?”
39. “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
40. “Sensual blind chick seeks three-ton, rock-hard he-man for deep spiritual relationship.”
41. “You know what your trouble is, Willy? You always took the jokes too seriously. It was just jokes. We did comedy on the stage for 43 years. I don't think you enjoyed it once.”
42. “We deposit money from a fund that doesn't exist into a box we don't know about in a bank we've never set foot in. We can't help you because we never heard of you before.”
43. “I am impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
“I'm afraid my people haven't.”
44. “I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows... Damn it! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.”
45. “Oh, it's just Neddy the Nut out flying his old Model T.”
46. “Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them. Punch the keys for God's sake!”
47. “I didn't ask to see you. I don't mind if you don't like my manners, I don't like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don't mind your ritzing me, drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don't waste your time trying to cross-examine me. “
48. “How can you outwit Death?”
“By a combination of bishop and knight. I will break his flank.”
49. “I'll tell them after a big bee ate my brother you smacked me around. No jury in the world would fail to convict you.”
50. “It's like playing a tennis ball against a brick wall, which can be fun. It can be fun, but it's not a game.“
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Opening Pandora's Box?
A question for you, oh loyal readers. This morning, I received a friend request on Facebook from one of my former Underwood High School students. I taught this student general physical science from 2004 to 2005, and it appears that he has since gone on to become a college freshman. This is great news, and I wish him all the best.
However, in the past, I have always tended to draw a line between my personal and professional relationships...especially where Underwood was concerned. (Hence the need, after all, for creating a largely pseudonymous blog.) Acknowledging this student's friend request would give him access to information which I would generally prefer stay among my own peer group, not necessarily my former students. In addition, taking this step could just unleash a flood of potential additional student friend requests, some of which might be from people with whom I did NOT get along particularly well in class.
I'm mildly torn on the subject. On the one hand, this was a nice student, the gesture was likely taken in good faith, and other teachers (at least one) have already acknowledged a similar request. On the other, such an act would disrupt the happy separation I had established between my private life and Underwood High.
Any thoughts as to whether I should accept or ignore the friend request?
(4) comments
A question for you, oh loyal readers. This morning, I received a friend request on Facebook from one of my former Underwood High School students. I taught this student general physical science from 2004 to 2005, and it appears that he has since gone on to become a college freshman. This is great news, and I wish him all the best.
However, in the past, I have always tended to draw a line between my personal and professional relationships...especially where Underwood was concerned. (Hence the need, after all, for creating a largely pseudonymous blog.) Acknowledging this student's friend request would give him access to information which I would generally prefer stay among my own peer group, not necessarily my former students. In addition, taking this step could just unleash a flood of potential additional student friend requests, some of which might be from people with whom I did NOT get along particularly well in class.
I'm mildly torn on the subject. On the one hand, this was a nice student, the gesture was likely taken in good faith, and other teachers (at least one) have already acknowledged a similar request. On the other, such an act would disrupt the happy separation I had established between my private life and Underwood High.
Any thoughts as to whether I should accept or ignore the friend request?
Monday, December 01, 2008
Now Comes the Hard Part
So this weekend was Thanksgiving, and like all red-blooded Americans I spent my long weekend catching up with my family. My parents, sister, and family dog came down to visit my new apartment in the Invisible Suburb and we went out to dinner with my grandparents at their favorite Italian restaurant.
Why Italian? Because nothing says Thanksgiving like an order of gnocchi with a lobster butter sauce...that's why! (And so what if it takes nearly two hours to reach the table?)
Yet despite all of this excitement, I could not fully abandon my graduate school responsibilities. I spent a good chunk of time prior to my family's arrival grading papers for my history of science class, some of which made me seriously wonder about the admissions process for incoming Old Ivy freshmen. A weak thesis statement is one thing, spelling and grammar errors with occasional lapses into incoherence are quite another. Fortunately, for each of the more problematic papers, there was at least one B+/A- counterpart, although determining the exact line between those two grades remains among the most challenging parts of this task. After all, for many of these students, a B+ grade is seen as a failure. (I must admit, with some level of embarrassment, a modicum of sympathy for this position based on my undergraduate career.)
Beyond the grading of papers, this weekend was also the last opportunity to revise my prospectus prior to the official submission deadline. My prospectus, summarizing the tentative research program and chapter outline of my dissertation, had been the subject of discussion during my program's weekly discussion seminar in mid-October. Since then, I confess, I had done very little to revise it due to a variety of other commitments with the graduate history association and the Modern American history workshop. I was nervous going into this weekend that I would need to devote a great deal of time to revisions. My advisor informed me before break, however, that as things stood, the prospectus was good enough for departmental purposes, though it would certainly need to be revised if I wished to secure any grants or funding in the future.
And so, with a copy of my prospectus in one hand and a form signed by my advisor, the director of graduate study for my program, and my prospective first reader, I submitted the necessary paperwork this morning at the department's administrative office. In doing so, I took the next step towards obtaining my Ph.D. As I realized on my way to the library to hold office hours, however, writing the prospectus is only the first step upon a much, much longer road.
But I'll have time to worry about such things later...
More posts are forthcoming, including this year's movie quote contest. Stick around...you might just learn something!
(0) comments
So this weekend was Thanksgiving, and like all red-blooded Americans I spent my long weekend catching up with my family. My parents, sister, and family dog came down to visit my new apartment in the Invisible Suburb and we went out to dinner with my grandparents at their favorite Italian restaurant.
Why Italian? Because nothing says Thanksgiving like an order of gnocchi with a lobster butter sauce...that's why! (And so what if it takes nearly two hours to reach the table?)
Yet despite all of this excitement, I could not fully abandon my graduate school responsibilities. I spent a good chunk of time prior to my family's arrival grading papers for my history of science class, some of which made me seriously wonder about the admissions process for incoming Old Ivy freshmen. A weak thesis statement is one thing, spelling and grammar errors with occasional lapses into incoherence are quite another. Fortunately, for each of the more problematic papers, there was at least one B+/A- counterpart, although determining the exact line between those two grades remains among the most challenging parts of this task. After all, for many of these students, a B+ grade is seen as a failure. (I must admit, with some level of embarrassment, a modicum of sympathy for this position based on my undergraduate career.)
Beyond the grading of papers, this weekend was also the last opportunity to revise my prospectus prior to the official submission deadline. My prospectus, summarizing the tentative research program and chapter outline of my dissertation, had been the subject of discussion during my program's weekly discussion seminar in mid-October. Since then, I confess, I had done very little to revise it due to a variety of other commitments with the graduate history association and the Modern American history workshop. I was nervous going into this weekend that I would need to devote a great deal of time to revisions. My advisor informed me before break, however, that as things stood, the prospectus was good enough for departmental purposes, though it would certainly need to be revised if I wished to secure any grants or funding in the future.
And so, with a copy of my prospectus in one hand and a form signed by my advisor, the director of graduate study for my program, and my prospective first reader, I submitted the necessary paperwork this morning at the department's administrative office. In doing so, I took the next step towards obtaining my Ph.D. As I realized on my way to the library to hold office hours, however, writing the prospectus is only the first step upon a much, much longer road.
But I'll have time to worry about such things later...
More posts are forthcoming, including this year's movie quote contest. Stick around...you might just learn something!
