~ Thursday, September 01, 2005 ~

The gleeful sensation of anticipation

Not to be all vomitously Pollyannaish at you, but I'm very happy right now. I just came out of the first meeting of a class on the history of human rights, which looks awesome (I'm especially looking forward to the part where we talk about the cultural relativists v. the universalists, as that's my current pet topic) with a professor in the political science dept. who is tiny like an owl and has a gravelly voice and presides over her class with all the authority of Queen Elizabeth I. Even her name is excellent: her first name is the name of a stone but it also implies absolute insistance, and her last name is sort of like the word polit. It fits her perfectly. And on Tuesday I had two classes, one on British Moral Philosophy taught by a well-preserved relic who, at the beginning of class, gave (gave!) us all a copy of Leviathan with an introduction he wrote, which he warned us is all wrong, but (he explained) he didn't discover how wrong he was until after he was almost finished writing it, and by that time it would be a shame to waste all that work...but it just goes to show, he added, that it's possible to argue for a wrong position and still do it convincingly. He won my instant admiration. Oh yeah, and the other class I had on Tuesday is on the history of science from a sociological perspective, and the professor didn't impress me so much, but I can complain about him later. And the thing that excites me most of all is that I am going to begin very soon to tutor a student who is 7 years old and is behind in his reading skills (i.e. he's currently able to read books with one word per page, and this is an effort) and it'll be my job to excite him about reading. I seriously can't wait. I want to bring him Dr. Seuss, and maybe Go Dog Go, and some of the other books I remember loving when I was first learning to read. Soon I shall go and procure for myself a library card from the vast NY Public Library, whose main branch is like 7 blocks north of CUNY's graduate campus (leaping distance) to explore their children's section. And now I am going to a meet-your-colleagues party for the other students in the Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies program, and then tonight there's a swing dance. Oh! And I'm coming back to California for a quick weekend visit and some wedding planning on September 9th, and then coming back again for another (unrelated) wedding a month later. I get to see my California family!!

I shall have to work very hard to not burst.

~ prattled by Miriam at 5:39 p.m. [+]

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Comments:

I'm glad classes are starting off so well. It sounds like fun. I expect that the tutoring will be quite a challenge, though. I'll be curious to hear how it goes. (Oh, and you should look for "Stand Back!" said the Elephant, "I'm Going to Sneeze!" That was a fun book. :-)

And let me assure you that the gleeful sensation of anticipation is by no means limited to the east coast. Yay for California visits!

# posted by  Tandava : 6:30 p.m.  

Well, I tried that, but I couldn't reach. Sorry.

# posted by  Tandava : 1:23 a.m.  

Children's books? Aha, that is an area of expertise for me! Do you remember Arnold Lobel's Mouse Tales? (Very Tall Mouse and Very Short Mouse, Clouds, etc?) And how about the brilliant Frances (the badger) books: Bread and Jam For Frances, Bedtime For Frances, A Bargain For Frances, et.al? And the new ones you don't know about (yet!!) because you grew up before they were written? The joys of children's literature are amazing. You will have the great pleasure of rereading favorite stories and discovering new ones!

# posted by  Anonymous : 4:00 a.m.  

Are the wedding plans your own? That means we do need to catch up! (Even if it's not your own wedding of course!) Maybe when your home visiting...? Send word. : )

# posted by  Anonymous : 10:47 p.m.  

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