First day of school
My first day of school was good.
- It was damn hot. Nearly sunburnt from walking around with some friends after class.
- I just learned how bad the fires in the upper LA area are. WTF? Hope the ash doesn't drift down here because I might not be able to breath.
- Ray (my teacher's preferred name) is hilarious. And unabashedly liberal apparently.
- However, I was having some cognitive dissonance because some of the things he said were mired in sexism and heteronormativity. I laughed because some of it was funny, but at the same time, I was thinking, "This is really problematic." Sigh. Oh progressive brain.
- Speaking of problematic, the class is myth and folklore. (If you're keeping up, I did take this class last semester but had to drop it due to my not being able to keep up with the readings.) However, reviewing our reading list and listening to his opening lecture, I realized how very ethnocentric the class is. Every myth that we read is either something Western or, like Gilgamesh and Inanna, contributed to the tradition of Western myth in some way. There are no Native American myths, no Mezzo-American, no African, no Pacific Islander, and certainly no Asian myths. Granted, there aren't any Celtic or other non-Christian or Greek/Roman religions that we cover, but we still have a lot of Western works that we're covering.
It's a very colonial approach, and I hope he'll at least address that.
- I think that the reason I realized the ethnocentricity is that I'm trying to work against that in the story I'm creating. I'm supplementing my myth and folklore class with some extracurricular readings. I just checked out some books on African oral epics, Chinese folklore, Shintoism, and some other Hausa folklore. I really wanted something on Taoist mysticism, but that book was checked out. Sigh. Oh well, I'm not sure I'll be able to work through most of the reading I have right now anyway what with school and all.
- Jealous of my friend who met the cast of A Very Potter Musical. She was all, "Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about!"
- Speaking of friends, turns out the sister of one of my friends is in my myth and folklore class.
- Holy crap. After this semester, I just need a geology class and to get an F off my record, and I'll be done with school. OMG I'll freak out about this later, I'm sure.
I need sleep since I have to get up at 8. AGH!
- It was damn hot. Nearly sunburnt from walking around with some friends after class.
- I just learned how bad the fires in the upper LA area are. WTF? Hope the ash doesn't drift down here because I might not be able to breath.
- Ray (my teacher's preferred name) is hilarious. And unabashedly liberal apparently.
- However, I was having some cognitive dissonance because some of the things he said were mired in sexism and heteronormativity. I laughed because some of it was funny, but at the same time, I was thinking, "This is really problematic." Sigh. Oh progressive brain.
- Speaking of problematic, the class is myth and folklore. (If you're keeping up, I did take this class last semester but had to drop it due to my not being able to keep up with the readings.) However, reviewing our reading list and listening to his opening lecture, I realized how very ethnocentric the class is. Every myth that we read is either something Western or, like Gilgamesh and Inanna, contributed to the tradition of Western myth in some way. There are no Native American myths, no Mezzo-American, no African, no Pacific Islander, and certainly no Asian myths. Granted, there aren't any Celtic or other non-Christian or Greek/Roman religions that we cover, but we still have a lot of Western works that we're covering.
It's a very colonial approach, and I hope he'll at least address that.
- I think that the reason I realized the ethnocentricity is that I'm trying to work against that in the story I'm creating. I'm supplementing my myth and folklore class with some extracurricular readings. I just checked out some books on African oral epics, Chinese folklore, Shintoism, and some other Hausa folklore. I really wanted something on Taoist mysticism, but that book was checked out. Sigh. Oh well, I'm not sure I'll be able to work through most of the reading I have right now anyway what with school and all.
- Jealous of my friend who met the cast of A Very Potter Musical. She was all, "Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about!"
- Speaking of friends, turns out the sister of one of my friends is in my myth and folklore class.
- Holy crap. After this semester, I just need a geology class and to get an F off my record, and I'll be done with school. OMG I'll freak out about this later, I'm sure.
I need sleep since I have to get up at 8. AGH!