Two Weeks in Academia

I've gotta say--these first few weeks of classes have flown by.  Probably because I've been busy having the adventures that I'm going to describe below.

The week really started on the Tuesday following MLK Day.  That's when I discovered what it was going to be like in Dr. M's class.  Mind you, a lot of my classmates have taken classes from this professor before, but he was all new to me.  So, I got a little cranky when he called everybody by name except for me.  What's wrong? What did I do?  Did I get off on the wrong foot?  What the hell could I possible have said to make him hate me?  He's a real bastard, not saying my name and all. This is how my mind works.  But that was the first week.  This past week?  What a fun class!  This teacher is fantastic.  He said my name!!!  He knows who I am!  He said I made a good point.  Best class EVER!  As the late great Sandy Woolfolk would say, "Hot-cold, hot-cold."

My German class is my favorite so far this semester.  Taught by a Ph.D. candidate, the atmosphere she creates is very conducive to learning.  It's so relaxed, there are only six or seven students in the class--all historians except for a very likable guy from the English department.  Catherine, the instructor, has the most beautiful pronunciation of German I've ever heard (sorry Petra, Melli, Sascha, Ollie, and all the rest of my wonderful German family).  Because we're learning German only for purposes of being able to translate written material into English, the class isn't really about speaking German.  But Catherine is kind enough to pronounce things and to speak some German in the class.  I'm finding that translating is actually sort of fun.  It's like a puzzle!

One of the best parts of the German class so far has been my ability to introduce one of my favorite expressions into the discussion.  Translating a few paragraphs about Galileo Galilei found me telling my classmates about the tour guide who introduced Yvette and I to the city of Pisa so many years ago.  That guide made sure that we all understood the following:  "Galileo Galilei, from Pisa not Florence."  Today, on our first quiz, one of the sentences to translate concerned the fact that Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa--to which I had to include:  NOT FLORENCE.  Catherine rocks!

Wednesday means Dr. F's class--researching and writing an original essay.  I had hit open a topic last November before the prior semester even ended.  I'll be examining the role of Jessie Benton Fremont in her husband's presidential campaign of 1856.  Sounds good, right?  I'm all excited about it.  Last Wednesday found our class in the library to get a a quick tour of the primary sources available in the library's collections.  The best part was meeting with an archivist from Special Collections, who, in the course of her presentation to us, laid out several pieces from the collections that cover the Jacksonian era, including a big Bible that had been presented to Jackson during his presidency and a letter to Jackson on which Old Hickory had scribbled a few notes of his own.  The best part?  I GOT TO TOUCH THE LETTER AND THE BIBLE!!!  That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I put my DNA on a piece of paper which contained the DNA of ANDREW JACKSON!  The feelings that swept through me as I did this are what I like to call a "historical orgasm."  You history nerds will know what I'm talking about.

This past Wednesday wasn't quite as pleasant--at least for me--in Dr. F's class.  Oh, I was hot, sweaty, flushed, and panting--but it wasn't from a "historical orgasm."  No, I totally lost track of time and found myself ten minutes late for class.  I flew out of my office with just a notebook and the monograph we'd be discussing.  I raced up to the sixth floor, only to be told that Dr. F had moved the class to a room in the Hoskins Library--two uphill blocks away.  So I scooted down Cumberland as fast as I could, arriving in such a disheveled state that I'm surprised Dr. F would even let me in the room.  Solution?  I've ordered a little clock for my desk!

Of course, the inauguration made up an important part of the past two weeks.  I have traditionally taken a day off every four years to watch the inauguration.  The whole ceremony makes me feel all patriotic and sentimental.  This year, unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your political persuasion) I had to teach sections from 9:05 to 12:05 on inauguration morning, then go to German class until 1:10.  So, I didn't see the inauguration and, to be honest, I didn't watch a rerun of it either.  I did, however, watch the inaugural parade, which I loved.  The Pride of the Southland Band marched in the parade, playing, what else, Rocky Top!  I ran into one of my students from last semester who is in the band, thinking she'd be all excited, but apparently for the band members, the whole thing was a lot of hurry up and wait with only a few moments of actually being in the parade.  Still, I was proud of our UT band.  What got me truly verklempt, though, was watching the Marine Corps Band, "the President's own."  Playing the Marine Corps Hymn (I think that's its name--you know, "from the halls of Montezuma..."), that band was fantastic.  They have performed at every inaugural since Thomas Jefferson's in 1801.  How amazing is that?

Far and away the best thing that happened over the past two weeks happened on Inauguration Day.  It had nothing whatsoever to do with politics.  Rather it was getting an email from Dr. F telling me I'd passed my Fourth Semester Review.  This means that I can finish my coursework (with the exception of one course that won't be offered until next spring) at the end of this semester and move on to take my comprehensive exams next fall. That's YUGE (to use a word apparently working its way into our lexicon).  As I told my father, "Dad, I don't suck!"

Today was my discussion sections--we discussed Richard Wright's Black Boy, which, if you haven't read it, I would highly recommend.  Dr. O sat in on my 10:10 section to see how I'm doing as a teaching assistant.  I'm very nervous about his assessment.  I had a quiz in my German class, which earned me 97 out of 100 points.  I can't wait until Monday to see where I went wrong.  And I'm just now about to wrap up my office hours and head off to the grocery store.  The best part of the day?  The snow flurries that swirled down from the sky as I walked from classroom to classroom this morning.  It didn't stick, but it was still gorgeous.  Weatherman says more snow possible for Sunday and Monday.  Dear readers, please keep your fingers crossed for a possible Monday Snowday!

Bye for now....