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Apr. 10th, 2008 01:03 amEating ice cream, studying World Lit, and holding Aristotle (all at the same time) is probably the best way to end a night.
Class tonight was...interesting.
Sociology of the Family, which is always a big hit with my blood pressure. Tonight's added bonus was the material we were discussing was sexuality, which led into a conversation about homosexuality. Things were going rather well and not much dunder-headed bullshit was being said, until the STUPID GIRL I CAN'T STAND pipes up with "Why do homosexual women dress and act like men? I have a homosexual woman friend and she says she doesn't even known why!" And then she started busting out with all manner of nonsense about trans-gendered people. I can't even put any of it into words. My head, it almost imploded. I spoke up quite a few times, and spoke completely over the stupid girl because she wouldn't shut the goddamn hell up, and explained the concepts of GENDER (which is hilarious, because it's a topic we already covered and not all that long ago).
Another student, one I generally like, started on about how animals in the wild do not exhibit displays of homosexuality. The professor and I tag-teamed him on that one. He kept insisting only animals in captivity do it, and stated the Discovery channel was his source of information. I told him to read a book, which got me a warning eyebrow from the professor.
The stupid girl is on my list of people I wish to hit with a brick. She never shuts up. Like, ever. I can hear her in the back of the room, constantly yammering away in this fake high-pitched voice- even when the professor is lecturing. And it makes my blood boil. She also doesn't understand the concept of Sociology being about the majority, rather than the individual. Every single topic which comes up, she's got to counter it with some bullshit about someone in her family was completely different and blah blah blah. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
The Engineer and I have a phrase we use when people pull shit like that: WHEN I WAS A FRUIT FLY...
He started it because of one of his co-workers who constantly has to insert herself into every conversation on earth with stories of how when she was involved in X, she did Y. It goes to ridiculous levels, hence the outlandish claim of having once been a fruit fly.
My Tuesday night class was a lot better, even if I did horribly upset one of my classmates. Not intentionally. And not personally. We were discussing poverty and one of the exercises in the book asked for students to attempt an experiment by living on poverty levels for food purchasing. The professor asked us what we thought of that. I snorted before I could stop myself and she asked me what was up, which got a story from me (I very rarely talk about personal things in class) about my experiences in growing up poor and living in my early twenties (also poor). I spoke about the things we used to do to get by (panhandling on South Street, stealing from all over, dumpster-diving, getting discarded food from places like South Street Pizza, etc.) and the things my mother did to get by when I was a kid). [As a side note, something I realized last night: I now make more money than my mother did. How fucked up is that? It says a lot about how our economy has changed and how a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to and it also says a lot about how screwed up it was she was making $10 an hour at her last job, at her age and level of experience.]
The classmate interjected with her own story of growing up with a very large extended family that could be relied on and then asked me about going to family. I briefly told her of my family (or lack thereof) and how growing up, we didn't have that tether, and how I still don't have that tether. I could see in her face how badly this idea bothered her and she made a comment about how scary it must be to live like that. I agreed with her and told her how even know, if something were to happen- I would be fucked. FUCKED. I don't have anywhere to go. I already live with my brother and I can't move in with my father. Blood family-wise, there isn't anyone else. Sure, I've got friends who could help in a situation like that, but they're all already extended rather far in their own finances and living situations. It would be next to impossible to work out.
And her face, oh man. She had never pondered living like that. You could see the realization sink in. I thought she was going to cry. And I felt so bad for her.
The thing is, I don't want anyone to understand what it's like to have no or next to no family. It's the same not-wanting I hold about having people understand what it's like to lose a parent. Empathy? Ok. Understanding? No way. That means you've been through it and I don't wish that on my worst enemy.
In other, slightly more cheery news, my other classes are going quite well. I believe I'm holding down A's in all of them, even Western Civ II (which is the bane of my existence- who's idea was that, anyway?) with its horrendous 18 page exams. I've got three papers I need to write in the next few weeks (one of them is due in 2 weeks), which has me slightly squirrel-eyed, but I think I can manage without going too crazy. One paper is on how abstinence-only education doesn't work, one paper is on polyamory being a valid form of relationship, and the other I haven't worked out yet. That's the one due in two weeks, but it's something I need to get a case study from a social worker to accomplish. The Engineer's Grand Poobah's wife is a social worker and the last time we hung out, she said she'd give me a case to work from. I just need to get on the goddamn horse.
ugh. School.
I wouldn't trade any of this for the world.
:D
Class tonight was...interesting.
Sociology of the Family, which is always a big hit with my blood pressure. Tonight's added bonus was the material we were discussing was sexuality, which led into a conversation about homosexuality. Things were going rather well and not much dunder-headed bullshit was being said, until the STUPID GIRL I CAN'T STAND pipes up with "Why do homosexual women dress and act like men? I have a homosexual woman friend and she says she doesn't even known why!" And then she started busting out with all manner of nonsense about trans-gendered people. I can't even put any of it into words. My head, it almost imploded. I spoke up quite a few times, and spoke completely over the stupid girl because she wouldn't shut the goddamn hell up, and explained the concepts of GENDER (which is hilarious, because it's a topic we already covered and not all that long ago).
Another student, one I generally like, started on about how animals in the wild do not exhibit displays of homosexuality. The professor and I tag-teamed him on that one. He kept insisting only animals in captivity do it, and stated the Discovery channel was his source of information. I told him to read a book, which got me a warning eyebrow from the professor.
The stupid girl is on my list of people I wish to hit with a brick. She never shuts up. Like, ever. I can hear her in the back of the room, constantly yammering away in this fake high-pitched voice- even when the professor is lecturing. And it makes my blood boil. She also doesn't understand the concept of Sociology being about the majority, rather than the individual. Every single topic which comes up, she's got to counter it with some bullshit about someone in her family was completely different and blah blah blah. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
The Engineer and I have a phrase we use when people pull shit like that: WHEN I WAS A FRUIT FLY...
He started it because of one of his co-workers who constantly has to insert herself into every conversation on earth with stories of how when she was involved in X, she did Y. It goes to ridiculous levels, hence the outlandish claim of having once been a fruit fly.
My Tuesday night class was a lot better, even if I did horribly upset one of my classmates. Not intentionally. And not personally. We were discussing poverty and one of the exercises in the book asked for students to attempt an experiment by living on poverty levels for food purchasing. The professor asked us what we thought of that. I snorted before I could stop myself and she asked me what was up, which got a story from me (I very rarely talk about personal things in class) about my experiences in growing up poor and living in my early twenties (also poor). I spoke about the things we used to do to get by (panhandling on South Street, stealing from all over, dumpster-diving, getting discarded food from places like South Street Pizza, etc.) and the things my mother did to get by when I was a kid). [As a side note, something I realized last night: I now make more money than my mother did. How fucked up is that? It says a lot about how our economy has changed and how a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to and it also says a lot about how screwed up it was she was making $10 an hour at her last job, at her age and level of experience.]
The classmate interjected with her own story of growing up with a very large extended family that could be relied on and then asked me about going to family. I briefly told her of my family (or lack thereof) and how growing up, we didn't have that tether, and how I still don't have that tether. I could see in her face how badly this idea bothered her and she made a comment about how scary it must be to live like that. I agreed with her and told her how even know, if something were to happen- I would be fucked. FUCKED. I don't have anywhere to go. I already live with my brother and I can't move in with my father. Blood family-wise, there isn't anyone else. Sure, I've got friends who could help in a situation like that, but they're all already extended rather far in their own finances and living situations. It would be next to impossible to work out.
And her face, oh man. She had never pondered living like that. You could see the realization sink in. I thought she was going to cry. And I felt so bad for her.
The thing is, I don't want anyone to understand what it's like to have no or next to no family. It's the same not-wanting I hold about having people understand what it's like to lose a parent. Empathy? Ok. Understanding? No way. That means you've been through it and I don't wish that on my worst enemy.
In other, slightly more cheery news, my other classes are going quite well. I believe I'm holding down A's in all of them, even Western Civ II (which is the bane of my existence- who's idea was that, anyway?) with its horrendous 18 page exams. I've got three papers I need to write in the next few weeks (one of them is due in 2 weeks), which has me slightly squirrel-eyed, but I think I can manage without going too crazy. One paper is on how abstinence-only education doesn't work, one paper is on polyamory being a valid form of relationship, and the other I haven't worked out yet. That's the one due in two weeks, but it's something I need to get a case study from a social worker to accomplish. The Engineer's Grand Poobah's wife is a social worker and the last time we hung out, she said she'd give me a case to work from. I just need to get on the goddamn horse.
ugh. School.
I wouldn't trade any of this for the world.
:D
