#it was fun i love my english prof!

[r0ttente3th]

like 'oh i'm sorry but i meant that i love your shoes, not that they look like shit!' I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SAY THINGSSS,

-friend anon

i think instead of using our words we should just start having fist fights

[mishkakagehishka]

But honestly i do judge people who use chatgpt for their college work. Literally if you chose to study something, why would you use ai for your work. If you chose something you want to study, doesn't it feel like a waste to not do your own research and work for essays and the like.

[loverofallthingssmart]

just wrote a sonnet. i now understand what shakespeare was on about

[today-i-am-thinking-about]

geometry

[miwakags]

if i could redo my uni career i’d double major in english and anthropology

[outfoxt]

Another Käärijä Research Project

aka: käärijä style-shifting project

as a preface, here are my (non) qualifications for this project and the circumstances under which it happened:

I am a linguistics student, and this past semester I took a course on sociolinguistics. the goal of this project was to become familiar with the concept of and analyze style-shifting (it's more commonly known as code-switching online but theres a difference and this is style-shifting), specifically by analyzing the speech of one person. We had the option to study oprah or to have someone else approved by my prof, so you know I had to ask my prof if I could study jere. This project is solely my intellectual property; even though I had a tutor help me a lot, everything written in this paper and on this post was my work alone.

now, on to the actual findings! the full paper and transcripts will be linked at the end :D

the actual variables (words or sounds) that I studied were the pronunciation of r, and use of the word "the".

to make things a lot easier from the get-go, i'm going to introduce you all to one of my favorite websites, ipachart.com (the international phonetic alphabet [ipa] chart is a big chart with an entry for every sound that exists in a language. this handy dandy website has an audio recording for each one of those sounds).

go to this website, and then scroll down to the table. go to the column labeled "post alveolar" and then click on ɾ and ɹ. those are the sounds i studied in this paper! ɾ is the finnish r and ɹ is the american r :)

so basically what i did to find instances of my variable was i just looked up a bunch of esc interviews and listened out for use of the different r sounds. i also transcribed the entire dinner date live because i love torture apparently :) the specific interviews and lives/stories are in the bibliography of the paper :p

after i transcribed all the interviews and lives/stories i went through and highlighted every instance of the r sound. then i calculated the ratios of ɾ to ɹ based on the context they were spoken in. the two contexts i looked for were formal contexts (sit-down interviews) and informal contexts (literally anything else).

i found that jere uses ɹ WAY more often in formal contexts than he does in informal contexts, and the same in reverse with ɾ.

i then went back to the transcripts and looked for all instances of the word "the". i also looked for instances where i thought it should be present, but was omitted. i calculated the ratio of present vs omitted "the"s in formal vs informal contexts and made some charts.

the graph with the smaller black section is "use of 'the' in formal settings" and the one with the smaller green section is "use of 'the' in informal settings" (the images are transparent, sorry)

i found that jere uses "the" WAY more often when in formal settings! there were also some instances where he added a "the" where it was unnecessary, which is studied at length in this wonderful paper by @alien-girl-21

something i also noticed that i elected not to study because this paper took enough energy on its own was that in formal contexts, whenever the "or" sound came in the middle or at the end of a word, jere wouldn't pronounce the r. it stuck out to me mostly because i heard words like "performance" turning into "perfomance", which i thought was an interesting quirk.

unfortunately i was somewhat limited by both my brainpower and capacity to do more work on this paper in the relatively short timeframe i was given (2 weeks) and the fact that i was given a 5 page MAX for this paper (not including a bibliography). i had a lot of fun doing this though and am definitely planning on studying jere for for academic credit again in the future if given the chance!

also i would like it to be known that i spent an hour searching for that 5 second clip of the urheilucast where jere said that he used to sell kitchens and understands english better than he can speak it.

link to a google drive folder with the actual paper i wrote and the transcripts of the interviews with notation:

please feel free to send me asks and dms with questions or comments about this paper! i absolutely love rambling about linguistics :3!!

[etoilesombre]

Hey, do you guys want to hear a story? Let me tell you about the romance between Lancelot and Guinevere, as recounted in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.

So, I thought I knew the basics. I grew up reading modern versions of Arthurian legend that focused on other aspects, but had a general knowledge of the Arthur-Guinever-Lancelot love triangle. It didn't show up too much, but I assumed it was subtext in some other versions. What I picked up was that it was sort of pure, almost an ot3, and not the cause of a lot of problems. 

My friends. In this version it is NOT SUBTEXT, it DEFINITELY CAUSED PROBLEMS, and it is WILD. It is a true will-they-won't-they drama fest soap opera romance, and I need to share. So please, come on this journey with me.

[I’m looking at you, Black Sails fandom people. I need you to know that Flint canonically would have read this. He would almost certainly have also grown up hearing these stories. I’m not saying he’s Lancelot coded, but I am saying it's interesting that he would have been aware that was something it was possible to be.]

A couple notes, before we dive in. I am very much just summarizing what happened in the book. The thing is, the book is a million pages long and also in Middle English, and this is just one of many plots, which I think is why it's not more widely known. I will show some excerpts so you can get a feel for the text, but you don’t need to read them to understand the story. I'm referring to a version that is as close to the manuscript as I can find, though with spelling regularized. For real fun, see what the original looked like. Malory purports to be translating part of the French Vulgate cycle, which likely is where the character of Lancelot originates, but in fact he is doing much more than translating, and compiles other stories as well. Point being, when he says “so the French book sayeth” etc, that is the “book” to which he is referring. Because of my lack of knowledge about the language and cultural context, this lecture series from Mythgard Academy was absolutely invaluable to my understanding. I cannot recommend it highly enough. Inevitably, some of the opinions of the prof are reflected here. I do not have it in me to compare the scholarship of various medievalists right now, I just want to tell you about this DRAMA. 

Let’s start with a prophecy. When Arthur decides he wishes to marry Guinevere, Merlin advises him to take someone else, because if he takes her, she will betray him with Lancelot and it will destroy his kingdom. All of this is foretold, not only to us, but to Arthur himself. Of course he takes her anyway, and all is doomed from the start.

As we begin the main arc of this story (several books after the prophecy), Lancelot is widely acknowledged to be the best and most renowned knight of Arthur’s court. He is plainly and hopelessly in love with Guinevere, and she loves him in return. Arthur doesn’t have a problem with this - who wouldn’t love Guinevere? This sort of love is socially acceptable, so long as they do not sleep together, which would be treason. Arthur in fact seems to support their love, because it means that Lancelot will be Guinevere’s champion should she need one. This is a role Arthur himself legally cannot fill because he is the king, and so would have to be the judge. Lancelot is indeed a good champion for her, and fights for her when she is wrongly accused of murder. 

Lancelot is deeply chivalrous, in a way that seems sincere. This is a great place for a first excerpt, a conversation with a Random Damsel Lancelot has been helping:

‘Now, damosel,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘will ye any more service of me?’ ‘Nay, sir,’ she said, ‘at this time, but almighty Jesu preserve you wheresoever ye ride or go, for the most courteous knight thou art and meekest unto all ladies and gentlewomen that now liveth. But one thing, sir knight, me thinks ye lack, ye that are a knight wifeless, that ye will not love some maiden or gentlewoman. For I could never hear say that ever ye loved any of no manner of degree, and that is great pity. But it is noised that ye love Queen Guenivere, and that she hath ordained by enchantment that ye shall never love no other but her, nor no other damosel nor lady shall rejoice you; wherefore there be many in this land of high estate and low that make great sorrow.’ ‘Fair damosel,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘I may not warn* people to speak of me what it pleaseth them; but for to be a wedded man, I think it not; for then I must couch with her, and leave arms and tournaments, battles and adventures. And as for to say to take my pleasance with paramours, that will I refuse, in principal for dread of God. For knights that be adventurous should not be adulterers nor lecherous, for then they be not happy nor fortunate unto the wars; for either they shall be overcome with a simpler knight than they be themselves, or else they shall slay by unhap and their cursedness better men than they be themselves. And so who that useth paramours shall be unhappy, and all thing unhappy that is about them.’ 

So after doing his Knightly Deeds for this damsel, Lancelot asks if she needs anything else. She says no, but you are lacking one thing, which is the love of a woman. It is rumored that is because Guinevere has through sorcery made you love only her, and that causes all of the women great sorrow. In reply Lancelot makes this speech about how he cannot have a wife or paramour and be a good knight, but everyone thinks it is at least in part because his love is reserved for Guinevere.

Now, throughout the book his chastity DOES notably cause all of the women great sorrow. Everyone wants to sleep with Lancelot. Literally he is kidnapped by the four most beautiful queens other than Guinevere, and they say he has to choose one of them as a lover (not even a wife, a lover) or else die. He says he would rather die, though in the end he escapes. This is just an example, truly it is a recurring problem for him. He is, at one point, tricked into sleeping with a woman with whom he conceives his son Galahad (as was prophesied, it's a long story and the romance is only part of it. It is worth mentioning that something similar happens to Arthur, which is how Mordred is sired.) When Guinevere learns that Lancelot has been with someone else, she is angry and banishes him from the court. They still love each other and eventually reconcile. 

So, Lancelot goes on the quest for the holy grail. But he fails, specifically because while he is outwardly dedicated to God, in his private heart he is still dedicated to Guinevere. And so he makes a vow to renounce his love for her, acknowledging that it is beyond measure (beyond what is right, even if they have not technically done anything wrong.) However when he returns to Camelot, he cannot keep this vow, as we see. 

Then, as the book saith, Sir Lancelot began to resort unto Queen Guenivere again, and forgot the promise and the perfection that he made in the quest. For, as the book saith, had not Sir Lancelot been in his privy thoughts and in his mind so set inwardly to the Queen as he was in seeming outward to God, there had no knight passed him in the quest of the Sangrail, but ever his thoughts were privily on the Queen. And so they loved together more hotter than they did beforehand, and had many such privy draughts together that many in the court spoke of it, and in especial Sir Agravain, Sir Gawain’s brother, for he was ever open-mouthed. So it befell that Sir Lancelot had many resorts of ladies and damosels that daily resorted unto him to be their champion: in all such matters of right Sir Lancelot applied him daily to do for the pleasure of Our Lord Jesu Christ. And ever as much as he might he withdrew him from the company of Queen Guenivere for to eschew the slander and noise, wherefore the Queen waxed wroth with Sir Lancelot.

He and Guinevere start spending a lot of time alone together, and so there are rumors circulating about them in court. In order to put a stop to the rumors, Lancelot starts paying other women attention and doing more good knightly deeds for them. Guinevere is terribly jealous, but he tells her it's for their own good, and also tells her about the vow he made, and his concern that their love is beyond what is appropriate. She is devastated, and weeping banishes him from the court (again). 

Lancelot then rides in a tournament, disguised. (Why? Because this is simply a thing knights do.) To make it an effective disguise he takes the token of a woman, the sleeve of the fair maid of Astolat to wear on his helm. When she discovers that he was only using it for the disguise, and he does not indeed love her, she is so heartbroken that she says if he will not marry her or be her lover, she will die. He refuses, on the grounds that love must not be constrained and should arise from the heart, and offers her a thousand pounds a year instead if she marries anyone else. Properly insulted by this, she does indeed die. She has her body sent in a boat to Camelot, with a letter in her hand, saying that she died of her love for him, that he would not return. 

Seeing this, Guinevere reconciles with Lancelot, presumably reassured by the fact that he would let this very beautiful much younger woman die of her love rather than being with her. She insists that from now on he will not fight in disguise, and will openly bear her token. 

Then Queen Guenivere sent for Sir Lancelot, and said thus: ‘I warn you that ye ride no more in no jousts nor tournaments but that your kinsmen may know you; and at these jousts that shall be ye shall have of me a sleeve of gold. And I pray you for my sake to force* yourself there, that men may speak you worship. But I charge you as ye will have my love, that ye warn your kinsmen that ye will bear that day the sleeve of gold upon your helmet.’ ‘Madam,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘it shall be done.’ And either made great joy of other.

It is important to keep in mind that, to this point, there is no textual evidence that they were sleeping together, and a great deal of evidence that it was important to Lancelot that they not cross that line. There is much less evidence that this is important to Guinevere.

So then one fateful day in May, Guinevere goes picnicing with an entourage of knights. They are captured by someone else who is in love with Guinevere, and taken back to his castle, but she manages to send a message to Lancelot. At the castle, she insists that her knights sleep in her bedchamber on the grounds that they were wounded in the battle when she was captured and need tending, but truly she wants them there to keep her captor from raping her. 

Lancelot arrives to rescue her, and the person who kidnapped her agrees to give her back in the morning. She tells Lancelot to visit her room in the night. He climbs up to her window, which is barred. They have a heartfelt reunion and she says she wishes he could come in to her. He acquiesces and breaks the bars to get into her room, cutting his hand to the bone to do so. Despite the profusely bleeding wound and the ten other men sleeping in the room, they at last do sleep together, in this passionate blood covered consummation. He sneaks back out and replaces the bars.

In the morning, the man who kidnapped Guinevere comes in and sees blood all over the bed. He accuses her of being unfaithful to the king, saying she lay with one of the knights who had been sleeping in her room. She denies it, but it is very clear that she did sleep with someone who was bleeding. 

Lancelot says he will fight to defend her from this accusation, which is right and proper because he is her champion. In this story people take trial by combat and oaths before God very seriously, especially Lancelot. He really does try. So he swears an oath that he will prove with his life that Guinevere did not sleep with one of the wounded knights who lay in her room. This of course is TRUE, but only on a technicality. Lancelot, having slept with her himself the night before, is also the one who defends her honor after. I love this story so much. 

Instead of fighting him, the kidnapper takes Lancelot captive. In captivity he encounters ANOTHER damsel who insists that sleep with her in order for her to help him. He refuses, still faithful in his heart to Guinevere. Eventually she settles for him holding and kissing her, which is not across the line of appropriateness apparently, giving us some idea of where that line is drawn. Anyway, Lancelot gets out, fights for Guinevere and wins. There are indications that he feels like he barely dodged a devine bullet. 

Guinevere and Lancelot return to Camelot. Finally the rumors about them are true, the deed has been done, but of course nothing appears particularly different as there were already rumors about them. Two knights, Mordred and Agravaine, who have been intriguing against Arthur already, go and tell Arthur that Guinevere is being untrue to him. Here is his response: 

‘If it be so,’ said the King, ‘wit you well, he is none other; but I would be loath to begin such a thing but I might have proofs of it. For Sir Lancelot is a hardy knight, and all ye know that he is the best knight among us all; and but if he be taken with the deed he will fight with him that bringeth up the noise, and I know no knight that is able to match him. Therefore, and it be sooth as ye say, I would that he were taken with the deed.’ For as the French book saith, the King was full loath that such a noise should be upon Sir Lancelot and his queen. For the King had a deeming of it; but he would not hear thereof, for Sir Lancelot had done so much for him and for the Queen so many times that, wit you well, the King loved him passingly well.

Arthur says he will not hear of this without proof, because if Lancelot is accused and allowed to fight he would beat anyone. And, it is said that Arthur had some idea of the affair, but would not credit it because Lancelot had done so much for him and Guinevere, and he loved Lancelot greatly. 

So, one night when the king is away hunting, the two accusers contrive to catch them in the act, with a group of twelve armed knights. They do find Lancelot in Guinevere’s chamber, but the text is notably, pointedly vague about whether they are actually in bed. In any case, Lancelot asks for a trial. The knights say no, they have caught him and so may kill him. He is Lancelot, so he kills all of them instead, save one (Mordred) whom he leaves wounded. Lancelot flees, intending to return to rescue Guinevere and take her to his own castle to protect her from Arthur’s wrath. He maintains her innocence, and still intends that they will all reconcile.

Guinevere is to be burned at the stake (normal in this situation). Lancelot rescues her from the burning at the last moment, killing a number of knights of the round table. Arthur seems to blame the accusers more than Guinevere and Lancelot (for good reason; keep in mind that the romance is a subplot, there is a great deal of political intrigue going on.) Now a war will begin, whether anyone wants it or not, because of the people Lancelot killed. Lancelot takes Guinevere to his own castle. Battle lines are drawn, and Lancelot and Arthur confront each other in the fighting:

And ever was King Arthur about Sir Lancelot to have slain him, and ever Sir Lancelot suffered him and would not strike again. So Sir Bors encountered with King Arthur; and Sir Bors smote him, and so he alit and drew his sword and said to Sir Lancelot, ‘Sir, shall I make an end of this war?’—for he meant to have slain him. ‘Not so hardy,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘upon pain of thy head, that thou touch him no more! For I will never see that most noble king that made me knight neither slain nor shamed.’ And therewith Sir Lancelot alit off his horse and took up the King and horsed him again, and said thus: ‘My lord the king, for God’s love, stint this strife, for ye get here no worship and I would do my utterance. But always I forbear you, and ye nor none of yours forbear not me. And therefore, my lord, I pray you remember what I have done in many places, and now am I evil rewarded.’ So when King Arthur was on horseback he looked on Sir Lancelot; then the tears burst out of his eyes, thinking of the great courtesy that was in Sir Lancelot more than in any other man. And therewith the King rode his way and might no longer behold him, saying to himself, ‘Alas, alas, that yet this war began!’

So Arthur tries to slay Lancelot, but Lancelot, the better fighter, refuses to slay him and indeed when Arthur is unhorsed Lancelot forbids that he be slain, and gives him his own horse. Arthur weeps for the honor that is in Lancelot, and laments that the war began. 

The pope intervenes and tries to negotiate an end. Lancelot confirms that he is willing to return Guinevere to Arthur, and says he has always been willing to do this and will still defend her honor, but that he does not feel he can do so because Arthur has listened to liars and been misled, and he had more reason to take her away than the accusation of adultery - he does not trust she can be safe in that court, with things as they are. 

Eventually they do make a deal, with some assurances, and he surrenders Guinevere to the king. He kisses her openly, says that he will leave, but should she be in danger or ever again accused of being untrue, he will fight for her as he always has. He departs the court forever, to much great sorrow, and returns to his own lands. 

The war continues - eventually Mordred seizes the throne, Arthur kills him in battle but is mortally wounded himself and passes to Avalon. Following the king’s death, although her love would no longer be adulterous, Guinevere retires to a convent rather than reuniting with Lancelot. He seeks her out, and this is her reaction: 

Sir Lancelot was brought before her; then the Queen said to all those ladies, ‘Through this same man and me hath all this war been wrought, and the death of the most noblest knights of the world; for through our love that we have loved together is my most noble lord slain. Therefore, Sir Lancelot, wit thou well I am set in such a plight to get my soul health; and yet I trust through God’s grace and through His Passion of His wounds wide, that after my death I may have a sight of the blessed face of Christ Jesu, and at Doomsday to sit on His right side;* for as sinful as ever I was, now are saints in heaven. And therefore, Sir Lancelot, I require thee and beseech thee heartily, for all the love that ever was betwixt us, that thou never see me no more in the visage. And I command thee, on God’s behalf, that thou forsake my company; and to thy kingdom look thou turn again, and keep well thy realm from war and wrack. For as well as I have loved thee heretofore, my heart will not serve now to see thee, for through thee and me is the flower of kings and knights destroyed. And therefore go thou to thy realm, and there take ye a wife and live with her with joy and bliss. And I pray thee heartily to pray for me to the everlasting Lord that I may amend my misliving.’ ‘Now, my sweet madam,’ said Sir Lancelot, ‘would ye that I should turn again unto my country, and there to wed a lady? Nay, madam, wit you well, that shall I never do, for I shall never be so false unto you of that I have promised. But the self* destiny that ye have taken you to, I will take me to, for the pleasure of Jesu; and ever for you I cast me specially to pray.

Rather than rejoicing in Lancelot’s presence, Guinevere laments that their love brought about the downfall of the Arthurian court, and the deaths of the knights of the round table and King Arthur. She calls upon Lancelot, by all the love that was ever between them to leave her presence, telling him to marry someone else if he wishes and see her no more. Lancelot replies that he wants no one else, and that he will respect her wishes, but will also renounce the world and join a religious order. He asks Guinevere for a final parting kiss, which she denies him. 

When Guinevere lies dying of illness, Lancelot sets out to go to her, having had a vision. She knows of his coming, and prays to die before she sees him, because she cannot bear it. She dies a half hour before he arrives, leaving instruction that he is to tend to her body, and then lay it to rest beside that of her lord King Arthur. Lancelot does this with great sorrow, and after ceases to eat or drink, and within weeks is dead himself. 

And there you have it, the love affair that doomed Camelot.

HUGE DISCLAIMER: Any and all mistakes or misinterpretations are my own. This is what I gathered, but I am not a medievalist. I am barely an interested layperson. I’m just a random fic writer who got obsessed with research for a story, and had to share this tragic mess. 

[goldenbloodytears]

Hey!! While waiting for the community to be reviewed... What are your thoughts on Danny's education? I wonder if this prick ever got an actual degree in journalism instead of finding a way to falsificate the whole thing somehow under the premise of being good enough for it anyway, tbh

Ooooh! Great question!

Well, honestly, I've been a bit back and forth about it--he's always given me major confidence trickster vibes, so the idea that he wouldn't....fluff up his credentials... seemed funny to me.

Prior to his tome release, I thought it would be interesting if he was more self-taught, especially since back in the day, it was a lot easier to get into journalism without strictly studying journalism. This isn't to say this is no longer the case, there ARE still situations where you can end up a journalist without going to journalism school... but generally the "best" way (if you have no network) is gonna be school. Anyways, his tome reveals he did take at least one anthropology related course in college, so I'm assuming he has at minimum a couple credits to his name. I like to think that he finished his degree, but the idea that he got wrapped up into the murdering and maybe didn't get to finish his degree is very fun too. Honestly picturing Danny at uni is such a trip because my general impression of colleges/universities is most of them tend to be very left/liberal-leaning and Danny's just a fucking centrist man... he's a bloody doomer getting into fights about how humanity is bad. He's literally the annoying guy in your seminars who takes the prof's entire attention and stalls the discussion just so he can have his own personal debate.

However, I like the idea that he didn't go to school strictly for journalism. I think part of the issue with his education is we don't know where it fell in relation to said patricide. It's not entirely unreasonable that his dad might have wanted Danny to get some university education and then enlist, it would look good in making him an officer, higher-ranking, stuff like that. If that's the case, Danny's credentials might be related to things that would be more useful to a theoretical future career in the military. For example, something like a BA in (military?) history with a minor in English. I'd honestly argue that his education is open season since his line of work as a journalist is one of those careers where as long as you can meet the technical skills required (writing, communication, research, etc.) it doesn't matter what you strictly studied since higher education at the university level generally already prepares you for that.

I have more thoughts so I might expand on this a bit later, but in the meantime I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this topic as well.

[1starqi]

Call On Silent

(Part 1: Chicken Scratch) (Part 3: Easy Talking) (Part 4: Over The Moon) (Part 5: No Messing Up) (Part 6: Can We Talk?) (Part 7: Goldilocks)

genre: fluff, college!au

pairing: student!mark x student!o/c (this one can still be treated as xreader)

summary: the cute guy calls you!

wc: ~600

note: upwards of 500 words again! this one's just cute and only a little stressful for m/c

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you sit in your lecture, your phone is buzzing incessantly in your pocket as you frantically try to silence it. A call?? Why isn’t it on silent?! Drawing a few stares from the people in your immediate surroundings, you finally silence it—that, or it goes off by itself. What the hell? You try to refocus on the lecture but your interest is piqued, who was calling you? Your mom knows not to call you now because you're busy, and your friends are all in lectures. Prof. Im’s usually entertaining words go in one ear and out the other because curiosity swallows you whole. You don’t even know why you’re so curious. You could just pull your phone out, but you risk getting in trouble—even if your professor is a sweetheart. 

Soon after, you find yourself walking out of the lecture hall, brightly lit by the midmorning sun, on the way to the ‘bathroom’. Your back hits the hard white brick wall as you lean into it and whip out your phone in it’s cherry red case. It’s an unknown number. You realize it’s probably spam, and feel a let down that it’s not the boy from the café. That is, until you see the 26 second voicemail and the transcript that the number left and your heart almost stops. He actually called? Mark Lee actually called? You’re shocked, to say the least. He did give you a nod, but you expected that it was just for politeness’ sake. Should I listen now? Your mind is racing with anticipation. You press the play button and hold your phone up to your ear, eager to hear what he said. Is he going to let me down easy?

“Hey, um, I realized I didn’t even get your name… I just called you to say that I thought you were really cute at the café, and I’d love to take you out somewhere sometime. It doesn’t matter to me where we go, I want you to have fun. I know you gave me your number but if you changed your mind that’s totally okay too, but I really hope you’ll take me up on the offer.” 

He sounds really nervous. You guess he doesn’t have class now? Besides that, you’re floored. He called you and wants to take you out on a date. This is so crazy. You didn’t even realize he didn’t know your name. It makes sense, you’re mutual friends but you’ve never really had a conversation. You’ve heard a Mark referenced in passing, but you never knew who he was or what he looked like. You guess that it goes the same for him—he’s never put your name to your face. He can’t see that I’ve listened, right? You’re faced with two options: A) text him that you’re in class and say yes, or B) text him later and say you were in class and say yes. To hell with it, you’ve already listened, you might as well text him now. The pads of your fingers beat rhythmically against the digital keys: hey! i got your voicemail, but i’m in class so i can’t call you, so sorry! i’d love to go out sometime. we can figure out the details later lol. You rephrase it like three times, what would make you sound eager but not crazy? You don’t know—you’ve never done this before. You remember to add something else: my name is moon sora, by the way. You think your name is silly; moon in English and sky in Japanese. You pad your way back into the classroom—you were only gone for 5 minutes.

[eggnoodles0up]

its so fucking easy to turn the conversation onto my hyperfixations in my english class i love it here

I say "i wanna write something abt this game i just finished called Disco Elysium" and BAM my prof has the Wikipedia article on Disco Elysium on the big screen

Now i have to start forming actually coherent thoughts abt the deeper meaning in this game oh BOY this is gonna be very difficult (but fun)

[karatekels]

You said you're a teacher before? What do you teach?

Let me preface this one by say that not only do I love teaching, I LOOOOVE talking about teaching and will happily do so if anyone ever wants to chat about it.

So I teach a couple of different things:

I teach a bunch of other graduate students and postdocs about teaching (very meta) through a bunch of different workshops at my university. One thing that is extremely disappointing to me is just how little training/Pro-D is offered to people who are/will be teaching at a university level.

Fun fact: many of your professors/lecturers have had little (if any) formal training on how to teach - which is why so many of them are terrible teachers! (I'm not saying I'm the best around or anything, just speaking to the very disappointing problem that exists in universities)

I love getting to teach and work with people who actually want to put time and effort into improving their teaching - it's incredibly rewarding (if exhausting!) work and it's enabled me to learn and grow as an instructor as well.

I'm also a Teaching Assistant in my department, so in the fall and spring semesters I work under a professor and with my own group of ~30 students. They learn from the prof lecturing twice a week, and then once a week they are mine, where I do my best to teach them useful skills that fit under the umbrella of English - how to read and engage meaningfully with a text, how to take a position and develop an argument, how to write, etc.

I'm also trying to systematically destroy the many problems that exist within English/the humanities from the inside to try to demonstrate that there is SO MUCH VALUE in these courses, provided we're focusing on building and developing skills that everyone needs to learn, rather than shoving an outdated canon down students' throats for... reasons?

In both cases, teaching is my absolute favourite thing to do in the world, and as someone who lives with Imposter syndrome a lot of the time, this is the one area where I've never doubted for a minute that I'm where I'm meant to be!

Thank you for letting me go off about my teaching, O Anonymous One!

[ceilidho]

Hiii! While doing your bachelor’s and (I’m assuming) your masters degree in English literature, did you enjoy every facet of it? As in, every topic discussed and such? Was there a particular, specific topic you preferred or maybe a class?

Srry if this is tmi, I’m just curious c: (it’s totally okay if you rather not answer)

i did both my degrees in english lit, you're right!! i really, really enjoyed my bachelors, but ill be honest, i didn't have as MUCH fun with my masters because i realized partway through my degree that i didn't have a serious interest in academia, so it started to feel like a bit of a waste of time and money, even though i genuinely enjoyed my courses.

i definitely didn't enjoy every single aspect of it lmao there were a number of classes that either bored me or just didn't interest me the same way others did (i'm not crazy about elizabethan, romantic or victorian literature tbh; im much keener on the art in those periods than the literature). ultimately though, it comes down to the prof. there was one professor that i followed everywhere during my undergrad because i just loved him so much and adored the way he spoke about literature.

i always gravitated to trauma studies/trauma theory; how trauma is depicted in literature, how it affects the narrative and the narrative voice, the representation of psychic and physical wounds in the text, etc. obviously, i love poetry. equally love modernist and postmodernist writers.

[nectardaddy]

HELLO i was wondering what made u get into teaching bc i’m considering switching to major in education (i major in english rn) bc i would love to be a hs/college english prof & i would love to know what sold u to be a teacher bc i’m considering it a lot rn

I knew I wanted to be a teacher after I had a class with my astronomy teacher in high school! she was able to make learning SO FUCKING FUN! and that's when I realized learning CAN be fun and it doesn't have to be ungodly boring.

also, my 9th grade math teacher put the thought in my head in the first place. he was the ONLY math teacher I had where I actually understood what I was doing and ENJOYED MATH! he broke shit down for me like no one has ever done before

but what sold sold me was actually getting to be in a classroom. my college allowed us to be in a classroom every semester, even freshman year, because they wanted us to see all different types of classes. from alt schools, self contained classrooms, to a gen ed 10th grade class I SAW IT ALL. but being able to SEE the "omfg I get it now" expressions on students faces DID IT!!!!

while I love the students who already get it and find little struggle in what we do, it's the students who I see try so gd hard and seeing their work pay off and they get excited about it!!!

I know I'm going on a tangent here, I'm sorry, but it wouldn't be right of me to only tell you the glows of teaching and not the grim side. teaching is hard. you get burnt out incredibly easy. my first year I told myself that I couldn't fucking do it and almost quit. there are schools that treat you like shit. there are parents that treat you like shit. there are students that treat you like shit, even when you know you are trying your best and want them to succeed. people will never truly understand just how much of yourself you pour into this profession and will downplay it. you will cry. you will laugh. you will be so angry you feel hot. you will feel guilt. you will feel every possible human emotion there is within a classroom setting.

now I say all this because, even with all those drawbacks, I still do it because I love it. if you have a passion for it, chase it. if you want to, do it. real teaching is what you make of it!

[winryrockbellwannabe]

📚📁 from the studyblr asks!

hiii, ty for the ask!! <33

📚 favorite course you’ve taken?

uuuh idk, actually! i really liked most of my math classes, the profs were really nice and i love maths. tho my answer is probably my coding classes. those are always fun, and it's so satisfying to see your code doing more complex stuff along the course

my favorite class to learn about was probably quantum physics, however i can't say it was my favorite course bc i could not, for the life of me, pay attention to the class lol

📁 what is a project/assignment you’re really proud of?

omg, im literally hugging you rn for sending me this question. probably my final project of the degree.

it was a bit of an insane ride for me, bc long term projects are a big challenge for me. but i was thinking, hey, my supervisor will obvious check up on me regularly, right? im just a baby student, she has a whole phd, of course she won't just leave me alone? yeahh, she did. she did leave me all alone. it sucked. i was really lost, i had weeks in the first months that i didn't do almost anything and that would make me even more anxious to work on the project. honestly, i didn't learn barely anything in this project except how to work by myself. how to deal with an absent supervisor, how to take iniciative. but i ended up getting all the stuff she wanted done, i found mistakes in her own methodology and i aced the project - literally got a 20/20 final grade. (and im also really proud of the final report - 30 pages in english and my supervisor didn't find any relevant mistake on it!)

[353dcys]

Can you share your future mileven headcanons

YES. of course?? i’m guessing by future you mean domestic life and not so much high school (although i have MANY of those) so let’s go

they use the words “my wife” “my husband” in everyone possible sentence for the first couple of months

when mikes still getting his under grad (in either engineering, physics or english i haven’t fully decided) they live in a tiny shoebox apartment in the city. just them and a cat sharing a one bedroom, one bathroom and only tight kitchen and living room. but they love it. it’s home!

story of how they got their cat — she’s a stray el brought home. mike says absolutely not, she goes :( and he says FINE, because he can never say no to her

mike makes it his life mission to make sure el doesn’t work a day in her life. but he’s a student and moneys tight, and they’re a team, she emphasizes. so el works part time at the daycare, and a counsellor in the summer. she loves kids and they love her

they definitely go as romeo and juliet (1996) one halloween

OH and my favourite: they love to occasionally explore and try new things, but they’re homebodies. like, in bed by 10pm type. when lumax comes to visit, they’re APPALLED mike and els (in their early 20s) idea of a fun friday night is board game night.

mike is a TA to a lazy prof, so he spends a lot of time talking to students. he’s constantly on about “my wife my wife” so all his students are familiar with her. one day visits to drop of his lunch he forgot, and all his students gasp in awe and go EL! (she is so confused)

[reidanart]

I found a free audio book of twilight on youtube and I haven't been able to get doctoral/master's students, lesbian twilight out of my head

It was super fun coming up with outfits that still fit their color schemes from the movie but were updated a little from 2010 fashion. They're both English students at the moment, maybe TAing for the same prof so you can still do classroom scenes. Also, I made Bella afro-cuban on Charlie's side because I said so and if there's anything that I hope they change for the tv show is that there's better integration of POC. Well, that and Edward being in love with a child...

Don't know if I'll do the rest of the characters, maybe just the rest of the Cullens and Jacob? But my hyperfixation hasn't moved beyond these two for the moment. If anyone has any ideas for them or these two let me know!