Intro To Lit

Well I knew it was going to be a FANTASTIC day when I woke up sick coming out of a dream where I turned into a zombie and forced the people around me to kill me so I wouldn't infect other people. Seriously, wtf.

Also the bus to the T smelled more like piss than usual. refreshing.

So Friday I had my first class of Intro To Lit. Of all the classes I know I'll be taking in my college tenure, Literature is among those that I'm most intimidated by (grouped along with advanced math courses and college writing courses), particularly because I'm not an avid reader and when I do read its usually not something fairly thought provoking. Harry Potter and "Ric Flair: To Be The Man" just doesn't cut it. What I didn't realize is that I was actually entering a high school gym class.

First thing about the professor I liked was that he made us all sit in a circle since class discussion is going to be a large element of the class. But in the scheme of things, I think it somewhat unleashed the hounds of ignorance by giving them a stage to perform on. I don't think there were 5 minutes of uninterrupted teaching without one of 4 people stating their opinion or asking something.

1.) a kid who best resembles Angel from "Stand And Deliver". Not so much the gang banger aspect of the character, but instead having to be the one heard the most (with the most obnoxious comments) all the while an intelligent human being (I was impressed by his knowledge of poets and a textbook definition of personification. I would have lost money on that bet.)

2.) a kid best resembled by Ron Slater of "Dazed And Confused". Long hair, goatee, Megadeath t-shirt, probably smoked a bowl before coming to class, will probably do a shot of Jagermeister after class(which was a hot topic of conversation with him during the midway break)......wait I minute......I just described me two weeks ago. Either way I give him the "most irrelevant story" award by telling a story of how someone cut him off while driving and flipped him off in the process, which was apparently very funny to him. The rest of us: crickets.

3.) a kid best resembling Randy from season 4 of "The Wire" (the kid who sells black market candy in the school cafeteria). He was pretty much just egging on Angel and our number 4 contestant. Randy gets the award for "most audacity" by actually trying to haggle the length of homework from the professor. He figured the professor could "meet us halfway". Un-fucking-believable.

4.) one of my favorites. A girl who I can't find a good comparison for was the one with the best dialogue. I think I'll call her Joan Rivers for the simple fact that she liked to bring her up in conversation a number of times. My favorite remark though: During a discussion of "what makes us happy?" a number of people holler out money, love, etc. When "freedom" was yelled out she was lightning fast to retort "Not when you have a husband!". This girl can't be a day past 24. Amazing

The professor is actually quite a funny guy. He improvised a burlesque dance (since many in the class didn't know the difference between burlesque dancers and strippers), used Karen Carpenter's life as an example of anti-climax (and in doing so said "I don't make this shit up"), and also referred to the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie family as a brood (don't know why, but that seriously struck me as funny).

So the subject itself was actually quite refreshing given the atmosphere it was presented in. I looking quite forward to the discussions of short fiction, poems, and dramas that will be happening in future weeks. Not only from a learning perspective but also an entertaining one.

This also confirmed my fear: I'm a 30 year old in college with a bunch of 18 year olds. I fucking hate 18 year olds.