Wake up...the semester is starting!

First class in higher ed in film and fiction, the sophomore version of the mother of this blog. Here is what we did:

EDFA 590A
Higher Education in Film and Fiction
A. G. Rud

Introductory Exercises

Each group will take a few of the books assigned, and read the cover materials. Then discuss what issues you think may be covered in the book. Come up with 2-3 issues to discuss among yourselves and present a short descriptor of the book and what these issues are to the larger group. The books this time are a bit different. Lucky Jim and Changing Places are both still there, as is Moo and Straight Man, but May Sarton is out as is Roth's The Human Stain. In its place, I Am Charlotte Simmons, which I found utterly absorbing.

Think back to fall of your freshman year in college. What expectations did you have of college, and were they met? If not, what did you find out about your chosen school and yourself at that time? What advice would you give to someone going off to college now? I showed the first 6 minutes of the Felicity pilot here, where Felicity decides to defy her parents and go off to NYC based on what a boy wrote in her yearbook. While a bit farfetched, it is not entirely off the mark of how youth makes decisions...or not-youth for that matter.

Take a piece of paper and write a paragraph on the most influential person for you at college or graduate school. Then list 3 or more characteristics of that person that you find admirable. Skipped this one. In retrospect, seems a bit college applicationy.

Break into two groups, A and B. Take the words listed below for your group and create a scenario, skit, description, or story using these words

A:
Beth Davis
Dean of Students
Football Team
Department of Economics

B:
John Jones
Study Abroad
His roommate
Pizza King

This was a hoot, everyone was ready for some wild flights of fancy. I think we are off to another good semester!