Cade is a theater major. I suppose he has been a theater major since he was ten years old. The drama club provided him refuge and community. He is active in every classroom discussion as a matter of habit. Philosophy is personal to Cade and every subject is part of a narrative that stretches from one course to another. "We discussed that in my English class last quarter." He was raised Catholic but considers himself more spiritual now. His favorite writer is Sondheim.
Uta is a doctoral student in history but she simply describes herself as a "medievalist." This title begins a lot of sentences. "As a medievalist, I think..." and "A medievalist might say..." She told the professor on the first day that she thought she might be the only medievalist in the class and that turned out to be the truth. She wears baggy trousers and orthopedic shoes.
Sarah smiles constantly, even when she is fiercely disagreeing. The smile is permanent and it gets bigger when she talks. And her eyes roll up, always looking away during a comment or statement. But she does disagree. I suggested that the bible was full of transgressive behavior: the abnegation of primogeniture, adultery and murder, and rape of potential in-laws. She took this as an attack on Judaism and she became very animated and argued that "all of the world likes sordid stories." She cited soap operas and such as examples. She seems too young to know what soap operas are.
Matthew describes himself as a neo-Kantian. He wears a yarmulke on Friday. He does not like Derrida (solipsistic) or Barthes (in need of psychological help) or Benjamin (too obvious.) He does like a number of what I take to be extremely rational philosophers. I have never heard of any of them. These philosophers are living because Matthew can say where each teaches.
Theresa is a Jewish Studies major even though she was raised Catholic. Her father is Jewish but her family followed the faith of her mother. She started undergrad as a religious studies major but narrowed into Jewish Studies in her graduate work. She is currently teaching Buddhism.
Beverly is a senior journalism major. She is not interested in working at a newspaper nor does she care much for new media. She has her heart set on television, specifically on doing the weather. She told me that she wants to be on camera because she "likes to get dressed up and all that." She is pretty sure that her training at Northwestern will help her to break in. She knows that she will need to start in a smaller market and is applying to stations now.
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| Completely random picture of some students I do not know. I got this from Google so the blog would have an image. |
Devon is a senior in journalism as well. He sends texts from his phone (I think they are texts but it could be Facebook or perhaps more likely Snapchat or such) for an hour and a half during class. The professor has asked him not to text during class but Devon seems not to hear her. Once during every class period, he offers a short comment on the discussion topic.
Philip is a doctoral student in Gender Studies. When he talks about Bourdieu, it is to question what the sociologist says about queer theory. He will discuss Merleau-Ponty in terms of queer theory. His hair is almost shaved on the sides and is very long on top. He has piercings in his nose, eyebrows, and ears. When I discussed how habitus is shown in the films of John Ford, he sought me out after class and said that I made total sense.
Mary Kate has red hair that is pulled back. She wears serious glasses. She is a doctoral student in history. After we have discussed a philosopher, Mary Kate always asks what the ideas mean for her work. She usually seems satisfied with the answer.
There is a young woman who sits near me in the Norris Center every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I know she is a theater major because of the books she reads. I knew the author of one the books she was studying (I mean I actually know him) and mentioned that to her. She seemed impressed. Now, every Tuesday and Thursday morning, she says hello to me. Last week, she brought a drink she had purchased from Dunkin Donuts over to the seating area. She misjudged the location of the table and dropped the drink. I got up to help her and she told me that she is always a klutz.
There is a woman with green tights who rides the same Metra train as me and goes to the same Starbucks before she goes on to her destination, which I assume to be the campus. She walks a little faster than I do and arrives at the Starbucks ordering line first.
David is an undergraduate. He has missed two of six classes, apparently because of illness. He always notifies the professor that he will be missing and she tells us.
Tavel works in the bookstore and I do not think he is a student. Every time I make a purchase, he asks me if I am a faculty member (I assume there is a discount involved.) I tell him no, that I am a student. That is fine with Tavel and he makes small talk while he rings out the purchase.
Rene speaks heavily accented English. I think his first language is French and he looks as if he might be Algerian. I have a brother-in-law who is Algerian so I have developed a pretty good eye for the nationality. My brother-in-law is, in actuality, Berber but the distinction is not a great one. It took me a while to recognize that when Rene spoke of meadow pond-ee, he was referring to Merleau-Ponty.
Annie asks thoughtful and provocative questions. Last week she asked whether Merleau-Ponty could conceive of a restrained body because her own sense of being gendered female involved a a set of constraints. I am always interested in her questions but I don't think she ever gets answers.
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