Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Board-related issues and help forum. Announcements, too!
Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
04 Feb 2017, 7:25pm
If you're getting that many who want to chat after class then it sounds like you're doing well. I'd love to take your classes but I hate writing papers that's partly what pushed me into math and science.
Well, thanks, but lecture classes mostly suck. I always hated taking them and I don't especially get any thrill teaching them. Seminars are fun, tho—I prefer the interaction and listening to other people's interpretations. There are plenty of people here that would make my rock history seminar a lot of fun and generate good critical discussion.

(And nobody likes writing papers. I always tell my students that the reason so many writers are miserable people is because it's such hard work. If not for professional need to publish, I'd bet upwards of nine out of ten scholars would rather just research than have to do any writing.)
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

revbob
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 25326
Joined: 16 Jun 2008, 12:31pm
Location: The Frozen Tundra

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by revbob »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
04 Feb 2017, 8:22pm
revbob wrote:
04 Feb 2017, 7:25pm
If you're getting that many who want to chat after class then it sounds like you're doing well. I'd love to take your classes but I hate writing papers that's partly what pushed me into math and science.
Well, thanks, but lecture classes mostly suck. I always hated taking them and I don't especially get any thrill teaching them. Seminars are fun, tho—I prefer the interaction and listening to other people's interpretations. There are plenty of people here that would make my rock history seminar a lot of fun and generate good critical discussion.

(And nobody likes writing papers. I always tell my students that the reason so many writers are miserable people is because it's such hard work. If not for professional need to publish, I'd bet upwards of nine out of ten scholars would rather just research than have to do any writing.)
I just enjoy the school environment. The only classes I ever got bored with were things like economics, business and literature classes.

And writing who needs, it am I right?

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

revbob wrote:
05 Feb 2017, 10:40am
I just enjoy the school environment.
I hate the university as an institution—meaningful work is done in spite of, not due to those structures—but it's a place where you can have those kinds of nerdy intellectual discussions. What I love about the university is the same thing that I love about this place—a wide variety of smart people who like to share observations. Pretty much everything else about academia can go play in the freeway.
The only classes I ever got bored with were things like economics, business and literature classes.

And writing who needs, it am I right?
Masochists, that's who. I wish I'd taken economics classes now, as well as philosophy (I took an intro course for the latter, but that's it), just to be more rounded. I was bored with social science classes, even tho I minored in PoliSci. With the exception of my history classes, I really didn't make the most of my undergrad opportunities. Youth wasted on the young and all that.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

eumaas
User avatar
Klezmer Shogun
Posts: 23579
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 8:10pm
Location: deep in your Id

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by eumaas »

So swamped. X(
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

eumaas wrote:
30 Mar 2017, 12:58pm
So swamped. X(
I feel for you, man. Even tho I did it myself back in the day, I don't know how undergrads can take that many classes all at once.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Grading book reviews right now. Students could pick their own but were strongly recommended to clear it with me first. The one I'm looking at right now, dumbfounded, is on a journal article. Didn't the 20-page length send a signal that this wasn't a book? I want to start drinking.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

I'm obviously not good at subliminally proselytizing. Just finished grading my final exam and in one essay question, where students were asked to assess whether industrialization was a positive or negative experience, 23 of 28 said yup, totally worth it. Another question was whether the various reform movements (populism, progressivism, New Deal) were, on the whole, positive or negative, and 9 of 10 said yup. On the other hand, I take some comfort that three of those six dissenters were part of only five A's in the course. Regardless of my own sympathies in both questions, they all made very strong arguments—more nuanced, more evidence-driven, than the ends-justify-the-means majority, and they turned in thoughtful work the entire term. So, as WEB DuBois sought out, the Talented Tenth?
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
User avatar
Mechano-Man of the Future
Posts: 35799
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:50pm
Location: The Information Superhighway!

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Flex »

actually sounds like a pretty good ratio imho
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch that the better students in terms of writing, organization, assembly of evidence and all that also showed themselves to be humanist in their historical analysis. But seeing over and over mostly unsophisticated replications of arguments in service of abstracted power is sobering.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
30 Mar 2017, 1:07pm
eumaas wrote:
30 Mar 2017, 12:58pm
So swamped. X(
I feel for you, man. Even tho I did it myself back in the day, I don't know how undergrads can take that many classes all at once.
Our fields are quite different, as are the end results in terms of degrees, but my school would be considered "intensive." I'd never been so stressed in my life—not a nice time, but the feeling of wrapping it up was pretty nice even though it was only two years. Do you force yourself to take entertainment in once in a while? It was the only way I got through it. I'd work later into the night in order to make room for a half hour of reading for pleasure and it was totally worth it.

edit: this question is for both of you, and also anyone else who has insight into this.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
30 Apr 2017, 11:22pm
Our fields are quite different, as are the end results in terms of degrees, but my school would be considered "intensive." I'd never been so stressed in my life—not a nice time, but the feeling of wrapping it up was pretty nice even though it was only two years. Do you force yourself to take entertainment in once in a while? It was the only way I got through it. I'd work later into the night in order to make room for a half hour of reading for pleasure and it was totally worth it.

edit: this question is for both of you, and also anyone else who has insight into this.
When I was doing my fields—reading-intense courses, where you read around a book a day and meet to discuss it all every couple weeks—I made sure to keep doing some kind of outside reading, even if it were just in the tub or bedtime. When I was researching or writing, I usually didn't work in the evening, which is when I'd do pleasure reading. As long as I was productive every day, the outside stuff didn't feel undeserved. But the trick was making sure I could look back at the day and say, yup, I got an inch closer to being out of the briar patch.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Kory
User avatar
Unknown Immortal
Posts: 17319
Joined: 17 Jun 2008, 1:42pm
Location: In the Discosphere

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Kory »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
01 May 2017, 6:31am
Kory wrote:
30 Apr 2017, 11:22pm
Our fields are quite different, as are the end results in terms of degrees, but my school would be considered "intensive." I'd never been so stressed in my life—not a nice time, but the feeling of wrapping it up was pretty nice even though it was only two years. Do you force yourself to take entertainment in once in a while? It was the only way I got through it. I'd work later into the night in order to make room for a half hour of reading for pleasure and it was totally worth it.

edit: this question is for both of you, and also anyone else who has insight into this.
When I was doing my fields—reading-intense courses, where you read around a book a day and meet to discuss it all every couple weeks—I made sure to keep doing some kind of outside reading, even if it were just in the tub or bedtime. When I was researching or writing, I usually didn't work in the evening, which is when I'd do pleasure reading. As long as I was productive every day, the outside stuff didn't feel undeserved. But the trick was making sure I could look back at the day and say, yup, I got an inch closer to being out of the briar patch.
Yeah, like a reward rather than procrastination.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

eumaas
User avatar
Klezmer Shogun
Posts: 23579
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 8:10pm
Location: deep in your Id

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by eumaas »

of course, the day after my last exam, I wake up with a goddamn cold. So my one-week break between spring semester and summer term is being spent sick. Ugh.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Dr. Medulla
User avatar
Atheistic Epileptic
Posts: 115975
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 2:00pm
Location: Straight Banana, Idaho

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Are you done after the summer term? And what are you taking for courses?
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

eumaas
User avatar
Klezmer Shogun
Posts: 23579
Joined: 15 Jun 2008, 8:10pm
Location: deep in your Id

Re: Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School

Post by eumaas »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 May 2017, 11:55am
Are you done after the summer term? And what are you taking for courses?
A bullshit music class, psychology 101, and then a fitness course. Then I'm graduated!
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

Post Reply