The Venting Thread

[Parasaurolophus]

If you've never read anything good by someone not affiliated with a top-ranked department as either a former grad student or an instructor, grad student, then you need to re-examine your reading habits, such as they are.

[mamselle]

If you've never read anything good by someone not affiliated with a top-ranked department as either a former grad student or an instructor, grad student, then you need to re-examine your reading habits, such as they are.

]]

Oh, my.

Yes.

M.

[ergative]

in scrambled Batard....

M.

Batarde is the prettiest script, anyway.

[mamselle]

When done by a calligrapher with a lot of time to do it right, yes.

When done by a rushed governmental trying to get down all the notes on a court event, or clerical figure trying to fit in all the directional instructions for an internal procession--where the group goes from chapel to chapel to nave to choir--and they're squeezing it into the margins around the original carolingian miniscule rubrics--no.

M.

[histchick]

I intensely dislike our university's bookstore staff.  That is all.

[mamselle]

Oh, dear.

They may well deserve it; but I will plead that, I were one, once...it's not easy being on the wrong side of the counter in some cases.

Reps make promises, then disappear the next month when they don't make their quotas and a new person is put in their place--often with several different printing houses to work with, get up to speed with, and yell at, all at once.

The bookstore staff are sort of the meat in the sandwich.

Some can be delicate prosciutto. Some are greasy salami.

I guess we can tell which you're dealing with...

M.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Why do I always have one dingleberry in the class who insists on sitting in the FRONT row, doesn't wear a mask, coughs openly and constantly adds commentary during class?

[the_geneticist]

Why do I always have one dingleberry in the class who insists on sitting in the FRONT row, doesn't wear a mask, coughs openly and constantly adds commentary during class?

Can you ask them to mask up or leave?
Put them in a HEPA-filtered box?
Stick a bucket on their d@mn head?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Why do I always have one dingleberry in the class who insists on sitting in the FRONT row, doesn't wear a mask, coughs openly and constantly adds commentary during class?

Can you ask them to mask up or leave?
Put them in a HEPA-filtered box?
Stick a bucket on their d@mn head?

We are not allowed to require masks, they are only 'strongly recommended.' We're in the Wild West! I did mention during class that I have masks for them (2 kinds!!!). I may try to catch stu before class and ask if stu would consider wearing it. All I can do is ask...

[ergative]

When done by a calligrapher with a lot of time to do it right, yes.

When done by a rushed governmental trying to get down all the notes on a court event, or clerical figure trying to fit in all the directional instructions for an internal procession--where the group goes from chapel to chapel to nave to choir--and they're squeezing it into the margins around the original carolingian miniscule rubrics--no.

M.

oh dear. Yes, ok.

[histchick]

Why do I always have one dingleberry in the class who insists on sitting in the FRONT row, doesn't wear a mask, coughs openly and constantly adds commentary during class?

Can you ask them to mask up or leave?
Put them in a HEPA-filtered box?
Stick a bucket on their d@mn head?

We are not allowed to require masks, they are only 'strongly recommended.' We're in the Wild West! I did mention during class that I have masks for them (2 kinds!!!). I may try to catch stu before class and ask if stu would consider wearing it. All I can do is ask...

Sounds much like our place.  My vent is that is that only one of my 30+ students wore a mask in class.  We can only require them in our offices.  There is no social distancing. 

Yep.  Front row student started coughing.  Could be nothing.  I hope so. I'm fully vaccinated, but I still don't want that mess.

[mamselle]

I'm mad.

Just found out a kid with a shiny new degree from MY school got a thesis award, when I heard his paper based on it last spring and it was, truly, rubbish.

Think--English department student writing in an art history field about which they clearly know NOTHING!

I know, life's unfair.

But I found out while looking up the title of the paper to cite it, because the conference abstract I'm writing (due tonight) is in large part in rebuttal of his paper from last spring--and some other, similar pieces that do the same thing, and have been, for awhile now.....

Ggggggrrrrrrrrrr......

RRRouwf!!!

M. 

[AvidReader]

Think--English department student writing in an art history field about which they clearly know NOTHING!

Was the award from the "English" department, or from the larger university? It has been my experience that scholars who make grand discoveries in other fields are often celebrated by their primary fields, whose scholars sometimes lack the knowledge to evaluate those other fields appropriately. (This doesn't even have to be interdisciplinary--think a medieval scholar writing about modern TV dramas but only being evaluated by medieval scholars).

AR.

[mamselle]

That's pretty much it, with a twist.

The award is from an institution in the broader historical field, overall, one of whose members I know.

When I asked about it, they noted that one of the judges was, as you describe, someone without any specific knowledge at all (pop culture type) whose credibility should have been questioned to begin with.

My friend urged me to publish my work, since that's the only thing left to do--"so they'll HAVE to cite you!" as they put it.

So that's next.

    (wanders off, muttering.....<<I'm gonna cream the little twerp>>....)

Sorry, I'm usually better-mannered than this...but I do get mad...and this IS the venting thread....

Thanks for listening.

M.

[ciao_yall]

Gah.

My new boss sent out an email to some key people.

Instead of waiting for one of them to respond, I wasn't thinking and just followed up myself.

So now they will see my email first, not his or one of their colleagues.

Venting at myself for being so quick on the reply.