Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Not long ago, I heard from my friend Marla. She and I pleasantly endured the rigors of grad school. The kind words she emailed me made me miss her and my friends and reminisce about those days...and I thought about...

How there is so VERY, VERY little to say about Tuman, yet we always talked about him

The struggle not to call our college students "kids"

The chianti, the pesto pizza from DePalmas, and the sleepovers ruled by Claire Danes and My So Called Life

Co-teachers, co-teachers, co-teachers...whose was having lesbian affair, what Heather's wore to class today, and how mine would lie about grammar and literature to a full class with no hestitation ("enjambment is a modern convention")

Our "offices" in Manly Hall, Center for Women's Studies and site of the future movie Bats, Cats, and Rats (when someone finally gets around to writing a screenplay for it)

Sentence combining worksheets...particularly the one about the people who dress up as mermaids in Florida...can't get it out of my head

The crime tape surrounding the office of the woman who illegally sold desk copies over the Internet

Kamikaze squirrels who'd throw themselves into generators once a month, cutting off the power in out loverly blue-painted classrooms overlooking the Quad

The Globe, the 15th Street Diner, Swen, and all those other places I'd frequent but can't name at the moment (although the thought of their food draws unsolicited drool)

Defense week...the nausea...the celebrating...Aristotle's "special" number

Tying bows on Heather's wedding shower invitations

The shelter and priviledge studying literature afforded, juxtaposed with the reality of the Twin Towers tragedy followed by Lisa's husband going to Iraq

Sleeping with a hammer for months after reading Red Dragon for Monster class

The photo of Marla and David and the canoe (present) at their wedding reception

Everyone exercising GRRRREAT restraint when Logan said "Irregardless" in class

The meeting with Rand where he told me that there were more painful ways to lose one's virginity than understanding that Shakespeare was a great religious poet

Well, these are some of my favorites...and as Mike Shula has so recently emphasized, it's good thing our time is limited at the U of A, else posts would be so much longer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ah grad school. it will be fun to think of grad school memories one day.

Anonymous said...

Hi Brandi!

Marla mentioned this wonderful post of yours, and I just had to check it out for myself. In fact, I should probably print out your list & add it to my U of A scrapbook (the one I haven't gotten around to making yet!)
I *love* your allusion to our office building's zoo. Who could forget that smell? Ughh!

I just have to add a few more memories:

*Marla's co-teacher bringing a fake doobie to class & calling it "weed" in front of the freshmen. (Marla, what in the world was the connection to literature? Do tell!)

*Catherine's student discussing "social lights" in his paper.

*Karen's groovy "breakout group" sessions & how just the name inspired the desire to do jazz hands. (I can't take credit for that observation).

*Watching ROMEO & JULIET (the Claire Danes version) at Marla's & eating her yummy quesadillas.

*That dilapidated cinema next to Old Navy (and how it was MORE expensive than the nicer one at the mall). I took my mom there one time, and she still talks about her feet sticking to the floor.

*Dr. Halli's excitement upon his former student, Sela Ward, coming to town for a book signing.

*Ginny chomping on baby carrots in class. (What's up, Doc?)

*Karen beaming as she proudly used the word "troglodyte."

*Those awesome wedding invitations created by you & Marla. I *loved* the witty way in which you titled them like a grad. school paper.

*Balderdash at my little apartment in Northport. Brandi -- your creation of a synopsis for BAD HABITS is priceless.

I miss our days in T-Town!!!

Heather

b. wallace said...

Haha...I'm glad you mentioned Karen and Halli. I almost did but couldn't. Thinking of Karen still makes me shudder; I haven't healed totally from "break-out groups." You, know there was a lot of military and prison language used in grad school events come to think of it... bootcamp, break-out. Hmmm...

Bad Habits! I remember that. We play Balderdash like a champ in Dothan, but everyone always picks out my answers because I think alliteration is hysterical.

I also forgot to mention the 80's quiz!!! What other group of people gets together to test themselves on the 80's?! :)

I so miss us all living within driving distance...