The last school week was difficult for two reasons. First, we had a graduate school welcome party for first year MA students on Tuesday night, so I didn't get to sleep till around 11:30, and had to wake up around 5:30 the next morning, so that through off my sleep for the week from the start. Second, we had a LONG humanities meeting on Wednesday, lasting from 16:30 till 20:00, followed by a short fifteen minute English department full professor meeting...
Those two events made each new day increasingly challenging. HOWEVER. I really enjoy the first year Introduction to American Culture and Literature class--they give me lots of energy... We finished the Native American unit and started the Puritan one. So I covered (too fast) the Protestant Reformation and introduced some of the more juicily severe sides of Puritan culture: Christmas banned, women hanged, Quakers banished, Indians exterminated... and contrasted Puritan monochrome simplicity with Catholic colorful luxury (stereotypes, but still...). I think they got a kick out of seeing images of Catholic church crucifixions (showing Jesus' body on the cross) and paintings and statues etc. compared to images of Puritan church crucifixions (showing empty crosses) and gravestones and so on. And i finished by having my TA show them two youtube videos of American high school (I think) English class projects where students matched selected scenes from the silent 1926 film of The Scarlet Letter (with Lillian Gish) to contemporary pop songs (Shot and Secrets). Because, as usual, I didn't manage time well, I only had about six minutes to show about nine minutes of video at the end, so I had to keep the poor kids two minutes late (I'll let them go early next time, I promise!)... And I wasn't able to explain well enough why I was showing the images or why The Scarlet Letter is important or what about Puritan culture and human nature the videos and story show... BUT, I think some of the students enjoyed the music and images... As for me, I regularly listen to and watch the two videos, plus a couple others that set some scenes from the movie to music. There is something quite moving about Lillian Gish' strange figure and face (ethereal, beautiful, somewhat emaciated...) and overly-dramatic (in a silent movie way) gestures and expressions, and the American students who made the videos did a pretty good job of finding songs whose lyrics match the situation of The Scarlet Letter ("I'll take the shot for you, I'll be the shield for you" and "Giving all my secrets away..."). My other classes were fine, too, really! My university seminar kids are all job hunting, so about half of them are missing doing interviews and such for any class, or leave early or come late, wearing their interview business suits, and so they all root for each other warmly... And I think, now that we're about to finish Lois Lowry's The Giver, they are getting a handle on it. The third-year culture class is always fun but a little overwhelming, because somehow 70 some kids for that class is a bit too many. ANYWAY, this last week was very challenging... and it will only get more so from here as the season turns hot and humid and as my entrance examination committee work gets going and as my proofreading of the University Book gets going, etc. etc. I'll do my best!
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Jefferson Peters (JP)
Can you find me in the picture above? Archives
December 2023
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