Summer I Has Issues

Why do I take classes in the summer? Why can't I do fun things like go to the National Playwriting Conference, or go home to Kansas, or anywhere that is not Lubbock? Because I want to get out of Lubbock sometime in the near future, that's why! That being said, the class I am inflicting upon myself in the first summer session is a clusterf**k, and that is being kind.

I thought I was doing myself a favor by switching from the theory (not my favorite) and 25 page paper class to something that would possibly be a bit more interesting. Didn't work out that way. This is the first time this class has been offered, through the English department, and on paper it sounds great. In practice, not so much. I have never been in such a disorganized class. I understand that the 5 of us are the guinea pigs for this class, but come on people - at least know what your syllabus says and stop contradicting yourself every day. Geesh! Even I know how to organize a syllabus so that it makes sense to the students, and I don't even want to be an academic. This experience is not making me ever want to be an academic.

Originally, the class was to be in two sections, but since there weren't enough students to have two sections, it has become one. One of the profs is the professor of record, and the other one is there to be a pain in our collective behinds I think. Not really, but it seems that way. The kicker is that they are married to each other, so that dynamic comes into play as well. It really was apparent over the weekend when we went to San Antonio (Texas) to see three plays.

The car ride was very uncomfortable for all of us, and not just because we were crammed into a Durango (supposed to be a minivan), with all of our stuff, and only stopped once on a 7 hour drive, and that once was not for a food break. The two academic types spent their time arguing about directions, one of the consequences being that we got lost when we got to SA. Lucky for me, my daughter met me in SA, and I got dropped off at our hotel. We met everyone else at the venues and got to ride by ourselves back to Lubbock as well. Getting to the hotel was a problem because even though the Durango had a built-in GPS, heaven forbid the driver use it because he was trying to use his iPhone and the printed directions from Google maps. Needless to say, this was not an effective way to navigate, and not listening to your wife when she was trying to correct your navigational errors, is not helpful either. I was never so happy to get out of a vehicle in my life! From what I heard from the rest of the students who were staying at the profs' friends house Friday night, it didn't get any better. They all revolted and decided to stay in SA Saturday night, and ride back with another student who drove her own car because she stayed one night with an aunt and uncle.

Their behavior was totally unprofessional. You do not conduct your marital quarrels in front of your students. I suppose it's a good thing we aren't undergrads. As it is, we were traumatized. I can only imagine what it would be like for undergrads. They continued sniping at each other the whole weekend. It's a wonder they made it back to Lubbock, but they did. They also decided we could have a night off from class since we spent the weekend doing class stuff, and they got smart and gave us Monday off. It was very welcome, since that was the day the Haggards drove home from SA. None of us were quite sure what to expect last night, but she was the only one there - he was playing host to a visitor.

Tonight's class was very confusing. We still can't get much clarification on our final project, which is a mash-up video composed of the footage we shot while in SA. They kept pushing us to pick a thesis that was the thesis they wanted us to work from, so we finally decided it would be better to give them what they wanted, and save ourselves some hassle. Then, we all have to write a final paper of 3-5 pages about the mash-up process and present it as our final project. We have no idea what the paper is supposed to be about and how the presentation is going to go.

We are all counting the days until July 1, when we will be finished with this class. I found out from a fellow student that we have the option to petition the grad school for this class to be pass/fail. I filled out the form and dropped it off at the grad school yesterday. This class is not counting for anything on my degree plan, so it doesn't matter to me. Frankly, I needed a class to take to get 6 hours this summer, so I could qualify for financial aid. My class next session is the one that counts toward my degree plan. The reason two of us are taking the pass/fail option is because we all, except 1 person, got a B- on our first papers. We had no real guidelines for what to write, or how to structure the paper, so I feel we were supposed to do something we didn't know about. I really, really hate it when professors assume their students are mind-readers, because we are not!

On the plus side, I did get to go someplace that wasn't Lubbock for 3 days, and I saw the Alamo. I bought a cool sculpture at a little gallery in downtown SA. It's always nice to find fun and intriguing artwork. I saw three productions in two days, and finally got to see the Pirates movie. My daughter decided Johnny Depp was pretty hot for an old guy - LOL! I've been telling her that for years, but who listens to mom?

Well, I have homework to do, whether I want to or not. I had better do something productive now. I am hoping summer 2 will be better than summer 1 has been. It can only get better, right?