Week in Review/Scheduling/Today’s Workout/Eye Candy
moocowinthecity Classes, in order of appearance
LIN493/503 ā Sociolinguistics (Dr. Wolfgang Wƶlk): Simply put, I feel like Iām standing in the presence of greatness each class (which, in a way I am) and of course, just when I think I canāt be further enamored with him or his style of oration he starts talking about Conflict Theory Linguistics (ānot everyoneās language is really equal, and hereās what you need to know to make informed decisions so politicians who donāt know what theyāre doing, donāt make bad choicesā)ā¦the man is justā¦amazing (and has a dirty, wicked, dry sense of humor). The class itself is wonderful and while we covered a lot of the same material in Paauwās class, Wolfe provides us with his own novel material and, in doing so, keeps everyones attention.
After that, about 1/3 of the class walks with me to:
LIN301 ā Structure of English Sound System (Dr. Karin Michaelson) is wonderful; The instructor has a bravado about her and an enthusiasm that just fills the room (ā¦a room full of geeksā¦like, huge geeksā¦like, some of us may be considering getting a schwa tattoo somewhere in the near future, level of geekdomā¦) and really, sheās just always happy and relaxed and everyone feels comfortable in her class, so we all feel comfortable contributing to the discussion. Though that may also be a side effect of the fact that everyone but two people in the class already know each other (one of the benefits of being in a small department). When I walked into class the first day I was just like āthe gangs all hereā¦when do we start the roast?!ā
After class most of us make a mass exodus down to LIN302ā¦weāve somehow managed to block schedule ourselvesā¦miscreants that we are.
LIN302 ā Structure of English Grammar (Dr. D. A. Zubin) is an interesting fellow; I canāt say I agree with his approach to linguistics or his mass generalizations (I find them counterproductive and I also find that when you say āwe all speak like thisā and just move on, that you then donāt take into account situations that may cause an environment for one to say something that speaker A may āalways sayā but speaker B only says under certain conditions and speaker C may only say when referring to person A or B; so while they may āall say itā that kind of reasoning doesnāt take into account why they āall say itā, or the situation surrounding the discourse and why the situations can be different and therefore they may āall say itā but for different reasonsā¦but I digressā¦).
I do recognize, however, that teaching styles differ and I donāt have to agree with him; I just have to learn his theories as one set that are out there. I also find myself cursing my 1980ās/1990ās Plainview, NY education (born in 1984, Nursery School in 1987, Kindergarten in 1989) because I grew up with āWhole Englishā which means I know absolutely nothing when it comes to grammar or syntaxā¦my first exposure to grammar wasnāt English, it wasnāt Hebrewā¦no it was Arabicā¦so I should at least get something interesting out of the class because he does know his material, I just disagree with a few of his methods.
LIN421/501 ā Linguistic Anthropology (JĆ¼rgen Bohnemeyer) is quite fascinating as a lecturer (he sounds like a German Kermit D. Frog, which of course keeps my attention because it combines my love of muppets with my love of people who have accents), the readings so far have been pretty abstract and require me to just sit down for a few hours after and turn the ideas over in my head until I can relate them to other previously learned concepts and then begin to understand them in greater details and apply them. Overall Iām enjoying the class though Iām curious to see other peopleās perceptions of it at present.
ARI202 ā Arabic IV (Issa Roustum) this is my last semester with Prof. Roustum because I donāt believe the Arabic International Studies Department (a subset of linguistics) will be getting the funding from The University required to have an Arabic V (which, it currently doesnāt have as a course). It looks like weāll be doing a lot of translation work this semester and Iāll enjoy it, though Iām sad that Iām concluding my time with Prof. R. as a student this semesterā¦heās probably, by far, one of the most influential teachers Iāve ever had. Heāll be in Syria this Summer, and I hope that after University our paths will have reason to cross again. Heās an ambassador for his people and a truly remarkable man, Iāll be sad when I say goodbye to him at the end of the semester.
Next Semester
As far as Linguistics Courses that I need to take to complete my degree, I only have one more after this semester. Phonetics with Aliceās (
maleficentseyes) Mom (who I also did my LIN420 ā at least I think it was 420 ā Independent Study with; she also directed the Teaching Internship I did). Iāll be taking her Phonetics Course, and hopefully TAing for another course so I can get some more TAing under my belt before I graduate. I met with her the other day and I was cleared to go to Israel this summer for two months, because the two courses I was going to take this summer I can take next fall which means this summer Iām a free man.
My course load in my final semester will be:
Phonetics
CSE111 (fulfills math)
The second half of Nutrition (science with lab)
TAing
And thenā¦I get my degreeā¦weirdā¦very weird.
Scheduling
Scheduling is currently being shifted to take into account more time for reading, studying and report writing and adjusting pilates and yoga to their scheduled times on campus from the Wellness Center.
Todayās Workout
After I get a good eight hours of sleep Iāll be putting on the weighted training vest and heading to North Campus to make use of an empty university full of tons of classrooms with tons of stairs.
Eye Candy For The Weekend
I leave you with my current celebrity day dream: Jake Gyllenhaal
