Classy Update

Wow. It's been two weeks since I last posted. I started to feel a little guilty, but then I looked at these two guys and felt better. Also, I took Moore's advice and got Gaim, which means I once again have Online Capability. Yay. *waves flag*

In other news, the first meeting of Old Testament Exegesis was good. We're studying the book of Zechariah, which promises to be a mixture of interesting and maddening; we've only gotten through the first 3 of the 14 chapters of the book, and already we've hit several textual problems. Still, the class is sure to feature many good times. The biggest problem for me will be the 10-page exegesis paper, the first draft of which is due in about two weeks. It would be too much of a problem by itself, but I also have a 10-page paper in Shakespeare and I work four days every week.

The other interesting thing about OTE is that we don't have to take the final exam: we can memorize the book of Zechariah instead. Again, this would be a much more tantalizing idea if I had the time to devote to serious memorization.

Shakespeare Studies lost some major cool points two weeks ago when the prof assigned a group project. Actually, it was as much the way the project was assigned as the fact that it was given. Basically, we were given a handout containing about six different supplemental writings; things like the poem/song "The Cucking of a Scold" and an essay called "The Arraignment of Lewd, Froward, and Idle Women." This handout was given to us at our first class meeting, with the instructions to "skim the whole thing and pick one writing to study in depth." So, the second week rolls around, and the prof divides us into groups based on who read what. She then announces, "You now have ten minutes to come up with a plan for a presentation that will explain to the rest of the class (1) what your writing was about and (2) how that relates to The Taming of the Shrew." But what really killed me, was that we spent the last hour of the class watching a VHS recording of a live-action theatrical rendition of Taming. Don't get me wrong: I'm all for watching Shakespeare (in class or otherwise). But if you're going to assign group presentations don't give us 10 minutes of prep time and then use up AN HOUR of class time on something that doesn't help our grades. Fortunately, the grading policy for the presentations was essentially "You get an A unless you interrupt another group," the material wasn't too hard, and things generally went well. And apart from that little incident, the class has been going well. I recently completed a 3-page paper comparing the written version of Taming of the Shrew with Franco Zeffirelli's film version (starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor); I'll probably post that paper at the AHM blog before too long.

My visit to Biola went well. I met with the admissions counselor for the progam I'm interested in, and was pleased to learn that he himself graduated from that program and is now in the process of enrolling in a PhD program. The meeting was quite helpful, but the most interesting thing for me was to learn that the vast majority of graduates from this program do not write Master's theses. This surprised me, since I thought writing a thesis was essentially a requirement for admission into a PhD program. But apparently not, as graduates from Biola's program have been accepted into such big-name universities as Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame. Indeed, apparently these schools are asking for more Talbot grads. I was still a bit leery of this, but the counselor said that the reason their graduates are so successful is that the entire program is very writing-intensive; even if you don't write a formal thesis, you get more than enough practice in writing.

The only other noteworthy development is that I will no longer be working on Wednesdays; I've decided to use those days to study and complete class assignments.

More posts as further developments arise.

Shameless Shakespearean Self-Promotion

As promised, I have posted the first of the character analyses I've done for my Shakespeare course at the AHM blog: if you're interested, go read it.

*Gasp*

Well, I thought I'd be able to come up with a post "containing my thoughts about my Literary Theory class"; unfortunately, my life has had other ideas.

The first meeting of my Shakespeare Studies class was last Tuesday night. It looks like the class will be entirely too much work for an 8-week summer course populated largely by full-time-working adults. The amount and kinds of work assigned threaten to destroy any and all appreciation I have for The Bard's work. It will, however, give me some nicely-sized character-study essays to post on the AHM blog. The essay about literary criticism will probably transform to incorporate material from both the Lit Theory course and Shakespeare; look for it sometime early in the Fall semester. In the meantime, I'll put up notification here when I post my Shakespeare blurbs on AHM.

The other thing that kept me from posting the aforementioned lit-crit essay was my weekend project. My grandparents live out in the middle of the desert (near Palm Springs, if that helps), and my dad and I went out Friday morning to help them shuffle furniture in preparation for getting new carpet. After the work, we got to sit around and chat with my grandfather. All in all, it was a relaxing, enjoyable, and worthwhile trip.

This week's attractions:
*first meeting of Old Testament Exegesis on Monday night
*second meeting of Shakespeare Studies, wherein we will discuss "The Taming of the Shrew"
*visit to Biola and meeting with a graduate admissions counselor on Wednesday
*work and interning as usual

Who knows when I'll be able to post again? I certainly don't.

(P.S. What with the rush of finishing homework and such, I don't have a chance to proofread this post properly. Please forgive any typos or other errors.)

Update and Links

Business/Status Report first.

I completed my second final on Thursday, did a solid day of work on Friday, and am now enjoying the only homework-free weekend I get this summer. And by “enjoying,” I mean “using to prepare for the next round of classes and my upcoming visit to Talbot.” I do also get to sleep in and relax a little bit, which is nice.

I saw Batman Begins a few days ago and was pleased with it. Apart from its entertainment value, the movie got me thinking (again) about justice, law, goodness, evil, etc. etc. Perhaps I’ll distill those thoughts into a post someday, but not today. Today I have other things to write about.

My internship at RTB is going well. I got to proofread the draft of the upcoming book (due to be published in September) Who Was Adam?, which, as the name suggests, is about various accounts of human origins. Lots of interesting stuff, I thought; but then, I've always liked science.

Once I finish checking the draft, I get to move on to my next major project. One of RTB's books is currently in its third edition. The second edition had a study guide, but that guide has not been updated to match the third edition of the book. My job is to go through the new book and the old guide and find discrepancies. What's particularly exciting about this is that, if RTB publishes a new edition of the study guide, there's a decent chance that my name will be listed among the primary contributors/editors. That would look pretty nice on a resume, no?

The second summer class session starts tomorrow. I'll be taking Shakespeare Studies and Old Testament Exegesis. Good times, no doubt.

Now then, on to the "Fun links" section of this little post:

This is fairly amusing. Even if you're not into video games (I myself have only played a few on this list), it's sort of funny to see the comparison pictures.

A list of oxymorons. Sweet.

This device looks very cool. I think I want one.

Here's a blurb about intelligent people defending stupid ideas. Good stuff, that.

I hope to have a post (containing my thoughts about my Literary Theory class) up on the AHM blog before too long. Once I do, I'll link to it on this blog.