Hominahomina!

[PatrickG]

Okay, it's finals week here in my rainy little corner of the globe and I've noticed a LOT of people acting pretty freakin' crazy.

Some friends were playing "spin the knife" at dinner and then proceeding to hook up inanimate objects.

The library desk worker was trying to type two different sentences on two separate keyboards.

But something REALLY struck me as noteworthy.

I've started talking without thinking and I'm not sure if the things I'm saying are true or not!

Two examples:

1. I told some friends the other day that in the 17th century in order to graduate college, a person with two quills had to record a dictated speech into Latin with one hand while simultaneously translating into Greek with the other hand. I have no clue if this is true but I thought it was when I said it.

2. Five minutes ago, a guy told me that he has trouble writing ten page papers. I told him that there is no such thing as a ten page paper unless you are an expert in a subject and that all papers that last ten pages or more are really a bunch of two to three page papers strung together with some kind of logical/thematic progression.

I'm not sure this is true either but it's what I said...

So! Agree or a disagree with either of these two?

I'm apparently at a point where words come out of my mouth and I believe them without regard to what they are.

Discuss.

[BlackCanaryGuy]

1. I told some friends the other day that in the 17th century in order to graduate college, a person with two quills had to record a dictated speech into Latin with one hand while simultaneously translating into Greek with the other hand. I have no clue if this is true but I thought it was when I said it.

2. Five minutes ago, a guy told me that he has trouble writing ten page papers. I told him that there is no such thing as a ten page paper unless you are an expert in a subject and that all papers that last ten pages or more are really a bunch of two to three page papers strung together with some kind of logical/thematic progression.



1. Hmmm... Given that college as we know it didn't come into being until quite recently, and the modern university with its proliferation of disciplines is really an 18th/19th concept, I suspect that there were no graduation requirements as such in the 17th century at the major universities. Scratch that, I know it wasn't a requirement. Who knows, though, there were probably some folks who did it just for fun.

But I would love to get that cleared as a requirement for graduation...

2. I have to disagree, but only because my life is essentially a long string of 25(+)-page papers. However, I do think it is true of undergraduate papers.

I'm apparently at a point where words come out of my mouth and I believe them without regard to what they are.

Go with it. Lately I've been lecturing without having any clue what was going to come out of my mouth, and it's gone quite well; better, I'd say, than when I planned out all of my lectures meticulously. Am I making anything up? I hope not... Although the day I start teaching Puritan literary life using a powerpoint presentation of Klarion, I'll start to worry.

[PatrickG]

2. I have to disagree, but only because my life is essentially a long string of 25(+)-page papers. However, I do think it is true of undergraduate papers.


Well, I did tell the guy that once he becomes an expert in a subject that it may change but that this holds true when writing papers in subjects you have no investment in.

Are you a prof, BCG?

I was thinking about teaching high school or freshman comp down the road until a prof sat me down and told me he didn't think I'd enjoy those options and that he thinks I'm too "interdisciplinary" for a life of grading papers. He suggested I'd enjoy more activity based education and less paperwork and he's probably right. Which means I'm gonna be shopping MFA programs before I know it.

[stealthwise]

I wrote 24 pages for a paper today. My shorter ones could easily get to 10 pages and be about the same thing, and I'm no expert.

[PatrickG]

Okay. Here's the $64,000 question...

Looking at it, is it essentially a series of six or so smaller papers or arguments that flow into eachother, possibly with an introductory thesis/argument/anexdote and a conclusion?

[stealthwise]

Well, no, it's more like one big umbrella argument that ties together several separate readings of one series of texts, in this case, Gaiman's Sandman series, in order to address one larger thematic.

[BlackCanaryGuy]

Are you a prof, BCG?

Yeah, although sometimes I stand at the front of the room waiting for the prof to arrive; then I realize everyone's waiting for me to start talking. <sigh>

I think it's definitely true that a well constructed argument, certainly an analytical one, can be broken up into discrete units that build upon each other. I remember the best advice about writing the dissertation was not to think in terms of "academic book," but rather 5 or 6 50-page research papers on a single, broader research question. The coherence emerged pretty organically; if it hadn't, I would have had to restructure the whole project.

High school is way too hard to teach, I can't imagine. I haven't taught freshman comp, but I imagine it's pretty challenging, and very work-intensive. A lot of grinding through drafts, grammar/style lessons, etc. I think that wouldn't necessarily be my ideal situation. Most of my classes focus on writing as a major objective, but the courses aren't specifically writing courses--the writing component just tends to be the mode of evaluation for mastery of the course material.

MFAs are great, and there are a few that even provide good funding/Teaching Assistantships.