My expectations for English 380 are... nonexistent. Why? I didn’t expect much to begin with, as the course focuses on a city I have become increasingly disenchanted with. I have enjoyed most of what we’ve read, and was genuinely interested with our sample of creative cartography. However, I can’t say that my perception of Edmonton has changed to any great extent.
Many people have been astounded by how little they know of minorities, and subcultures, and places in the city. And then people go on about how things are subjective or not, and like to theorize a lot. I was stoked when Minister Faust mocked academia. Personally, I don’t find much merit in discussing subcultures—or minorities. It would be much better to be told to literally go take a hike, and bring back some experiences to share. I have found a lot of discussions focusing on what people would like to do, and where they want to go. Statements of intent are relatively meaningless; rather, I applaud the people who share what they have done, things they have experienced within our short time together.
I expected this class to be a lot more hands on, seeing as we are existing in the very object of our study. Hopefully our mapping assignments will be more exciting, but I can’t be sure. I don’t know what I will be mapping, as I don’t have any ideas of something that can be done within an hour—this brief tour of someone’s conceptual journey through space doesn’t go much beyond theoretical discussions, as it is more observational than experiential.
Well, apparently my bowl was full of negative salsa while writing this post, time to do some dishes and look forward to whatever happens next.
I agree with you on the academia front. We have all had those classes that seem like an unending stream of vague theoretical terms strung together at random in hopes of making the class seem more relevant than it is (not that it's not relevant at all, just people tend to over inflate). However, I am sympathetic to the fact that since this is a university course, there has to be some sort of academic grounding, unless there was a way to have a final exam on other people's personal experiences (also, that would be hard to study for). I guess we are kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place.
ReplyDelete(P.S. That salsa was not negative, it was delicious. SORRY)
Hi Robert, I'm doing group evaluations, so hence the capitals. I wanted to offer some thoughts on your entry even though it has less to do with style than with content and I really have no place to say any of the following. But here goes.
ReplyDeleteThough I praise your honesty, I found this entry to be negative in nature and though that should not be a problem I feel that perhaps this negativity is a stunting effect to what could be a more pleasant experience. I don’t want to use the word cynical, but it leans towards it. Though you are being honest and I fully agree that sitting in a room discussing a subject without getting a hands-on experience is intellectually futile, the style of the writing is dismissive. If you wish a more hands-on experience, you could easily seek one.
And though I'm no bubbling brook of rainbowy goodness myself, I do think that focusing on the negative is itself intellectually futile. Henry Rollins talks about cynicism fantastically in this here video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1SuMgOnaXk (just replace "people" with "this place".)
BUT otherwise, kudos on the courage (can't say "balls", can I?) to say this and make people like myself a little edgy. Thus your blog is interesting, heartfelt, and it offers a view some of us might have to admit even after we've experienced the city for what we think it had to offer.
Mia: I respect your comments, but disagree in your claim that I am in any way being cynical. This post was reflecting on the class, and how it has (or has not) lived up to any expectations—thus far. I acknowledged at the end of my post that I was being negative (so didn't need to be told again), but also outlined how I had hope for the class still (clearly not a cynical tendency). This post is meant to get people thinking about if their learning is challenging, or just complacent realizations. I would love to hear more about people's CSL placements, and the mapping assignment will be refreshing. So thanks for the feedback—but don't call my salsa cynical, when it was negative with a dash of hope.
ReplyDeleteHey Robert, I thought this post was kind of refreshing and I agree with you, and so do the other commenters it seems, that simply talking about doing things isn't going to cut it. However, I also noticed that you didn't share anything you've gone out and done. If you haven't yet, perhaps you should take your own advice. Go live in our city! And then share your experiences :)
ReplyDeletei support all deletion of comments. sorry to pick on you.
ReplyDelete