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[Jan. 29th, 2008|04:23 pm] |
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It’s been about a week or so since I last posted. However, it seems much longer than that to me since I have grown accustomed to spamming your f-list with daily multiple entries. So your f-lists have the fact that I am back in school for my decline in livejournal post to thank. :P
So allow me to give you an update on school.
The social anxiety and all around general jitters from the first two weeks or so has pretty much subsided which is usually what happens. It’s easy for me, and in reality for a lot of people, to feel anxious and emo during the first few days of a new term, but most problems and anxieties tend to take care of themselves with time.
So anyways...
Yesterday, I had to turn in a research proposal and a curriculum vitae (which is pretty much a more ‘academic’ form of a resume) in my Intro to Graduate Research class. If you remember, I have to write a research proposal for that class, collect and document 25 sources for the project in an annotated bibliography, and then present on my topic and research in class. Pretty much everything that one would do in preparation for presenting a paper in an academic conference with the exception of actually writing the paper. I guess if my research goes well, I can always write the paper later for ‘fun.’ ;) And if you’re wondering what my research topic is, and I know that you are all dying to hear about it, I will be doing research dealing with both Jorge Luis Borges and H. P Lovecraft in relation to their use of myths and how it shapes their stories dealing with man’s obsession to uncover hidden knowledge. Yeah, it’s pretty much a geeky sort of topic, but because I had more or less free reign to come up with any type of research topic, I decided to do something fun and something that I probably wouldn’t be able to do in another class. So it’s more about being opportunistic than just being geeky and lame. ;)
I haven’t had to do much in terms of actually turning in assignments in my Modern Rhetoric course yet. Instead, most of the work that I have done for that course so far has been reading the likes of Kenneth Burke. Reading pieces on modern rhetoric is similar to reading works falling under the literary/critical theory umbrella and the philosophy umbrella to a certain degree. And by that I mean that most of the reading has been dense, scatterbrained at times, and open to a good amount of interpretation all of which has made the readings interesting, but at the same time, I find myself wondering why don’t these people just come out and say what they mean already. Lol! Not that I am in a position to point fingers at people for engaging in scatterbrained digressions. ;)
Then there’s my grammar class. This class, just as I expected, is easily the most difficult of the three courses that I am taking. However, I am enjoying it, partly because I am a masochist and partly because what I am learning here is just so fundamental and will be useful to me in many ways. And the teacher is structuring the class in way that gives us students a decent amount of elbow room, which means that we are not expect to know every single thing that we are being taught on a test. Yes, this class is a lot of work, but it’s rewarding work, and I am very confident about getting through the course in one piece.
Yeah, I have been leading a really exciting life the past few weeks, I know. :P |
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| Comments: |
I guess if my research goes well, I can always write the paper later for ‘fun.’ ;)
LOL!!!
The topic of Lovecraft and Borges using myth to uncover hidden knowledge sounds interesting. But maybe that makes me a geek if I think so. ;)
Your modern rhetoric class -- was that the one in which you mentioned one of the authors was Peter Elbow? If so, I hope you get to him soon because I don't think you'll find his writing dense and scatterbarined. I found his style delightful for an academic. He definitely says what he means.
Glad your enjoying the grammar class. I know that can be tough, but its very practical. Even I, who actually taught Freshman Composition, could probably use a refresher in the more advanced grammar rules.
I think my topic can take me in interesting directions, so I am definitely looking foward to working on it.
Actually, we won't be covering Peter Elbow in my modern rhetoric course. He's read in one of the composition courses that I will take later in my program. | |
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