Ok so, I started my masters in English! Yay! And I'm super-excited on a totally Hermione-ish level that in one class, I'll be doing the Divine Comedy the whole semester, and in another one, I get to do Paradise Lost.... both of which have been cited as influences on JKR. I really really love the Divine Comedy, have read it before and love every instance I can get to pick into it again. I haven't read Paradise Lost, but I've always wanted to read it, and it seems like this professor I have is going to pick it apart pretty thoroughly so I'm pumped! That's what I want out of my literature.... I want to peel it apart like an orange and savor every little juicy wedge one at a time. I want to stand before it like an art critic and talk about how it moves me, pick out an emotion and purpose behind every stroke. To get automotive on it, get under the hood and see every little gear that makes the work run... so these two classes look to be right up my alley. I've got this other class on Southern Lit which looks to be really good.... However, an incident right before the class began got me a little worried that some Muggles might have stowed away on my Hogwarts Express journey of Southern Lit.
So I get to class ten minutes beforehand (I'm usually much earlier but freakin parking! Grrr)... and I see the classroom is dark but there are a couple of people chillin' in their desks... so I go in... People start coming in at a pretty steady pace after that, and then, like three minutes before time, this dude walks in, shouts a big HEEEEEEY!!!! to his buddies who have all situated themselves in the back of the room, and then starts a LOUD conversation with them "Oh yeah! Senior year!" (apparently this class can be taken by undergrad and grad students) "Thank God y'all are in here already! I got here like fifteen minutes ago, but I didn't want to be the first one in here and look like a NERD!!"
....... ummmmm... excuse me?
Let me see if I understand this..... you are in your final year of your college undergraduate program (and how long has it taken you, by the way???)... which means that you and/or your parents have been shelling out a good chunk of money (or you've done a BUTTLOAD of paperwork so the government will hook you up with an education) for several years now... but after all that time and all of SOMEONE'S money, you don't possibly want to appear as if you *GASP!* want to LEARN anything??? SERIOUSLY???
I really just don't get it, what is the abhorrence of wanting to appear nerdy? It's like "no thank you, I prefer to appear vapid and unintellectual to gain the approval of other vapid and unintellectual people." If that is how you wish to appear then why on earth are you in an institution of higher learning? And how on earth did you survive in it until your senior year?? I mean, there has to be an ounce of intellectualism (NERDINESS) in there somewhere or you would've just flunked out by this point. Why are people so afraid to appear intelligent???
See, that's what I love about Potter people... we know who we are, and we're totally unafraid of people knowing it. And instead of throwing out names and calling each other "nerds" (or if we do, using a totally positive connotation!), we sit and discuss intellectual ideas and applaud each other for our level of insight. I just find it really hard to understand why people try so hard to pretend to be less than what they are. They convince themselves that being seen as intelligent is negative so they convince themselves that they aren't... to the point of eventually making themselves so!! Come on people!! Embrace your inner nerd!! It's ok to expand your cranial capacity! It's ok seek new horizons! What's the alternative?? Dim, dull, self-induced enclosure in the mundane?? Sounds way too Muggle for my tastes!
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