unpacking continues and, since i've gotten to the point of just staring at my boxes, i thought i'd share more random life notes i've discovered.
may 2005. written on the back of a paper in polish that- hm, i got a 'b' on. amazing. wow, i can't understand anything i wrote in polish, but apparently i had "good thoughts on stachura's poems". ...m'ok.
My Last Class: "Memories" (that was the class... anthropology of memory, i think?)
I've been passed a book- "Rhetoric of Empire" by David Spurr and asked "you read this, right?" um... nope. "Oh, I thought you read it in Maria's class- it was one of your favorites." ok- thus is the legacy of my grad school experience. one of my favorites? right.... now i'm sitting between fedja and jennifer, my best buds. and waiting through several presentations. i expect boredom.
elizabeth says "that's fabulous" and we all release a sigh of great relief- she approves, her royal highness of of name-dropping approves! now she won't shut up. and fedja is reading over my shoulder. stop it! my memories! he's attempting to colonize my memories, but the indeginous people are strong! i'm thinking about maybe reading this aloud to the class as an example of the creation of historical narrative- but is it collective? can i speak for the class? i think not- i'm too cynical. wait- i just realized.... NO MORE POLISH CLASS. ha HA! all i know about the dominican republic is that sammy sosa is from there. and this is the extent to which i'm paying attention to THIS presentation. instead, i'm thinking about working on an organic farm in europe this summer. i need to WORK- and elizabeth WILL interrupt every presentation. hm... now i know more about the dom. rep. fancy that. but, this doesn't mean that i don't realize that i'm only one presentation away from thai food and the END of grad school. HA! feck, two presentations left.
jennifer mennifer is performing- i cannot verify any of the dates in polish history on her hand out about polish-jewish autobiographies framed by interwar polish independence. jack hutchins was wearing a socialist worker pin today and i had to refrain from asking him how getting a phd in polish literature would help the worker's cause. does he work? no- he's overweight american with a polish wife. i'm to mean- but really...... workers of the world unite so the intellegentsia cane write about you!
meanwhile, yiddish strives as ever before to free itself of it's proletariat associations as a language. high culture, oh, how we cherish thee. question!: is the intellegentsia effective in creating social change? and to who, top down? probably, since the 'down' can't/dont's have/don't want to read about shit like this.
seized- i'm quite capable of seizing into cement-like state. does collectivizing ruin individuality? making it part of something whole, which has its own definition/identity. the good and the bad of organization- a new clint eastwood film. all right, it seems my grad school courses will end with a funny presentation on the out-dated tradition of chief illiniwek at u of i. stupid school. i like this presentation- good note to end on. but still, as ever, elizabeth won't shut up.
and........ DONE!!!!!!!!!
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5 comments:
i remember reading over your shoulder---no no no shee liiikes it. i actually remember that day in class.
I was sitting at my computer and it dawned on me that I had never looked to see if there was anything about Jack Hutchins on the web (I went to undergrad with him). So I googled Jack and Polish and your blog popped up.
From your description I not only had a severe Jack flashback but you described him perfectly. It's wonderful and hysterical to know that he is exactly the same.
Thank you for this moment.
oh shit- my blog is becoming ever more googlable. i hope jack doesn't find himself too.
um, hi jack!
i have to say (though maybe too late) that he was a really nice and understanding instructor that renewed my hope that polish is not impossible to learn.
Trust us, if Jack learned Polish, it's definitely not impossible.
I went to undergrad with him too (the above anon sent me this link). You may have started the unofficial Jack blog depot.
i like the idea that my graduate angst is spreading through the undergrad contacts of jack..... where are you anonymous jack-knowers from? seems like i remember him being from kansas.
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