Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 955
Location: Iowa City, IA
...
... _________________ “It would be a pity of lesbians and gay men retreated into the same kind of cultural separatism. " - Jeanette Winterson
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Last edited by BdeCaunteton on Sun Sep 27, 2020 8:59 am; edited 1 time in total
Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:13 pm
twilight
Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 1035
Location: First Star on the Right Straight on til Morning
Awww, honey, I don't know much more to tell you other than this is your last year of jumping through the hoops of the education system. I know it is absolutely frustrating to make your personal style suffer for the demands of a professor. Hugs and hope all turns out well. Just a few more months.... _________________ Twilight, Her Royal Highness, The Queen of Fun and Games
The lengthening shadows wait The first pale stars of twilight. ~~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:25 pm
PipSqueak
Joined: 04 Jul 2008
Posts: 987
Location: S.W. England
((((B)))) Breathe!!!! Don't get mad, get even.....
First can I be nosy? How did you get into Arthur and how great to be studying something that you love!! Ur making me ashamed at my lack of own culture. The BBC's just doing a latest version of Merlin which u'll probably get soon.
This post made me sad as you are usually so bubbly. This sounds really frustrating.
Have you tried talking through the comments on the Welsh poem paper
with the instructor? It might be useful to gain more understanding of what they really meant instead of their brief scribbles.
Were the blue comments asking you to reference where you got your information from to give credibility to your essay? It's a chance to show off your knowledge, to prove you know what you're talking about!! Have they covered this?
If you can get someone who knows nothing about your subject to read
your essay before you hand it in, it might highlight if you need to expand what you mean or if you are flowing so much that your readers may miss the point.
My friends doesn't always enjoy reading my pure math proofs much but it really helps!!! Soz, now I'm rambling!
At the end of the day, you are paying for them to teach you and they have a responsibility to get that from you, not to shut you down.
Is there an instructor from another class who you respect that can read your work and the notes and give you some direction to get the points the others
want but without compromising your own style??
Maybe the advisor is a good idea. They might not be able to change anything but at least you will have taken steps to register your point of view.
Keep breathing and focus on the rest of your year, you're so close to finishing!!
Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:19 pm
chordphrute
Joined: 04 Jul 2005
Posts: 1412
Location: Nouvelle Orléans, Louisiane
Wheat thins out of stress? I'll have to marinate on that for a while.
I've had many, many courses where there's been one or two people hogging up all of the Q&A/discussion periods, and I know how annoying it can feel.I've also taught a few courses, and I know how it feels from the instructor POV to have one or two people constantly interrupting to insert their comments, and likewise how it feels as instructor when a) no one's interested in commenting b) when someone is genuinely interested..(which is nice) ... anyway, point being I get the "King Arthur connoisseur" comment and although it sounds snarky, there's probably a giant mix of all of the above feelings from your instructor.
Meanwhile - on a note that will get you rolling your eyes at me - I feel like you might need to realize that even in your writing style, you still have a hell of a lot to learn. Keep an open mind and positive attitude. In terms of writing, you need to realize that whether you like another's comments of your work or not, when other people are reading your novel/poetry in thirty years, you won't be there to defend it. With that said - I'd take any blue comments you get seriously, even if it's not. Of course it makes sense to you - but it may not to your reader. Of course I'm saying that objectively without having read much of your work - but even if I hadn't read a word I would still say it. For you to say you have a "trademark style" is pretentious in itself at this point. I know what you mean - that you feel like you have your own literary signature and an expertise, that you're a well-read and well-written scholar - which is true and you can be damn proud of that. But - to mark yourself as already having a trademark style (specifically if you say it to a professor) is synonymous with stating that you no longer have any farther up the ladder to go concerning your style - that you are happy with where you are and you wish to remain there. That means you're only selling yourself short. That's mighty silly, and I know you know better. Will leave it at that.
With that said - it's not a course on writing, like you said. It just happens to be a course where you write, in the German Dept - great - okay, so you took it as an opportunity to show off a bit - good. BUT your professor might know less on the subject than you do - and thus may have felt threatened. As such, if you honestly believe you deserve a higher grade, than go for it - appeal the grade and bring it up to your professor. It's absolutely your right and your responsibility to question your professor on this. Sometimes, specifically if they're tenured, they have the POV of "I've done my time - now its your turn", and they feel like they can be harsh and make you conform to them. Purple is absolutely right - you (or your parents) pay for them to teach you. Make them do it. Too many professors get off on this crap...and get paid for it. _________________ "You can't kiss and keep your eyes open, they'll cross forever" - Rubyfruit Jungle
Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:52 pm
BdeCaunteton
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 955
Location: Iowa City, IA
... _________________ “It would be a pity of lesbians and gay men retreated into the same kind of cultural separatism. " - Jeanette Winterson
www[dot]bdecauntetonspoetry[dot]webs[dot]com
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This sounds really frustrating.
Soz, now I'm rambling! 
