YouTube link is here. The Oodie is in full effect!
Sometimes, two friends get together and catch up. They talk about their weeks, their mental health, their videogame stories that no one cares about, even the other person. They don’t do anything productive, or respond to emails. They just have a nice chat. Enjoy!
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I agree that it’s ridiculous to throw out theory just because someone is misusing it, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on in the current context.
I think people are both micharacterizing the use of a theory and the theories themselves as a strawman for political purposes.
I observe both things happening, yes.
If we’re talking about CRT, I agree. No one complaining about CRT knows anything about what it is.
One thing I say to my students when they seem upset that they didn’t see something in a story that I did is that:
1. I’ve had roughly 40 more years of reading experience than they have had.
2. I trained for 8 years to do this, and then have been teaching other people how to do it for about 35 years.
Most of the time, this doesn’t help, especially with films.
I primarily get the, “this is just a story; you’re reading way too much into this” response. This is particularly difficult when I’m interpreting something as having a sexual meaning. (The way I read the Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is a prime example.)
Yeah, that can’t be fun, the part of the semester when your students think, “My professor’s some kind of PREvert…”
A “PREvert” – Description of a person before they became a supporter of renewable energy sources.
Nah, when they’re bothered they didn’t see something you did, look them dead in the eye, and just say, “I’m pretty fucking awesome. Don’t try and keep up, you’re only human.”
Then go on with class. 🙂
🙂
Well, except I don’t like to give away my extraterrestrial origins in such a public setting.
😀
Hmm.. how about jazz hands, and a stage whisper of “Maaaaagic!”?
“I just like it” or “I just don’t like it” has just as much weight as an analysis to me. I still like the discussion, but sometimes the discussion seems even more interesting to me when someone can hear all the back and forth arguments and still come back to that point.
Like Pete and I just watched the first episode of “Pennyworth.” I really liked it and Pete was much more mixed because he didn’t like the campiness of the villain. I liked the campiness overall, and the allusions to Michael Caine films and 60s stuff (and I’m pretty sure the Salinger short story “For Esme, with Love and Squalor”). We wound up talking about something I read that said that the writers of “Pennyworth” sort of see this world as the past of “V is for Vendetta” ’cause Pete finds the John Hurt villain there interesting and not campy. Anyway, this discussion went on, but concluded with “I really like it” and “He’s more so, so.” And I think without that difference we might not have had such an interesting conversation?
Agreed.
I was hoping you’d chime in on this episode. 🙂
Yeah, as long as we’re not in denial about what we’re seeing, your opinion is not at all dependent on… um.. what we’re seeing. 🙂
I really appreciate y’all talking about mental health.
I did a training recently in QPR which is a suicide prevention training. The letters stand for “Question, Persuade, Refer,” but I think the main hook is that the program is making an analogy to CPR and making the point that the more people who get trained in a community, the better chances for an individual person’s survival is.
I’m glad you enjoy it… I’m pretty sure we’re gonna do it a lot more. 🙂
I’d recommend the book “The Drama of the Gifted Child” by Alice Miller if you haven’t read it. One things she says quite early on is that people who are bright and empathetic AND have had difficult childhoods very often become therapists. But more generally it is about the kid who is incredibly tuned in to their parents needs and the damage that can do.