I'm enjoying all of my classes but Lab is awesome. It's the only class I'm in that is not focusing on the ancient Greeks and I have to say that I enjoy the break. We've read Aristotle but we read a good number of 17th and 18th century authors simply because before the 17th century science didn't exist in the way we think of it now. The ancient Greeks were not big on experimentation so mostly they argue with each other on points neither of them can prove with a lot of their own philosophy thrown in. This is when I become completely jaded about the usefulness of logic because most of the time their conflicting scientific philosophies are logically sound, they just lack facts. But we've read a lot of real scientists as well so it balances out. We just finished out cat dissection which took 2 weeks. Thank you again Dr. Korow for your Advanced Biology class, it's only now that I'm here that I'm truly appreciating what I learned. I volunteered to dissect the pregnant cat (yes, I am a terrible person and PETA can take me away when I'm done here) and learned sooooooooo much about the reproductive system. I'm still a bit horrified at all the things my lab partners and I did to those cat fetuses but it was not futile mutilation.
Music class is so different from what I expected. The ancient Greeks had a lot of opinions about what made good music and it's surprising how much it influenced the development of music like Gregorian chants and I don't know what else. Plato was so particular about what made good music that in his Republic he only allowed for two modes of music. A man was kicked out of Sparta for adding strings to his instrument and adding complexity to melodies, thereby corrupting the youth with his wild music. Gregorian chants avoid tritones like the Black Death because they are the devil's note and the ancient Greeks hated it just as much as the Christians. People put much greater thought into what made good music, as in good for the soul, not just what sells well. I have to say I'm glad though that we can have more than two modes of music without getting thrown out of Sparta. Although with how my first Greek paper went I might get sent to Sparta.
It's our joke in Greek class that if you screw up you'll get sent to Sparta (which is not a nice place to go if you're not Spartan) and I'm worried that my Greek paper will get me a one way ticket. Papers are so different at St. John's that I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around them. "Profound Superficiality" is my new favorite phrase from my Greek tutor Mr. Rawn. All the Greek tutors help with student papers along with tormenting us with demonstrative adjective-pronouns. According to Mr. Rawn we're too young to have any good ideas so instead of trying to form an opinion we should just ask questions of the text and wonder why the author decided to write in this way instead of this. Profound Superficiality. I have a feeling that I failed at my first Greek paper and Mr. Rawn will not be afraid to tell me so but he'll have good explanations for why I failed. My math paper is a different story. I had my first real panic attack regarding this paper. I still have a week to write it but that's not preventing me from obsessing about it. How do you write a paper about geometry? I still have two pages to go so wish me luck.
As all of the administrators and support staff here keep reminding me, this is a marathon and it wears on you. I can already feel the strain but it's tolerable. I'm not sure when I'm going to hit the infamous wall (I love Run Fat Boy Run) but hopefully when I do I'll be able to push through it.
Yayyyy bloggg!!! No panic attacks; just like strings on instruments and complex melodies, they are NOT good for the soul. You so did not fail your Greek paper, so quit thinking that, and you'll write your geometry paper just fine since you have tutors to help! Go hiking, it will make you feel better :)
ReplyDeleteAnd if the guy in Run Fat Boy, Run can make it through that marathon with his mangled ankle, you can do this too :)