#bad classes

Now if you are a teenager you know exactly what I’m talking about. See I just started my last year of high school. I'm officially the top dog, Senior. During the school year there’s this defined schedule that every teen follows. You wake up, get ready, leave and do you day, then go home and do more school work. I honestly don't agree with this system. 

I think as teens we should be learning real day situations in a way that is in a controlled environment. After being in school for 12 years I've learned nothing in how to do things that will eventually happen in my life. Paying bills, buying a house with a mortgage, how to know if something is worth the buy. No we learn the  pythagorean theorem, and finding angles on a triangle. 

The funny thing is if you ask a teacher what this will help in life with they really don't have an answer. They say if you become and air conditioner unit installer or an air force pilot. But how many of the 3000 students will actually become those things, not many at all. 

The first class I dropped was Themes In Literature And Culture with a focus in Science Fiction.  Sounds cool, right?  I picked it because I was thinking H.G. Wells, Lovecraft, maybe some Orwell, that kind of stuff.  And also because the Tolkien/Rowling class was closed and I know no one is gonna drop that shit.  

Well, I ordered the assigned book, which is called Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.  This....is not the sci fi I was looking for.  It's a cyberspace, virtual reality, mind control type of story, and it is the most horribly written piece of fucking idiocy that has ever been shat out.  Let me give you an excerpt from page fucking one.

His uniform is black as activated charcoal, filtering the very light out of the air.  A bullet will bounce off its arachnofiber weave like a wren hitting a patio door, but excess perspiration wafts through it like a breeze through a freshly napalmed forest.  Where his body has bony extremities, the suit has sintered armorgel: feels like gritty jello, protects like a stack of telephone books.

Look at that.  Look at this piece of drivel that someone has gotten paid to write.  Who writes like this?  Who publishes this?  Ah, I have an answer: this guy.  That's the author.  Lord.

The teacher of this class is obviously a fan, and told us that he would be basing his class on the scientific method, rather than science fiction lit.  You're familiar with the scientific method, I'm sure, from 8th grade Physical Science: hypothesis, experiment, conclusion (I'm paraphrasing).  What a horrible way to teach an English class.

As I sat in the tiny, stuffy old room, I looked around at my classmates for a similar level of disbelief.  Instead I saw two neckbeards (one with a fedora), and one odd looking man with a fluffy tail clipped to his belt.

I dropped that class like a hot Pop-Tart.

The other class was Scuba Diving, which sounds so awesome, and for 2 whole credit hours, but then they were like "Yes, it's a $25 class fee, $85 for the textbook/workbook kit, and $150 for all the gear that you need to buy for yourself and never use again."  Fuuuuuck that.

It has been awhile since I've posted anything about London. Lots of things have been happening but it's been mostly quiet. My second term started a few hours after we handed in papers from the first term on Jan 14th, so things are in full swing now. I'm taking two modules. One is called Responsive Museums and it's all about how to develop and get funding for engaging programs that work with visitors, not for them. I'm really digging this class so far. We've had great sessions on funding, community outreach, and how to discuss sticky issues, like religion, which is one I have a lot of experience with and I was totally nerding out with all of the readings. Crispin Paine from UCL has written some great stuff on it and I had actually used him as a source in a paper for my Art and Controversy class in undergrad. The tutor for this class, John Reeve, is really organized and assigns readings that actually connect to the content of the lectures (this has not been true in every module, a lot of the readings are stuff they won't cover). He also makes these great snide comments that are not exactly under his breath and they always make me laugh. A lot of them would not fly in a US classroom because they're digs at museum professionals but I appreciate that they aren't as restricted to being politically correct here. My other module is called Material and Virtual Cultures and its about how technology is being used in museum learning. I was not thrilled with it at all after the first session because it appeared that I was going to spend an entire semester on social media and audioguides, but its getting better. Some of us talked to the tutors about what we didn't like and they actually seem to be changing things, which is nice since I really didn't want to spend all this money to learn how museum use twitter. I have been forced to make a twitter for this course, so you can follow me there @confusible if you like.

Besides classes, I have been back at the gym and that feels good. Salsa also started again. We had a guest teacher last week that threw some intense new rueda moves at us. So many new names of steps to remember but it was fun. I've gotten back to reading for fun and have returned to an old British favorite: Wuthering Heights.

I've only been to two museum shows since I've been back in London. The first was an exhibition called Painting Now at Tate Britain and it simply shows the work of five painters currently working in the UK. Three were uninteresting and two of them I really liked. My favorite by far though was Tomma Abts. She works with color and geometry to make these great moody paintings that play with your eyes quite a bit. If I were patient and skilled, this is the kind of stuff I would want to paint.Tate recognized her in 2006 with the prestigious Turner Prize.

This one changed a lot as you looked at it from different parts of the room.

In this one she actually cut the canvas and played with space a bit and I think it might be my favorite contemporary painting in my experiences so far.

The other museum I went to was Dulwich Picture Gallery. It's outside of central London and involves a bit of a trek on the tube and then the bus but its worth it. It was the first public art gallery in London and they have some real masterpieces in a small building designed by Sir John Soane. My favorite piece in their collection was Rembrandt's Girl at a Window.

Its painted so finely, that it if weren't for the glass over it in person, you would think the girl was actually there. Its from the period in 1640s, when he was still painting in a very fine, realistic style before his shift into a more expressive brushstroke. The color in her cheeks has different pinks and yellows and seems to be something he wanted to get just right. Art historians don't know who the girl is but she isn't wearing much by the standards of the time. Some think she is meant to be a courtesan but Rembrandt most likely used a servant as the model and it might be simply a genre scene or tronie, which is like a character type. There is a story that says this was placed in a window in Amsterdam and actually made people do a double take as they passed. I really hope that is true but I doubt it.