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Sep. 20th, 2007 04:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetI had planned on volunteering at Josh's preschool today. However, around 10:30 the missionaries called and asked if I could go with them to an appointment. There was a time in my life when I went out with the missionaries on a regular basis, helping them teach people about our faith. That hasn't been me for about the past....10 years? The last time I tried to ask someone if she wanted to learn more about my religion she laughed in my face and said she'd rather convert to Buddhism (who wouldn't? ha!) That event really rattled my confidence in sharing my beliefs with others (she was my really good friend, and when she laughed at me, it hurt.) I've become pretty timid about talking religion since then, and tend to just keep to myself when the subject comes up in mixed company.
So, today I did go with the missionaries to teach a woman about my age. It was so neat. The reason they asked me to accompany them is because they have strict rules that don't allow them to be alone with an unaccompanied woman. Also, perhaps they were hoping I could fellowship her somewhat. I tried my best to contribute to the conversation and they missionaries even asked me directly a couple times to share my feelings about prayer and the Book of Mormon. I felt at ease, not nervous at all. I think this is due to the fact that this woman had invited us into her home and she wanted to know about our beliefs. I felt comfortable talking to her because she asked. I told the missionaries that I was glad they asked me to come along. If they go back, I hope they call me up again.
It is so cold today! This time last week we had the windows open and were wearing shorts. Today I got out my winter coat. I thought it would be a gradual change. I guess it is just that time of year when the weather fluctuates a great deal. The boys' winter clothes finally arrived today. We'd left them in Florida to be shipped. Just in the nick of time!
A couple of the students in my sci-fi class got into a spat about God/evolutionism/creationism. One of the students even told the professor "What basis is there for judging one person's interpretation as any more valid than another's? I want to say this with the most respect that I possibly can since you are the Instructor, but who is to say if any other student's, or even your interpretation has any more relevance than mine? Wow, that is gutsy. The professor replied with
These are legitimate concerns. One of the things English majors learn is methodology and its relation to theory, the relation between theory and practice. They learn how to read literary texts in reference to the elements of which they are composed: point of view, character, setting, plot, imagery, symbolism and so on. Literature isn't self-explanatory. It demands such analysis insofar as it reflects intentional design. Your university instructors are hired, in part, for their years of training in their respective fields and specializations, training which includes years of studying literary design, history, genres, periods, authors, and on and on. They are considered experts in their fields and its such expertise that your tuition dollars "buy." University literature professors are "vetted" by their peers, the colleagues on the search committees that interview and recommend new hires, the journals that publish our scholarship, the conference panels that accept our proposals for papers or that invite us to read our work and so on. Thus students in our classes learn from us the conventions and methodologies that inform the discourse or "conversation" in our discipline. Such conventions and methodologies provide a common context or framework for discussing literary texts. Most of these conventions are grounded in rhetoric, the issues of audience, purpose, and persona that frame academic argumentation and logic. Most of the methodologies represent a practice of a particular theoretical perspective, such as feminism, cultural criticism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, post-colonialism, Marxism, and so on.
I made this mistake of showing this to my kids. Now they sing it NONSTOP.
So, today I did go with the missionaries to teach a woman about my age. It was so neat. The reason they asked me to accompany them is because they have strict rules that don't allow them to be alone with an unaccompanied woman. Also, perhaps they were hoping I could fellowship her somewhat. I tried my best to contribute to the conversation and they missionaries even asked me directly a couple times to share my feelings about prayer and the Book of Mormon. I felt at ease, not nervous at all. I think this is due to the fact that this woman had invited us into her home and she wanted to know about our beliefs. I felt comfortable talking to her because she asked. I told the missionaries that I was glad they asked me to come along. If they go back, I hope they call me up again.
It is so cold today! This time last week we had the windows open and were wearing shorts. Today I got out my winter coat. I thought it would be a gradual change. I guess it is just that time of year when the weather fluctuates a great deal. The boys' winter clothes finally arrived today. We'd left them in Florida to be shipped. Just in the nick of time!
A couple of the students in my sci-fi class got into a spat about God/evolutionism/creationism. One of the students even told the professor "What basis is there for judging one person's interpretation as any more valid than another's? I want to say this with the most respect that I possibly can since you are the Instructor, but who is to say if any other student's, or even your interpretation has any more relevance than mine? Wow, that is gutsy. The professor replied with
These are legitimate concerns. One of the things English majors learn is methodology and its relation to theory, the relation between theory and practice. They learn how to read literary texts in reference to the elements of which they are composed: point of view, character, setting, plot, imagery, symbolism and so on. Literature isn't self-explanatory. It demands such analysis insofar as it reflects intentional design. Your university instructors are hired, in part, for their years of training in their respective fields and specializations, training which includes years of studying literary design, history, genres, periods, authors, and on and on. They are considered experts in their fields and its such expertise that your tuition dollars "buy." University literature professors are "vetted" by their peers, the colleagues on the search committees that interview and recommend new hires, the journals that publish our scholarship, the conference panels that accept our proposals for papers or that invite us to read our work and so on. Thus students in our classes learn from us the conventions and methodologies that inform the discourse or "conversation" in our discipline. Such conventions and methodologies provide a common context or framework for discussing literary texts. Most of these conventions are grounded in rhetoric, the issues of audience, purpose, and persona that frame academic argumentation and logic. Most of the methodologies represent a practice of a particular theoretical perspective, such as feminism, cultural criticism, psychoanalysis, deconstruction, post-colonialism, Marxism, and so on.
I made this mistake of showing this to my kids. Now they sing it NONSTOP.
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Date: 2007-09-21 12:32 am (UTC)Then I looked up Troy to see if any of my old professors were on there. I found that one of my favorite professors had awesome ratings. one of the students said this: Pretty good professor. Pretty easy. You'll get used to the odd jokes and that old rock music.
He was such a nut. He had a very dry sense of humor, but he believed in his students so much.
I think professors are amazing people, in their field. I have always found, especially in literature, that good professors let you disagree with their interpretations if you have a solid backing. And even though I can't stand most of the CISE dept. faculty, these guys know their stuff. I'll never understand what an algorithmic matrix is (and I'm not even sure if those two things go together *lol*).