2 September 2010 Students? Here? Why?

Thursday found me leaving the house 15 minutes behind schedule. Not having a locked parking slot or even a good idea of where one will be means that I want to build some cushion into my travel time. As luck would have it, I found a close slot and made it to class with a comfortable 30 minutes to write, read, or swelter in the lack of air-conditioning. During the last semester the empty status of my first classroom at my usual arrival time lulled me into thinking that such might be the case this semester. Tuesday it was. Today it was filled with students, not even a place to slide quietly in and sit. The younger class members promptly sat down against the limited wall space at the top of a closed stair well. This limits their leg room and the safety of everyone trying to get past them, the vending machines on the opposite wall, and the recycling stand that fills up the remaining space. I didn’t particularly want to impede traffic. If this class is in there on Tuesday, next, I may be able to alter my departure time.

The class began on time again, always an encouraging event. I’ve found time to read the material for today’s class so I was able to answer questions when they were asked. I did try to leave time for others to beat me to it. Perhaps that won’t be necessary. I hope so. At least one of the ROTC students spoke up.

Baxter is doing a good job of linking what is going on in the Pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary US to what is happening in Europe. I never really thought of the French and Indian war (7 Years War) in Europe as the first global war. But it meets the criteria.

Found myself sorry to see class end. That’s a good thing.

I found my way to a single cheeseburger and that was lunch. Walked around a bit and called Gloria, who was still at the Hyundai dealership. I moved my truck up to the parking area for my last class and just picked up my phone to call Gloria when she called me again – I’d missed three earlier calls. She moved her car up near mine and we walked back down to see an art exhibit documenting the history of Jews in Tennessee. Most of it was good documentation about Jewish life in the larger cities. But one panel dealt with Jews who served in WWII. That portion of our history always leaves me really unable to talk for a few minutes. There’s a bone-deep angst about the men and women who fought that war, Jews and gentiles, they exemplify the best we could field.

Now I’m back in the arts auditorium, waiting for another shot at art-history.

My first impression was that the majority of the women in this class fall at the extremes physiologically. They are either rail thin, perhaps dancers, or somewhat bovine. I see myself in the mirror, balding, overweight, and aging; no one’s choice for an art model. I can see truth around me. As for weight and women, most of them worry far too much. Lines, proportions, and carriage are far more important than dress size or weight. I tend to prefer the female form depicted so well by the Greeks. Lines and proportionality are important. Most women used as icons of fashion fall some distance beyond those standards. I suppose I can say that observing my classmates anatomy is akin to studying art-history in some manners. But the great thing is I don’t have to find reasons or excuses. I suppose I should enjoy the views while I can. The days of short shorts and tank tops will vanish with the hot weather.

There are noticeably fewer students in the auditorium today. Roll call was run again today. He doesn’t delay with it, just calls out and checks off names. So far, he has not displayed any of the time wasting habits that bothered me last semester. I may have drawn two good sections.

If Gloria were here, she’d be pointing examples out to me. Speaking of lines and proportions, how lucky I am to see her in the morning!

Back to impressions of teaching and students. The professor knows his material very well. His graphics are ready, in order, and he knows what he wants to convey about each item. What I have noticed is that he frequently says something such as,” I don’t really expect anyone in the room to know this but…” He waits, perhaps wishes, for an answer – I’ve fed him three and someone else one that I did not recall correctly - and then provides a lot more background than I would imagine he should have to provide. He seems to be operating under the basic assumption that his students have no knowledge of classical or any other mythology. He described a statue of Thetis imploring Zeus to support Achilles by referring to the movie “Troy” and the actress Jolie. How sad. He commented that when the statue was made most of the literate people knew the classical references quite well. He didn’t specify the literacy rate then. Or now.

Class broke up early. Again, sorry for the cessation of knowledge flowing my way. But given the time of day and my fatigue level, not terribly sorry.

Gloria left early too. She beat me home by an unspecified amount of time, got the mail, the trash can, and dragged the dog before I wandered in with Belgian waffles and some frozen White Castle burgers. It’s always wonderful to see her smile when I walk into the house.