Last week went OK! We had a LONG Humanities meeting on Wednesday (from 4:30 to 7:30), which was difficult, but otherwise OK.
I attended the Welcome Party (Konshinkai) for the new Humanities teachers (including our English Department's newest members, Emiko Dodo Sensei and Kanako Cho Sensei) at a fancy traditional Japanese restaurant in Aburayama, and it was a fun, tasty party, with lots to eat and drink. Since I came to Fukudai in 1997, we've had so many new Humanities members and lost so many old members that now I barely know a third of the names of my colleagues... I can see already my retirement in about fifteen years, when I'll feel like an out of date out of touch stranger... Ma, but anyway I'm happy that we got fresh and new Emiko Dodo Sensei for our new American Culture and Literature group member! See you next week--
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Sigh... The first-year Introduction to American Culture and Literature class was going OK, more or less, I think, despite starting things off with a quiz, but then in the last ten minutes I did what I usually regret doing: tried to push a too difficult concept too quickly into too little time at the end of a class, confusing the students when the concept isn't really necessary to tell them about anyway!
I tried at the end of class to tell them about the apparent contradiction between the message of Thoreau's poem "The Summer Rain" (nature is better than human creations) and the form or pattern of his poem (ABAB end rhyme scheme and ten syllable lines of iambic pentameter rhythm), especially when compared to Walt Whitman's free verse. Yikes! What WAS i thinking!?! The poor kids... A-a-and that's not all! Earlier in the class I also introduced them to Johanna Spyri's Heidi, because most of them are somewhat familiar with the Japanese animation version, so I could give them a popular example of the same idea Thoreau is expressing about nature... which was fine, but then I couldn't resist complicating things by telling them that I preferred the Japanese animation adaptation because in it nature is really the best thing to follow, whereas in the book the Bible and nature are equally the best things to follow (and maybe the Bible and church are more important...).... So as happens too often, after the class I felt regret, guilt, shame, loss, etc.... Unnecessary complication is my weak point I should try harder to resist. Well... We're getting into the second half of the first semester, so it's getting hotter and more humid by the day. And I can never stop remembering that if we were an American university, we'd be on summer vacation by now. Sigh.
Anyway, I hope classes are going OK! By that I mean I hope that some of the students are enjoying and learning some of the things we do. I lost my temper in the first year introduction to American culture and literature class (America Bunka Bungaku Gairon)--the class in the picture at the top of this blog page--because I noticed some students not really paying attention in the back of the room, and when I went by them, I saw a girl had her linguistics class notes out but not the handout for our class, so I took it from her and put it up on the OHC screen and said that this kind of thing gives me maximum damage... I should control my temper better. But at least I didn't curse! This week I'm thinking of sending my TA Shiori out into the room to try to be a quieting and focusing presence when the kids start getting restive. At the same time, I can't blame them so much, because there has been no air conditioner to cool the room, which becomes quite hot and humid, so the students have to fan themselves and mop their brows and generally start wilting after about half an hour. Next Friday I'll have to call the admin office and ask them to turn on the air conditioner! Until next time-- Bye bye from hot and humid Fukuoka University. Well, I showed this photo in class, as part of a little current event explanation, and I got very moved indeed in explaining how Obama was just going to shake hands with the Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor, but when the man got too nervous and emotional so he couldn't speak but could only tremble and shake, Obama just hugged him. Setting aside questions about whether Obama should have got Japan's Prime Minister to visit Pearl Harbor or Nanking, or should have got Hiroshima's Peace Park and Museum to mention Japan's role in WWII, or should have apologized directly for the atomic bombs, etc., this hug showed him acting as a human being giving comfort to another human being in emotional distress, and made his visit to Hiroshima worthwhile by itself. Of course, I also was rather impressed by his speech as well.
Anyway, I guess talking about this photo was the most intensely emotional part of my eighth week of school. That eighth week was not easy, because we'd just gone to China from Saturday till Tuesday night, so I didn't have any time to recover and prepare for the week's Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday classes... But I survived! (no more travel during the school year, though, I hope--) See you next Saturday! |
Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
December 2023
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