BOGO

The course I'm taking this semester is different in so many ways from the last one I took.  It's more lecture than discussion.  It's more information than analysis.  And it's in a lecture hall, rather than a classroom.  After the mind-blowing experience of the Ethics class, I was somewhat concerned that it might be a bit ... well ... boring.

Not so.

The prof comes across as someone whose brain is so full of information that his mouth can't keep up.  (One of the complaints about him on the Rate My Professors website is that he never finishes his sentences.  It's true; I get that.)  And he is so well organized!  As well as lecturing us three days a week, he posts his Prezi presentations, and his recorded lectures, online for us to review.  He provides us with review questions, and the corresponding answers, for every lecture .  His TA runs exam clinics before both mid-terms.

Today he spent the whole class working through next week's assignment with us.  And here's where I get excited:  He gives us a contemporary news article, a YouTube video, or something similar, and asks us to make one, just one, interesting connection to our course from it, and write about it.  He says that relating the course material to contemporary issues makes the whole thing more understandable (and memorable).  In the class today he showed us an old news article about an archaeological dig and a newly discovered church site, and had us brainstorm connections to the lectures so far.  I can hardly wait until he posts the real assignment on Friday!

This is a man who wants us to succeed in his course.

But there is another bonus to this course - those recorded lectures.  It just so happens that there is another person in this household who is also interested in this course, and now has the opportunity to learn along with me!

A matter of perspective 2

I have been travelling on the bus quite a lot in the last four months, and have noticed something quite interesting:  Young women don't sit beside me.

Mine is usually the last shared seat to fill.  My seat companion is most likely to be another older woman.  If not her, then a man, irrespective of his age.  Only when there are no other seats on the bus will a young woman share mine.

Why?

Is it because I look grumpy?  Is it because I remind her of her mother - Will I tell her to party less and study more?  Is she afraid that old age is contagious?

Hmmmm ....