Life in the Slow Lane

Today was the first day that the class for which I am the TA had a quiz. It was interesting insofar as I got to see the reactions of the students taking the quiz, to listen to their pleas for more time, and - after the quiz was over - to downplay the overworry expressed those students who should have no reason to worry. Of course, I've seen this all before when I myself had taken quizzes in my undergraduate classes, but this was different for two reasons. The first is the mere fact that it has been some time since I have been in one hundred level class, so the reactions were a little different from those I remember as a senior. The second reason is, since I'm a TA, my perspective has shifted slightly from student to someone who will one day (inshallah) be an instructor. This prospective role is highlighted by the mere fact that I will be grading about a third of these quizzes, so the students who sighed heavily when they were forced to relinquish their papers will have me as their quiz evaluator.

Yet, with the exception of this one hundred level class, the analogy that seems to characterize my efforts here at grad. school is this: I am the old man in the hat driving the late-model buick in the slow lane of the freeway. It seems everyone else is passing me on the right and giving me the proverbial finger, while I'm crankily asking myself if I have stopped despite the seeming forward movement. My weekend is up in the air because of the necessity to study, but I think I'm going to schedule enough time off to see a movie. I believe I might see Mystic River because it sounds like it could be really interesting. I would have seen "Kill Bill," but David Denby of the New Yorker has said that "'Kill Bill' is what’s formally known as decadence and commonly known as crap." Ouch. Let's just say if I ever make a movie, I hope that Mr. Denby doesn't see it.