Today i met with my medieval masculinity professor because she scheduled some extra office hours so we could discuss our papers with her (which are due tomorrow).
As always i have picked a subject that is a little more than i handle: The medieval quest in Arthurian romances.
We spent more time talking about courtly love, the marriage plot, and feminine/ masculine roles....which all would have been interesting papers to write about. But because i have all of a sudden become a nature fanatic, i wanted to write about the 'nature' of the medieval quest. Get it. Me neither.
Yes I've had about a week to write this paper. And yes i did procrastinate and only have 3 pages down. Way to go.
Luckily my professor has given us the option of taking an extension without penalty (she gave us all the option of using a 'favor' at any time during the semester. Bad quiz grade: you can use your favor to drop the lowest one. Missed too many days: You can use your favor so you won't get penalized)
We only have 1 favor though, and luckily i have not used mine yet. I was going to use it for my lackluster participation grade (10%) and then just turn in my paper on time tomorrow. But I've been struggling this whole week getting my thoughts about the 'quest' onto paper. I figured if i went to her office hours she would at least a) know what my voice sounds like and b) be able to help me with sort of writers block.
I did my weird rambling thing as soon as i went into her office. "The quest means this, and that, and some of this". Apparently my paper isn't as stupid as i thought it was. She was more excited about then me. I think i heard "that is a fantastic paper"about 3 times during our conversation.
She then said "Please. Go. Write Your Paper. Now. I am looking forward to reading your paper".
I might have (cliche coming) killed two birds with one stone on this visit. I've decided to take my extension. The paper is 25% of my overall grade which sort of beats out the 10% for participation. If i can just concentrate long enough to write about Sir Gawain and Yvain i may have an A worthy paper. Something that has been absent from my life this whole semester.
Time for some knights and their stupid quest. Okay it's not stupid, but I'm not feeling this long night.
1 comment:
ooh, arthur! my friend beezie is an arthurian - she's writing her dissertation on arthur stories.
arthur catchphrase: "arthur is everywhere and nowhere."
he's a tricky, slippery bastard, evidently, that arthur, cropping up all over the flipping place but never pinned down and figured out. He turns up in King Lear, by way of old Merlin, even (work that into your paper, i dare you!).
you know you can do this paper. *I* know you can do it, and totally rock it. we gotta step up your participation for grad school - you can't be silent there. but all that is far in the future.
in the meantime: arthur is super cool. my first car was named arthur, actually.
and YOU are supercool, and smart, and your paper (what little of it you've discussed here) sounds pretty damn fantastic.
GO!
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