#if this is where we're at

[echodrops]

I am really struggling to understand the thought process of some of my students right now, and I don't even know what can be done to rectify the issue.

The last unit of my five-week summer literature class is on a personal essay from Joan Didion, called "Goodbye to All That."

Somehow, despite the unit literally being called "Creative Nonfiction with Joan Didion," me providing a PDF copy of the reading titled "Goodbye to All That" by Joan Didion, and even having an entire interactive video lesson on Joan Didion herself...

Somehow a student still turned in a reading response about "Good-Bye to All That" by Robert Graves. A nearly 400-page-long WWI autobiography.

So not only did this student not do the actually assigned reading, he also actively ignored every single Canvas page in the entire unit, completed a video-based assignment without listening to a word of it (apparently), and then, realizing that he had to find something to say about the unit, frantically googled "Goodbye to All That" and made up an entire two paragraph response based on a book he absolutely did not read.

When I asked the student how this mix-up could possibly have happened, he insisted he did read the PDF file from our class (weird, because Joan Didion's essay is not about WWI!) but just mixed up the author's name in his response.

I... What...?

At what point do you just have to start thinking "This is an aggressive refusal to read anything put in front of you"? Like, come on. Couldn't even read the name of the unit? Couldn't even engage with a Youtube video long enough to see a picture of Joan Didion and realize the writer for the unit is a woman definitely not named Robert Graves?

And at what point did common sense just not kick in? This is a five-week class; each unit is 3-4 weekdays max. Could the professor possibly be expecting the class to read a 400-page autobiography in three days, when everything else we're read has been less than 30 pages?

This is actually so concerning to me. How can we have college students that literally can't read?

Please... someone save me...

[riacte]

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

[captainsaltypear]

IS ANYONE ELSE GONNA TALK ABOUT THIS OR

[artkaninchenbau]

A h-heartfelt reunion..?

Bonus

[jakeperalta]

letting celebrities think they can and should "use their platform" to speak on all current events and political issues regardless of how educated they are on them was a grave mistake

[pinacoladamatata]

The Dread Wolf's Heart...

[sky-is-the-limit]

"I'm the one who fucked you hard and raised you from perdition." -Misha Collins, 2024

"If the CW wasn't so homophobic, Dean and Cas would've been balls deep for sure." -Misha Collins, 2024

April, 2024

[bigfatbreak]

Birds of a Feather previous / next

[sadmages]

In my mind palace my tav and Astarion are playing the exact same game of 5D chess and they don't realize it yet

[mischievous-thunder]

Wade, during an argument: Now you sound like those boring unromantic people.

Logan, deadpanning: Says the one whose idea of flirting is to kidnap an unsuspecting drunk man at gunpoint from a bar.

Wade: YOU LEANED AGAINST MY GUN OMG YOU-

Logan, smirking: -Which further proves that I'm neither boring nor unromantic.

[naturecalls111]

unorthodox murder mystery

[egophiliac]

So I was doing some math, and I THINK Skully is almost as tall as Malleus without his horns

I think the main reference to his height is Epel being surprised they're the same age because he's taller than Sebek, yes? which I find interesting, considering Jade and Malleus -- two of the tallest guys in the main cast -- are also there. and, since I've never been one to not think waaaay too much about the absolute stupidest minutiae about fictional characters, I see two possibilities:

one is that Epel is extremely good at eyeballing heights (I actually do feel like he could be? like. I'd believe he can estimate someone's height fairly accurately by calculating based on the life stages of an apple tree, or how many apples tall they are, or something else apple-related like that.) and Scully does, perhaps, fall into that narrow margin between Sebek and Jade in height.

OR two, out of the three certified Tall Guys there, Sebek is Epel's main frame of reference because he's the only one he's had any real interaction with for, let's be fair, pretty obvious reasons.

SO in conclusion, we still have no concrete answers and will probably have to wait until next year when we get his card profile, alas alas. 😔

[mintystea]

hey yeah sorry i cant go out tonight im rewatching leverage (2008-12) and leverage: redemption (2021-). yeah its time for me to indulge in the fantasy of karmic justice through heists and found family, unveiling greed and corruption of large corporations, and death to capitalism again. sorry about that.

[reunitedinterlude]

phil: whenever i see an ambulance, i like to think there is a baby being born, rather than a death (1, 2, 3)

[inkskinned]

today i love the red metal crane in her long neck arching her body over the boston skyline, which means i am okay for a moment. when i am unwell, everything is a little ugly. i always tell myself look for the beauty but when it is bad, i will look at birds and sunsets and little ducklings and feel absolutely nothing.

when my brother got his puppy, i was in a deep depression. what kind of monster isn't affected by a puppy. i was gentle and kind to her - i just didn't have an emotional reaction. she's five now and i feel like i spend all of our interactions apologizing to her - i don't know why. i just didn't feel anything. how embarrassing. i feel like if i admit that, i'll seem cruel and jaded. it comes in waves. like, two months ago when i went out into the world - it was like that. life behind a pane of stormglass. a firework could go off over your head - nothing. like dead skin, no reaction. not to ice cream or rainbows or baby chickens. life foggy and uninteresting.

i love goslings again. i love their little webbed feet splayed over grass. i love good food and live music and long walks. i like puppies. i feel like some kind of my soul has been starved - i keep staring at everything with wide eyes, trying to burrow the sensation into my stomach. it's real. beauty is real. when it's bad again, remember this. i stop and smell the flowers, feeling cliche in the moment. i like the white-to-red ombre of my neighbor's roses. i like colorcoding and yoga and cold drinks. i try to pass my hands over every moment, feeling like i'm squeezing joy out of every instant. remember this. for the love of god, it's real - just remember this.