Summer school started last week. My first midterm is tomorrow.
![[ Eyemodule 2 shot. Click thumbnail for full-size image. ]](http://www.lightfantastic.org/gallery/albums/200105/31rel.thumb.jpg) | |
| My Witches & Witchcraft class, which gets a thumbs up. | |
![[ Eyemodule 2 shot. Click thumbnail for full-size image. ]](http://www.lightfantastic.org/gallery/albums/200105/31arch.thumb.jpg) | |
| The "new" Architecture building, which gets a thumbs down. |
As insane and challenging as it is to be taking classes every day, I like it. Almost as much as I liked the night class last semester. Something about non-traditional academics just clicks with me. Either the students are generally smarter (or at least more focused on school), or I just do better dealing with things in concentrated doses.
Or maybe, only now — in what better be my last semester of college — I'm finally getting the hang of this student thing.
So yes, midterm tomorrow. I'm not quite confident, but certainly hopeful.
With two weeks of classes under my belt (i.e. one-third of the semester), though, I think my first impressions of my two current classes were a bit off. Or at least half off.
The good news is, "Religion 353: Witches & Witchcraft" continues to impress me. The instructor is one David Panisnick, who usually teaches at Honolulu Community College, and apparently has a well-deserved reputation as an excellent lecturer. (Smaller campuses — another secret of higher education I wish I'd known about earlier.) I didn't realize until last week that he is a frequently consulted local expert on religious issues, responsible for the quote, "Religion seems a lot like pornography. No one can define it, but you know it when you see it."
(Another quote from the first day of class that I have highlighted in my notebook: "This is the Satan we will come to know and love in this class.")
It's as much a history class as a religion class, and to the further disappointment of some, won't really cover modern components (i.e. Wicca). It focuses heavily on witchcraft as it relates to the Christian period, from the first to 17th century, and the resulting conflict and persecution.
Lots of Satan, sorcery, magic vs. miracles, and the evolution of a variety of other concepts from pre-Christian to the Hebrew bible (Old Testament) to the the New Testament. We've also referenced the writings of wacky St. Augustine, the Greek Septuagint, Jewish and Gnostic apocryphas, and the Canon Episcopi. Up next, various demonologies!
It could be tedious and dry, but Panisnick is energetic and provocative. His tendency to follow odd tangents is especially enjoyable: he spent ten minutes last week explaining how polygamy, in the grand scheme of things, favors women in a society, and that institutionalized monogamy was imposed to rescue men. He even touched on the root of the Virgin Mary tale — immaculate conception as an error of translation from Hebrew to Greek to Latin.
To make things more interesting, though, there are also three Wiccans in class. ("Every semester!" Panisnick chuckled.) They're all from different covens, and when they first found each other, I enjoyed watching them network and invite each other to their meetings and Yahoo! Groups. Only one of them is somewhat defensive, frequently taking the opportunity to remind everyone she's a Wiccan. Most of the time, they appreciate the academic angle and understand, for example, that the examination of the witch-Satan connection from the Christian viewpoint doesn't mean the instructor thinks there is one. And they add a little extra conteporary dimension to the course.
Heck, I'm open to exploring the modern Pagan experience...
"English 383: Children's Literature," on the other hand, so far is a bust. It is so not like you'd think it would be, I half suspect the syllabus is set up to specifically thwart everyone who took the class expecting to enjoy themselves.
Not that I think it should be easy, but...
To her credit, instructor Juliana Spahr inherited the syllabus and reading list from another English department faculty member, and I get the feeling she thinks it's a little heavy too. And we've so far read only short selections and related analytical essays, while short stories and novels still lie ahead.
So far, however, I've dreaded walking into the classroom every morning...
In part because of the meticulous analysis — essentially plotting out minute elements of "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood" (on which we've spent three whole classes), identifying symbols, gender roles, target audiences, and comparing conflicting interpretations (Zipes vs. Bettelheim, Freudian vs. feminist). I enjoy the sex theories as much as anyone, but when you get right down to it, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, you know?
In part because the lectures literally revisit and review every single point spelled out in the assigned readings from the night before. I don't want to give up quality time with my family to read why Zipes thinks Little Red Riding Hood is being oppressed by The Man, only to have to suffer through a class the next day in which the instructor asks, "And what else did Zipes say?" and waits through thirty seconds of dumb silence before answering the question herself.
And in part because of the emphasis of "group work." This is, Spahr said, to make up for the lack of one-to-one contact with her in such a large class. Now, that would be fine if my 40 classmates were all outspoken, articulate, critically thinking...
Okay. I'm really, really trying to avoid stereotypes here (only one of 'em is named Janelle, after all). But I had low expectations on this point from the very first day, when everyone introduced themselves. Most of the students said they were education or communications majors who took the class because they like kids or wanted to read Harry Potter. And because they thought it would be easy.
Four weeks to go.
Tomorrow we deconstruct Mother Goose nursery rhymes. My group got "Little Boy Blue," "Cushy Cow Bonny," "Ride a Cock Horse," and "There Was a Little Girl (Who Had a Little Curl)" (which was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dammit!). What fun.
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