Plum and Peacock
I am slowly coming to the realization that my History of South Africa Professor - whom I will call Professor Plum, is apparently a very good teacher, in addition to being a jerk. His tenacity at insisting that we keep up with the reading and cover the material is far beyond that exhibited by any other professors I have (or have had), and it pays off. His students, however, either have or must quickly develop a thick skin, because he does speak to us like we're idiots or children, even those of us who are neither.
This is actually my second year at Maryland, and last year I had a professor - Miss Scarlet - who, if our paths crossed in something besides a teacher-student relationship, I could see becoming friends with. I'm probably, if anything, older than she was (is), and she seemed nice and thoughtful and would be fun to be around. I hold Plum in direct contrast to her, in that I wouldn't last ten minutes in a room with him at a party before rolling my eyes in abject disgust, labeling him a blowhard, and probably going home early. That said, both Scarlet and Plum are equally competent teachers, as far as I can tell after having Plum for only a month.
My second class today - Tudor England, taught my Mrs. Peacock - is the one in which I had the terrible sleepiness problem. I may have solved that today, by simply taking a seat right up front. Actually, it is beyond the front, in her area, against the opposite wall, so I'm almost standing behind her. With her being so close, I basically have no place to hide, and the entire class looking my way as well. I did everything I could - almost including the Clockwork Orange-style eye-openers - and I made it through class. Huzzah.
It's also becoming painfully obvious that she's going through a nasty divorce. She's made little snide comments about how he apparently has just dumped her after x number of years, and he's a creep, and he's saying all sorts of mean things now, and so on. Today, she referred to him as "my hopefully soon-to-be ex-husband". It might be funny in a sitcom or a Judd Apatow movie, but here it's just uncomfortable, especially since it was only a few years ago that I lived through that myself. Not fun.
The bad news is that I didn't realize the deadline for the Big Paper outline was due so soon. Thursday! Ack!
This is actually my second year at Maryland, and last year I had a professor - Miss Scarlet - who, if our paths crossed in something besides a teacher-student relationship, I could see becoming friends with. I'm probably, if anything, older than she was (is), and she seemed nice and thoughtful and would be fun to be around. I hold Plum in direct contrast to her, in that I wouldn't last ten minutes in a room with him at a party before rolling my eyes in abject disgust, labeling him a blowhard, and probably going home early. That said, both Scarlet and Plum are equally competent teachers, as far as I can tell after having Plum for only a month.
My second class today - Tudor England, taught my Mrs. Peacock - is the one in which I had the terrible sleepiness problem. I may have solved that today, by simply taking a seat right up front. Actually, it is beyond the front, in her area, against the opposite wall, so I'm almost standing behind her. With her being so close, I basically have no place to hide, and the entire class looking my way as well. I did everything I could - almost including the Clockwork Orange-style eye-openers - and I made it through class. Huzzah.
It's also becoming painfully obvious that she's going through a nasty divorce. She's made little snide comments about how he apparently has just dumped her after x number of years, and he's a creep, and he's saying all sorts of mean things now, and so on. Today, she referred to him as "my hopefully soon-to-be ex-husband". It might be funny in a sitcom or a Judd Apatow movie, but here it's just uncomfortable, especially since it was only a few years ago that I lived through that myself. Not fun.
The bad news is that I didn't realize the deadline for the Big Paper outline was due so soon. Thursday! Ack!
