Defending the Arts!

Just sitting here in a post grading stupor. Well actually, I've been grading on specific days over the past week or so--tonight I just finished up the last of it, entering grades, merging spreadsheets etc. I've been sitting on this bed for hours, my bottom is SORE.

Grading 78 exams is tiring, to say the least. I don't mind grading that much, but not in these quantities... no one can like it in these quantities. Especially when you're trying to put Helpful Comments etc. which only 1% of your students will read. At least that's the advantage to grading final exams--no comments necessary.

I still have the mini tv in here from when I was sick, so I watched Henry V and Almost Famous while doing all the technical stuff. I can't wait to graduate and get to working on my Henry V story!!

Today in my pseudo-theory course I was trying to defend the point that Fiction isn't just Made Up... that nothing can come into an author's mind that doesn't already exist. All people look at is hobbits, and they don't see how connected to the world literature is--hell, even the mass market stuff.

The topic came up because we were debating whether much of what we experience as "the brute facts" of reality is as constructed as a work of fiction. My final view was that there has to be Some sort of difference, at the very least because we've given it that difference; my example being that Israelis and Palestinians fight over UN documents more than they fight over Israeli and Palestinian literature. But I still think the lit is only another step removed away from the histories and the UN documents. If these things didn't resonate, if they didn't hold some sort of reality for us--whether it's in fantasy form, or in the theme, or in the structure of the writing--then we wouldn't read them. Art wouldn't matter to us, or captivate us.

Kind of reminds me of when I was 20 and trying to argue with my step-mother that taking obligatory English classes in Cegep isn't useless, even for an adult student returning to school in aircraft maintenance. ;-)

Well... if poli sci-ers can't appreciate how *real* Lord of the Rings is, then poopoo on them! They don't know what they're missing. :-)

(Another day you'll find me defending empirical sciences just as strongly. Really, everyone needs both an Arts and Science education!)

Aches Away!

Alright, the chills and muscle aches went were gone yesterday, and the headache pain receded. Up to 30 mgs now... see if it happens again!

MESSAGE FROM THE DEEP

Day two of my muscle achee and chills. I've been on a constant dose of Tylenol-Codeine, because if I come off, I have a major chills attack. Last night I had to put on flannel pajamas, and three thick blankets before I could get warm (and it was 18 degrees during the day--so the apartment was warm.) Eventually the chills wore off, though maybe because I had enough dope in my system. Then I was finally able to do some of my readings for school.

I stayed dopey all day today, but when I woke up from my post-school nap, I had the chills again. Three blankets, monkey jammies, and the space heater under my blankets--and I was like that for 15 minutes before I felt warm.

I'm okay now, except that throughout all this I've had one of my intractable headaches--the one that feels like someone is boring into my skull, and pain killers don't help. So no homework tonight, no grading--I've brought the mini tv into my room, and I'm watching my taped shows. I keep massaging my head, which helps a bit--the muscles around my skull are super tender.

Okay my battery's about to run out and I'm too lazy to plug in the computer. bye!

me and my druggie life

I'm on a step program to up the dose of my drug -- one pill for three days, then two pills for three days, then three for...ever. I'm up to two now, and today I felt sort of muscle-achee, like coming down with the flu. I'm actually relieved to see it's a possible side effect, and hopefully NOT the flu.

Arrested Dev and not the tv show already!

Before it was a tv show, Arrested Development was one of my fave bands, in the early 90s. They were like the Black Eyed Peas, but less sex more politics. Some of the songs were too self-righteous even for my righteous age of 20, but when they were On... they were on.

They have a new album out, and I'm glad to see it has How Far is Heaven, which they did a great cover of on a has-beens music show. According to this review, it's the same old problem: "The self-righteousness with which he expounds how spiritually and politically tuned-in he is would usually be enough to put you off, but when the music behind it is of such funk and rhythm, it's ok. You don't have to listen to the words."

Not to mention, rap is so dominated by gangster rap these days (K-os is one of the few conscious and popular rappers I can think of, and he's Canadian), it'll be nice to have AD back on the scene.

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Bill Adler is a hip-hop historian who helped write and produce "And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip Hop," a five-part documentary series for VH1. He said Arrested Development was among the "last gasp" of a wave of socially conscious rappers who also were able to achieve widespread commercial and critical success.

"At that point, conscious hip-hop and so-called gangster rap were kind of at war with each other," he said. "I think the so-called gangster rappers emerged on top and they've really defined hip-hop pretty exclusively ever since."

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my future greatness

I was thinking about how PhD people get to be called Doctor. And it isn't fair, I want a title too when I graduate. So I intend to be called Mistress Terri or Mistress Corriveau. I could use the gender neutral Master Terri, but that sounds a bit too Oliver Twist.

Canuck tv

Gemini award winners in photos.

I'm happy to see Slings and Arrows getting awards--what a fanTAStic show. Such great writing.

And also Little Mosque, and Corner Gas--both of which I enjoy these days.