Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Monday, 28 January 2008
Essay mountains
I have just emerged from behind a mountain of theory essays. I stayed up late last night and got up again very early this morning to finish the marking so that the students could have their essays back today. I am behind with the returns; they have been patient and I promised them today was the day. But, I find that of those left to do last night that I stayed up late to mark, only 2 students collected them today. I'm starting to wonder why I felt bad about the time it has taken to mark them...
One of the last ones that I marked (which is yet to be collected) was not good. Barely on topic, badly punctuated and a forced theoretical analysis that is best described as 'making it fit' without any sensitivity to what was actually happening in the play. Imagine the self restraint involved not to make terse comments when the final sentence of the essay concluded, 'despite how well the theory fits it must be remembered that we are forcing it upon the text'.
Indeed.
One of the last ones that I marked (which is yet to be collected) was not good. Barely on topic, badly punctuated and a forced theoretical analysis that is best described as 'making it fit' without any sensitivity to what was actually happening in the play. Imagine the self restraint involved not to make terse comments when the final sentence of the essay concluded, 'despite how well the theory fits it must be remembered that we are forcing it upon the text'.
Indeed.
Monday, 21 January 2008
Frogs
That's what it said down the side of a poem in one of my anthologies.
I was writing a lecture on a poem I'd studied in detail on my MLitt course, on which I had written a note to myself at the time. Frogs.
On re-reading it, I had no idea what it meant. I thought maybe it was just a random scribble in a margin. Sometimes I do that - a thought comes to me, someone asks me to do something, etc. and I write it down in pencil on the closest paper thing handy. This could have been a message from my past that had lost its significance now.
But no. I have carefully joined it to a word in a line of poetry with a line and a circle. Frogs are important. They mean something. I wouldn't randomly write frogs and connect it to a line of poetry. So I went looking to see if I could find the poem elsewhere in my collection of poetry anthologies - maybe one of those, with better footnotes, would tell me.
I found one. And it did. But I'm not telling you what it meant.
I like the idea of frogs in the margin.
I was writing a lecture on a poem I'd studied in detail on my MLitt course, on which I had written a note to myself at the time. Frogs.
On re-reading it, I had no idea what it meant. I thought maybe it was just a random scribble in a margin. Sometimes I do that - a thought comes to me, someone asks me to do something, etc. and I write it down in pencil on the closest paper thing handy. This could have been a message from my past that had lost its significance now.
But no. I have carefully joined it to a word in a line of poetry with a line and a circle. Frogs are important. They mean something. I wouldn't randomly write frogs and connect it to a line of poetry. So I went looking to see if I could find the poem elsewhere in my collection of poetry anthologies - maybe one of those, with better footnotes, would tell me.
I found one. And it did. But I'm not telling you what it meant.
I like the idea of frogs in the margin.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Too new to go without comment...
Today, a seminar paper I'm giving next week has been advertised to the staff and students here. The poster refers to me as Dr.
Although I haven't announced my viva success and change of status to my students, one of them - an academically bright and dispositionally cheerful young man - called me Dr. [Song] during a lighthearted interchange in a seminar today too.
Nice.
Although I haven't announced my viva success and change of status to my students, one of them - an academically bright and dispositionally cheerful young man - called me Dr. [Song] during a lighthearted interchange in a seminar today too.
Nice.
Monday, 14 January 2008
Bus rules
As I complained a little about bus drivers in my last post, today my comments are reserved for bus passengers. After many years of bus travel it continues to surprise me how little common sense or common courtesy so many passengers have.
Here are some rules of bus etiquette that would make bus travel a lot more pleasant for all of us:
1. If the bus is busy, do not sit in the aisle seat next to an empty seat or put your bag on the window seat and refuse to acknowledge the questioning glances of other passengers. This is just selfish and rude. (This applies to train travel too.)
2. If you are sitting in the fold up seats in the wheelchair / buggy space and someone with a wheelchair / buggy gets on, move. This requires no further explanation.
3. If an elderly or physically infirm person gets on and you are sitting at the front of the bus, move to a different seat further back. If there are no seats, stand. Their need is greater than yours.
4. Smile at the bus driver. Even if they are later rude to you (see post below), you should not start this bad bus behaviour. They might then take it out on the passenger after you. You might even say thank you as you get off the bus. Drivers are people. Not automatons.
5. If there are empty seats, sit in them. Do not stand at the front of the bus and make it impossible for those with more common sense than you to get to, or indeed see, the empty seats. If you have to stand when you get on, be prepared to move further back on the bus as it fills up. Do not cause a blockage at the front which makes it impossible for other passengers to get off at their stop. As seats become available, fill them up. Yes, this means you have to move, but it does also clear the aisle so that other passengers can get on or off.
Common sense and common courtesy. Some of the passengers I have travelled with should try harder in both.
Here are some rules of bus etiquette that would make bus travel a lot more pleasant for all of us:
1. If the bus is busy, do not sit in the aisle seat next to an empty seat or put your bag on the window seat and refuse to acknowledge the questioning glances of other passengers. This is just selfish and rude. (This applies to train travel too.)
2. If you are sitting in the fold up seats in the wheelchair / buggy space and someone with a wheelchair / buggy gets on, move. This requires no further explanation.
3. If an elderly or physically infirm person gets on and you are sitting at the front of the bus, move to a different seat further back. If there are no seats, stand. Their need is greater than yours.
4. Smile at the bus driver. Even if they are later rude to you (see post below), you should not start this bad bus behaviour. They might then take it out on the passenger after you. You might even say thank you as you get off the bus. Drivers are people. Not automatons.
5. If there are empty seats, sit in them. Do not stand at the front of the bus and make it impossible for those with more common sense than you to get to, or indeed see, the empty seats. If you have to stand when you get on, be prepared to move further back on the bus as it fills up. Do not cause a blockage at the front which makes it impossible for other passengers to get off at their stop. As seats become available, fill them up. Yes, this means you have to move, but it does also clear the aisle so that other passengers can get on or off.
Common sense and common courtesy. Some of the passengers I have travelled with should try harder in both.
Sunday, 6 January 2008
Bus fares
Some of the drivers for a particular bus company in Beautiful Scottish City that I Miss (when I'm not here) are well known for their less than cheerful dispositions, especially towards students who get to use the bus for a cheaper fare. Most regular bus travellers try to avoid this by using the other companies, whose drivers are on the whole much nicer people, and whose fares are reasonable without student discount (they are, in fact, the reason why the other company has to have cheap fares for students, otherwise all students would use the cheaper, friendlier buses). Unfortunately, outside semester time, the other companies don't run, so I had to take my chances. Some of the drivers aren't interested in making like difficult or causing delay for passengers and just give the student fare to everyone between town and university regardless of whether you could produce a valid student card when asked. If they do this, I don't tell them my student card is out of date. Despite the fact that my PhD was technically not 'finished' in being submitted but not examined, as of the end of October, the university no longer counted me as a student. If I have to make major revisions to the thesis, they will re-register me. This is one of the quirks of the PhD system, and is also indicative of the strange limbo position of submitted but not examined PhD students.
On Friday morning, I wasn't in the mood to argue with bus drivers. VIVA day. Drivers will be nice to me or my frazzled nerves will make me cry on their bus. Yes, cry. And nobody wants that. So I got on and asked for a single to the uni (I don't deliberately pretend I have a valid card, and will pay full if that's what they ask for, albeit reluctantly - it's much more than it needs to be). One of the friendly drivers - for which I was grateful - says 75p please. Student fare.
On the way back, it's a different driver. I say, 'single into town, please'. He looks at me. I look at him. He continues to look at me expectantly and I wait to be told how much he is going to charge me. After a while he draws a student card shaped object in the air. I say I don't have a card, and he says then you'll have to pay full fare - that's £1.50 please. This has gone up significantly since I was last here, but I hand it over cheerfully. £1.50. I don't mind, because now I am not a student any more.
I'm a Dr.
On Friday morning, I wasn't in the mood to argue with bus drivers. VIVA day. Drivers will be nice to me or my frazzled nerves will make me cry on their bus. Yes, cry. And nobody wants that. So I got on and asked for a single to the uni (I don't deliberately pretend I have a valid card, and will pay full if that's what they ask for, albeit reluctantly - it's much more than it needs to be). One of the friendly drivers - for which I was grateful - says 75p please. Student fare.
On the way back, it's a different driver. I say, 'single into town, please'. He looks at me. I look at him. He continues to look at me expectantly and I wait to be told how much he is going to charge me. After a while he draws a student card shaped object in the air. I say I don't have a card, and he says then you'll have to pay full fare - that's £1.50 please. This has gone up significantly since I was last here, but I hand it over cheerfully. £1.50. I don't mind, because now I am not a student any more.
I'm a Dr.
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