tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post2078614780385503575..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: Stonehedge!, Or, Ye Shul it lerne wher so ye wole or noon.Cord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-6658638933578037572008-12-28T15:59:00.000-05:002008-12-28T15:59:00.000-05:00Just finished grading the exams. When Iwein hears ...Just finished grading the exams. <BR/><BR/><I>When Iwein hears the story of the women forced to make clothing, they say “We are the tribute and we have a terrible life, a miserable youth, for those to whom we are subject are terribly corrupt, refusing to let us keep any profit at all from our work” (303). They are vague about whom they are subject to: what is the significance in their refusal to identify whether the demons or the nobles are responsible for their terrible condition?</I><BR/><BR/>I encountered a depressingly common bad answer to this question, which says something about the current economic climate, or the bad jobs my students have, or their bad bosses. Several students (4 maybe?), forgetting or ignoring the fact that the workers are both noble AND trapped in this work as tribute, argued that the workers, being poor, don't speak up because they're afraid of losing their job, no matter how badly it pays.<BR/><BR/>Ouch. Welcome to Brooklyn....<BR/>(maybe 4 different exams)Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-88078274056773272822008-12-23T15:17:00.000-05:002008-12-23T15:17:00.000-05:00HD, I love it.And, Rick, I've tried making Spinal ...HD, I love it.<BR/><BR/>And, Rick, I've tried making Spinal Tap jokes in class before, both at BC and, earlier, at Barnard. Kids these days! No one got it, not even your basic 'goes to 11' joke...<BR/><BR/>So, if only!Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-71275292078573777902008-12-23T11:53:00.000-05:002008-12-23T11:53:00.000-05:00Karl, I sincerely hope you showed Spinal Tap's "St...Karl, I sincerely hope you showed Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge" in class.Rick Goddenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04109263756022001400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-23185112770191309002008-12-23T09:15:00.000-05:002008-12-23T09:15:00.000-05:00Dear Karl,When answering one of the essay question...Dear Karl,<BR/>When answering one of the essay questions on my final exam in Medieval Drama, a student repeatedly invoked the "veal of truth." <BR/><BR/>thought you would appreciate that as much as i did.<BR/><BR/>happy, merry, etc.!<BR/>hdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-81556011193468170482008-12-23T08:18:00.000-05:002008-12-23T08:18:00.000-05:00Oh, that's funny. And funny. And funny. I consider...Oh, that's funny. And funny. And funny. I consider this a bad omen for the exam grading, which begins today on the Jersey train.<BR/><BR/>Hilariously (?), I just dreamt that I finished the semester by throwing the coursetext down and screaming "you all suck!" And, <I>in the dream itself,</I> I thought: too bad you already did your evaluations of me! Haha! <BR/><BR/>Somehow I feel as though my dream presaged your funny and your eerie, pitch perfect "Thank you, Professor, for an excellent semester. I hope you have a happy holiday." <-- gives me the chills, that does<BR/><BR/>[note to any students: my waking self doesn't actually think you suck. I think we can safely call it a grading anxiety dream]Karl Steelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03353370018006849747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-86153562770166230012008-12-23T07:53:00.000-05:002008-12-23T07:53:00.000-05:00Answers below.1. Man = Tiny Shriner. Woman = Eilee...Answers below.<BR/><BR/>1. Man = Tiny Shriner. Woman = Eileen Joy. Bonus: location = under under the floorboards of the Burberry's on Connecticut Avenue, near DeSales Street, in Washington, DC.<BR/><BR/>2. The other character is the reader. Like all readers, this one was suffering from end of the semester fatigue. The cure did not work.<BR/><BR/>3. What is ironic is that Arthur's favorite song at the time was Alanis Morissette's "Ironic." The double irony is that the song is about bummers rather than ironies. Also it shows how out of date Arthur was. It's a black fly in his Chardonnay.<BR/><BR/>4. I believe this is a scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The food fight involved a flying cow.<BR/><BR/>5. Please. List two knights who DON'T live in a forest and who are NOT helped by hermits. Now that would be a tough question.<BR/><BR/>6. I think this is from the children's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It's the scene where Lady Bertilak asks Gawain to get on all fours like a dog and ride a giant sword. She brings her own lion whelps with her for their entertainment and mocks him all the while. A tower with crowned heads looms in the background. An unrelated scene unfolds nearby involving a knight saying "Yada yada yada" about something.<BR/><BR/>7. A small thong that makes him uncomfortable whenever he jousts.<BR/><BR/>8. Lancelot killing the G Brothers is tragic because the death of any man diminishes him, for he is a part of mankind. Also this is a double death so he is doubly diminished.<BR/><BR/>9. The Lusty Lepers were a 1950s a cappella group, most famous for a series of top 40 ditties where they would pun on love and falling apart in various non-PC ways. This is a trick question.<BR/><BR/>10. Again this is a scene from a children's book. I think this is the chapter in Beowulf where Grendel's severed arm, having been discarded in a puddle, comes back to life and attempts to stab a distracted Hrothgar. A truncated knight picks pears from a bonsai tree nearby.<BR/><BR/>I believe that I have done so well on Part I that I will skip the essay questions. Thank you, Professor, for an excellent semester. I hope you have a happy holiday.Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.com