There is a kid in my Creative Nonfiction class who thinks he is literary God. For 50 minutes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday i not only get to watch a very hot teacher bore the snot out of me but i also get to listen to the guy behind me talk about how he is like "the best writer ever"
Because of my professors inability to generate class discussion there are only a few people who talk in our very small class. I guess a part of a professors job is to make us think about things so we can respond to them accordingly. Unfortunately Mr. McDreamy(who is soon going to be demoted to Mr. McSleepy) has not done this the past 3 weeks we have been in school.
My crush for him is slowly fading. I'm beginning not to respect him. The other day i asked him a question after class, hoping he would help me out of the writers block of Creative Nonfiction genre. Instead he gave me some quasi generic response, pointing me to some essay's from the book i should follow as the model for my personal narrative. After looking at him like he was a flipping idiot i said "thank you", headed out the classroom and decided i would write my personal narrative any which way i wanted too, despite his suggestion that i follow a model.
He has already picked out his favorites, which i can tell by the way he remembers their names but passes over the rest of us as if we aren't even there. The kid who sits behind me is one of his favorites, mainly because he talks so much in class. He goes on and on and on about who knows what as Mr. McSleepy nods in front of the class agreeing with this douche bag.
Apparently this kid has been writing since he was in the womb and he uses every opportunity to boast about it. "I'm a great writer" "My writing process is a complex one" "I create my characters like a wielder" "my characters are so authentic you would swear they were real". I swear he has said all of this.
So when Mr. McSleepy started talking about workshoping our narratives i was hoping beyond hope that i was not in a group with "The Writer". His ego is so big, he is going to be the worst critic and especially since i am writing about anxiety i don't need someone to tear my paper into pieces.
But once again Mr. McSleepy did not assign us groups and instead just paired us up with however we were sitting next to. So now i am stuck in a group with "The Writer" who thinks he is gods gift to the literary world. Which on all accounts he could be, i mean grant it I've never (until the other day that was) read anything that he has written, and why you boast about a talent if you didn't really have it.
So on Wednesday we exchanged the openings (1-2 pages) of our narratives, so we could take it home, read it, and be able to provide feedback on Friday. I was anxious exchanging my paper because the content is personal to me, but i liked my opening (and i also want to prove to Mr.McSleepy that my writing style will work for personal narratives) so i wasn't that worried.
As soon as i read the first line of "The Writers" work... i was a little appalled. Not only is it bad, but it makes no sense. The whole paper is about how as a "writer" he can't write personal narratives. He spends a whole paragraph alone talking about how great of a fiction writer he is, comparing to himself to some kind of god. It's sucks, and i have to critique without being rude but honest. Hardest thing i have had to do.
I'm dreading tomorrow.
In other totally unrelated news...
The semester is not going as bad as i thought. After a few stumbles and falls I am falling back into the grove. I'm even being social during class, so much that i was asked to be study partners with someone from my Environmental Lit Class. It was weird the only person i have ever studied with outside of class was Mike, and we usually ended up at Subway talking about Heroes.
I haven't had a girl friend since Katherine and we all know how that turned out. The girl i studied with is nice though and i can sense potential friends on the horizon.
It's weird i spend so much time not being myself in public because i think people won't like me. But then when i am myself and allow people in they totally dig me.
I just have to stop being so self conscious, it makes meeting people a little easier.
Book of the Month: The Atonement
Movie of the Month: The Atonement
New Love of the Month: James McAvoy (from the Atonement). My favorite Scot of all time, and he has the most amazing eyes ever. If only he wasn't married.
3 comments:
oh god. listen, no undergrad is the Best Writer Ever.
and TS Eliot's written work at Harvard got snarky comments about the quality of his writing from his professors.
the Writer-Asshole needs to look outward, beyond himself, to be a good writer.
Here is something I discovered recently in therapy: introversion and self-reflection can occasionally be bad. Like, when you're out in the world, focus yourself outward. don't think about YOU. when you do this, your actual personality comes out, instead of being hidden inside of you where no one but you can see it.
I think some/many of your blog posts would make wonderful rough drafts for personal essays. humorous and otherwise - you do have a gift for humorous writing, which is goddamn hard to do well. the story about the girl who brought a cheesecake to your professor - that was a classic.
I wonder if you've taken any posts and revised them, rather than start a piece from scratch?
for prof. mcsleepy, i have to say that it's a LOT easier to remember the names of students who talk than those who are quiet. but he sounds like kind of a dreadful professor, so that's all the defense i'll offer him.
good luck! with the group discussions. maybe being in groups with distasteful characters is better - you're at least not worried that your crushboy will think you're a jerk for writing an essay about unicorns or whatever.
I'm sorry, I'm still laughing at Mr. McSleepy... !
oh, yeah: i forgot to say Atonement was a fabulous book.
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