I'll give you an example of my indifference. Last week I was chosen by one of my professors to have lunch with the (sarcasm) Marjorie Garber, who is a Harvard professor and renowned Renaissance literary critic. I didn't have the heart to say that I had never even heard of the broad. So I had lunch with her and two other grad students who were chosen. I read some of Garber's articles so I could make intelligent comments and pretend like I had heard of her. It didn't matter because she mostly talked about Harvard politics and herself. So I got out of there with a free lunch and a lesson learned. The lesson being that most renowned whosits are way too full of themselves. After the lunch Garber gave a talk that I did not go to. Yesterday, before class, my fellow classmates were talking about how great Garber's talk was and how great she was in general. I mentioned in passing that I went to lunch with her and she didn't seem that great to me. Well, all my classmates were shocked and surprised that I went to lunch with THE!!!!!!!!! Marjorie Garber. Then I said that I didn't even know who she was before I went to lunch with her. Well, one of my classmates admonished me because "Garber is on the same level as Greenblatt." Now, I have heard of and read Greenblatt, but I'd be surprised of anyone outside the small world of English Lit. academia has. Even after my classmate's revelation, I could not work myself up into a fervor about the momentous Thai food luncheon that I had taken part in. Although, I have to admit that it was fun to make my smarmy classmates jealous, especially because I didn't care.
I suppose the real question is the following. Was I indifferent to meeting an academic heavyweight because I am tired of school in general, or was I indifferent because that is the normal reaction to meeting a person that one has never heard of? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and say both. I am tired of school and I don't participate in idol worship, or in this case, scholar worship. Though, I have to say I would have been more googly eyed had I met Peter Holmstrom, guitarist for the Dandy Warhols and indie rock legend. I've juxtaposed a picture of Holmstrom and Garber so you
can
make the decision for yourselves. I think it's pretty clear. Anyhow, the point is that I'm getting a little tired of school. I'm sure this will change about 25 seconds after I get my MA, but for now it's getting a little old. The funny part is that I didn't set out to write about this at all. I was just going to make a quick post to let people know that I would try to update more often. Oh, I guess there is one more point. Indie rock stars are much cooler than Renaissance scholars.
3 comments:
Man, I knew I should have been a rock star rather than a classical scholar! Is it too late to return my library card?
A while back, I can remember how excited people were when this important German philosopher Habermas (sp?) was coming to Purdue to talk about Kantian ethics and international law. I decided to go and stayed about fifteen minutes before deciding he was a bore who talked like he had pudding in his mouth. This is one of the only times I can remember walking out of a standing-room only crowd.
I actually have hated just about every academic talk I have been to, even more so when I am the one talking. There's so much that bores me about the academic world. If you didn't get such a great schedule and chance to read books and learn languages for a living, I swear I'd give it up.
Such a clever post deserves more comments, and I'm not saying that just because I happen to love the poster. Where have all those old voices of the blogosphere gone?
By the way, thanks for all the funny comments on my blogs, Monica. In the future I will try not to moralize on commenting on blogs, if you will promise not to moralize on my moralizing on commenting on blogs.
I hardly ever comment because you have to be very clever in order to comment on Monica’s blog.
Post a Comment