Jeopardy Knowledge

April 6, 2008 at 12:01 pm (English Literature, Grad School Preparation) (, , , )

I apologize for the lack of entries. Blogs for me come in two varieties, drought or downpour, but usually drought.

Truth is, I have been studying for the GRE English Literature Subject test, and therefor have not done any real reading of literature for the last month. Sounds a bit backwards, right? Well, I discovered rather quickly after taking a practice test that the sort of knowledge I possess in literature, the deep detailed knowledge of a few pieces and the desire to add more, was not the sort of knowledge that would do me any benefit for this test. No, what I need is the more trivia like, jeopardy esc knowledge that one does not gain from being a Photojournalist student with an English minor.

But then, any Undergrad English majors now studying for this test, did your studies give you the sort of knowledge you’ve seen in the practice tests?

Its frustrating, this studying, because I miss actually reading. I’m keeping track of the books I’m reading about and want to actually READ, but still…

I know this is not the sort of academic learning I have to look forward too in grad school, the cramming without any discussion or real comprehension, but if I’m going to get into a good grad school, I have to play by the laws of bureaucracy and the torture of standardized testing in a subject that does not lend itself to such bounds.

And a note on the language in this post: I’ve been reading the Norton Anthologies of English Literature, I’m up to the 18th century, and yes, this is affecting how I write and talk at the moment. My workmates would concur, and yes, it is REALLY bothersome.

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Introduction

March 1, 2008 at 9:49 pm (English Literature) (, , , , , , , , )

Current Book: The Hero of a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell.

Hello, my name is Suzanne, and I am a former photojournalism student.

Yes, the similarity to Alcoholic’s Anonymous is meant, though, if any of my old professors come across this, know that its not your fault. I just realized that I had lost the passion for photojournalism long ago.

But I wasn’t completely lost. Sitting in the airport looking up literary criticism to the book Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, for FUN, I realized something. I realized that one, this isn’t normal behavior, and two, that maybe there was something here I wouldn’t loose my passion for after a few years of intensive studies. I always loved the days when I came home from class and had to do a pile of reading for my English classes, while I dreaded going out and working on my photography assignments. Looking over my school report, I realized that my photojournalism GPA was bringing down that of my English minor.

Truth be told, I felt pretty stupid for not seeing it sooner, before I graduated.

So, now, I am in transition. Because of deadlines and when I made the decision, I will not be able to go back to school to gain my masters and eventually PhD until Fall 2009. And considering my job, not a bad one, but a mind numbing exercise that involves my hands but never my mind, it feels like a long way away.

This is the genesis for the title of the Blog. I’m a former student trying to continue the student lifestyle. Not the partying, but the part that most people couldn’t wait to be done with, the pursuit of knowledge. I’m an addict going to the local university library on my days off from a 6 day a week job to grab any book that might be interesting, trying to get my fix. And maybe this Blog is an attempt to have a forum for discussion.

Feel free to recommend books for me to read. If I come across something interesting in what I’m reading, I’ll write about it.

Have a good day,
The English Literature Addict

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