tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post3525939589811216906..comments2023-10-19T07:54:32.841-04:00Comments on Quod She: Funny, you don't *look* like a medievalistDr. Viragohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-23756224786344657862008-09-14T12:41:00.000-04:002008-09-14T12:41:00.000-04:00You mentioned that you enjoy watching police proce...You mentioned that you enjoy watching police procedural shows.<BR/><BR/>You might want to check out my friend Lee Lofland's blog entitled "The Graveyard Shift." He's a retired detective and has many experts guest blog about all kinds of forensic related topics.<BR/><BR/>http://www.leelofland.com/wordpress/<BR/><BR/>Here's a link to a guest post Lee had on literary agent Lucienne Diver's blog entitled:<BR/><BR/>C.S...I don't think so.<BR/><BR/>http://varkat.livejournal.com/35738.html<BR/><BR/>Enjoy!<BR/><BR/>LindaLinda C. McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11554730334838454885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-79613950782978655952008-09-13T10:20:00.000-04:002008-09-13T10:20:00.000-04:00Dedalus - Yeah, Milton's really cultivating that M...Dedalus - Yeah, Milton's really cultivating that Miltonist look, isn't he? Would you believe he's nearly a decade younger than I am. No, you wouldn't, would you?Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-42890288533646937592008-09-13T01:41:00.000-04:002008-09-13T01:41:00.000-04:00Re: the Shakespeare gene -- yes, it's true. We Whi...Re: the Shakespeare gene -- yes, it's true. We White Males don't mean to make the rest of you feel bad, but we really are <I>digging</I> Will S on a level that you cannot. Sorry. :)<BR/><BR/>My own entry-level undergrand Shakespeare experience was of course with Dr V's fine colleague Milton, who of course looks <I>precisely</I> like he's supposed to look. Good for him.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-55625314863837768762008-09-10T17:17:00.000-04:002008-09-10T17:17:00.000-04:00I get this all the damn time. Neither you nor I "...I get this all the damn time. Neither you nor I "look like a medievalist," on account of being younger females who wear contemporary clothes. Shocking! <BR/><BR/>In fact, this is kinda why I like being a medievalist--it's a very big tent under which lots of people can find a home. There's no one "look." <BR/><BR/>And it is a shame that your (older) student had to buy in on the stereotype. Next time, tell her,"well! You don't look like a graduate student yourself!"the rebel lettristehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08369013300190217105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-77210810486444470282008-09-10T14:12:00.000-04:002008-09-10T14:12:00.000-04:00I bet some of it isn't just the image that they ha...I bet some of it isn't just the image that they have to be old white men, but the image that they have to be so absorbed in their studies that they aren't present in the real world. That's an image a lot of people have of professors in general, from what I've seen, but it's weaker in fields that feel more approachable (like psychology instead of physics or modern rather than medieval literature). After all, if you spend all your time studying it, you must really love it and wish you'd lived back then, right...? You can't both like the medieval era AND be stylish in the modern one!LassLisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15125089438531576589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-31527841348322293162008-09-07T21:52:00.000-04:002008-09-07T21:52:00.000-04:00I can see "Evil Ice Cream Man," especially after t...I can see "Evil Ice Cream Man," especially after the After Hours connection.TheCrankyProfessorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15044204782286107779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-13362169964195482302008-09-07T19:58:00.000-04:002008-09-07T19:58:00.000-04:00Yep, it's weird how some folks in later fields don...Yep, it's weird how some folks in later fields don't realize how cool and theoretical most medievalists these days are, isn't it?<BR/><BR/>I'm sure people of color get that attitude in my field, too, but we have a lot of great scholars they can point to and say, look, Kim Hall, Ania Loomba, Margo Hendriks, etc etc.Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-25913370026633242752008-09-07T09:46:00.000-04:002008-09-07T09:46:00.000-04:00Bardiac - Yeah, no kidding, kind of scary! Especi...Bardiac - Yeah, no kidding, kind of scary! Especially coming from a woman of color who was a women's studies major as an undergrad. But I think her experiences in the late 60s and early 70s -- when she was told she'd be "better off" majoring in education -- have shaped her assumptions about the fields that are open to non-male, non-tweedy types, and she just hasn't shaken them.<BR/><BR/>That said, lest you think this is an issue one might encounter only among MA students at a place like RBU, I've heard stories from my grad school alma mater about the folks in 20th c. fields saying stupid things to the other medievalists like, "Medievalists don't do theory" and asking questions of the female and minority students like, "Why on earth would you do *that* field?"Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-32453662007849066022008-09-07T09:22:00.000-04:002008-09-07T09:22:00.000-04:00My mentor in grad school used to start his big GE ...My mentor in grad school used to start his big GE Shakespeare classes by confronting what students expected in a Shakespeare prof: male, white, tweedy, straight, and so forth. At that level (undergrad, not English majors), the students really responded well to that. It was good because it let them see how they could study what they wanted, too.<BR/><BR/>But a grad student? Sort of scary!Bardiachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11846065504793800266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-80797558913922572792008-09-07T09:08:00.000-04:002008-09-07T09:08:00.000-04:00Oh, and Dr. Nokes -- "evil ice cream man" made me ...Oh, and Dr. Nokes -- "evil ice cream man" made me laugh! And it's kind of redundant -- the whole notion of the ice cream truck creeps me out even before you get to the creepy "Hel- LO!" the ones around here say. But then I can never think of them the same way after the movie "After Hours."Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-18681402805307696082008-09-07T09:06:00.000-04:002008-09-07T09:06:00.000-04:00remind people that I'm not any more removed from S...<I>remind people that I'm not any more removed from Shakespeare's day than anyone else currently alive!</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, exactly! I mean, do old white dudes have a "Shakespeare gene" or something? I think a lot of this proceeds from popular post-Romantic notions of literature as some kind of expression of the inner self, so from that assumptions comes the idea you're going to "get" literature that closest to your own sense of self. There are multiple problems with this assumption, at least three of which are: 1) the idea of literature as an expression of the self is questionable to begin with; 2) it's an idea that's totally NOT operative for literature prior to the Romantics; 3) it assume history doesn't matter.Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-83258164659132825822008-09-07T00:25:00.000-04:002008-09-07T00:25:00.000-04:00"the assumption that some students have that you s..."the assumption that some students have that you should study what you identify with in the most obvious ways, coupled with the corollary that old stuff is only for old white men..."<BR/><BR/>Yes, that! I get that occasionally--from the guy behind the library desk who assumed that when I said I was studying the Renaissance, I meant the *Harlem* Renaissance; to a classmate who suggested that I was "brave" for specializing in Shakespeare because I'd be going up against this mindset all the time. (She felt that she had to study postcolonial lit, for similar reasons.) And I wonder sometimes whether people are thinking it but not saying anything. I don't know what to do about it either, except to remind people that I'm not any more removed from Shakespeare's day than anyone else currently alive! And that "relevance" is not nearly so narrow a field as we seem to be defining it, more and more often, these days.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-83761327046199181772008-09-06T23:10:00.000-04:002008-09-06T23:10:00.000-04:00I've also been told:1. Black nationalist2. Demente...I've also been told:<BR/><BR/>1. Black nationalist<BR/>2. Demented Vaudeville puppeteer<BR/>3. Evil ice cream manDr. Richard Scott Nokeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-74948172853517455042008-09-06T18:45:00.000-04:002008-09-06T18:45:00.000-04:00I dunno...the bow tie and glasses say "Victorianis...I dunno...the bow tie and glasses say "Victorianist" to me. Or 19th c. lawyer. :)Dr. Viragohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03960384082670286328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15231380.post-30385040823206037422008-09-06T17:13:00.000-04:002008-09-06T17:13:00.000-04:00Me, on the other hand, I look exactly like the ste...Me, on the other hand, I look exactly like the stereotypical medievalist.<BR/><BR/>Bow down before my fuddy-duddy image! Gape in amazement at my bow tie! Tremble in fear at the tweediness of my jacket! Stare in shock at my little round glasses! Experience my mind-bogglingly bald head!<BR/><BR/>Now all I have to do is live long enough to be about 60, and I'll have whole look down perfectly.Dr. Richard Scott Nokeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01348275071082514870noreply@blogger.com