There's something about new years and birthdays that makes me want to write. Obvously, there's been a journal involved, but I'm a product of the facebook generation who, for better or worse, feel the need to broadcast ourselves to the rest of cyberspace. Have you ever noticed that your facebook page is essentially an advertisement page with yourself as the commodity? Kind of bizarre, but c'est la vie.
The first week of my second and penultimate semester at Azusa has ended. All the talk I heard last semester about the horrors of multitasking is ringing eerily true, much to my dismay. Once I get into class-mode, there's rehearsal, and once I switch into a rehearsal mindset, it's the weekend, i.e. time for friends. Thus, three Jennifers are attempting to compile themselves into one volume (why yes, I am taking three literature classes this semester! However did you guess?).
Because it's morning, I'm not sufficiently awake to write creatively about my theater life or philosophically about my personal/spiritual life. Thus, I'll simply write explanatorily about my scholastic life. I've obligated myself to cover the other two categories in the future, however, by labeling this "Part One."
For those of you dying to know about the life and times of a Literature major, here's what I'm taking this semester:
1. Principles of Language--The "hard" class. This is linguistics, or the study of sound and speech. Linguists study language to discern what's going on in the mind (as opposed to psychologists, who study of behavior to do the same). It's considered difficult because almost everyone comes into the class with zero background. The first half of the semester is on theoretical linguistics, or understanding the mores of language and characteristics of sounds, syllables, morphemes, words, and sentences. Second half is on applied linguistics, which covers grammar and language acquisition theory. If this all seems a bit nebulous, you're not alone. I swear I've never seen half the words in the reading for last week.
2. English Literature since 1789--The "easy" class. It's a true literature survey course, which means we'll read a tiny bit by dozens of significant authors from the Romantic, Victorian, and Modern periods of British literature. The 1789 is the French Revolution. The prof's specialty is Victorian Lit, which should be interesting, but it will be frustrating to use the teaspoon method (reading snippets of "everything" important, rather than studying anything in-depth). We do, however, get to present a scene either from Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," or Beckett's "Endgame."
3. World Literature to the Renaissance--The "honors" class. This is 4,000 years of world literature in 15 weeks. Though technically a survey class, we're not using the teaspoon method. Rather, the semester is divided into three segments (Heroes, Storytelling, and the Afterlife), in which we'll study a few selected works. Here, at the beginning, we're reading the epics. Part two will consist mostly of fairy tales, and part three will be almost entirely devoted to Dante's "Divine Comedy." Thank you, rhetoric, for giving me a foundation of this stuff. I would not want to be reading these for the first time. By the way, Epic of Gilgamesh is the original bromance. I'm just sayin.
4. Significant Authors: C.S. Lewis--The "in-depth" class. This is what my prof described as "a true seminar course," which means she does not know the answers to the questions we'll attempt to answer throughout the semester. It's a one-shot deal, that is, she's never taught it this way before and won't do it again. We're studying Lewis' works chronologically in an effort to prove her theory that you can divide his life into three distinct segments. Last week, we read excerpts from "Boxen," the collection of writings he and his brother wrote in their early childhood. Can you say "genius child?" Oh, Jack.
5. Topics in Film: The 1960s and 1970s--The "fun" class. Somehow, this class counts as an English elective. We'll cover key films of these two decades and explore how the culture of this twenty-year period affects us today. There's one required film per week, and 5-7 suggested ones. I splurged and got netflix just to see how many I can watch. Hitchcock's "Psycho" was last week, and right now I have "The Hustler" with Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. The people in the class are intriguing to say the least. Mostly upperclassmen, and you've got everything, including the film snob, the star wars fanatic, the rebellious wild child, and the no-nonsense future screenwriter. Observing feels like I'm in the Breakfast Club.
There's my 15 units. Next time we'll talk about something other than school, I promise.
