follow up to grad school comment

Today in lit crit the prof asked us how much writing we had left to do for the semester. After we all coughed out numbers of pages from 15 to 50, I jokingly said, "We're preparing for grad school." *yuck yuck* The prof looked at me mostly deadpan and said, "This is why I don't have tons of sympathy for you. I once had a 60 page paper due in grad school for one class." The topic? Bibliography and Annotation. (Or something along those lines. Remind me not to go to grad school! *gulp!*)

One funny/cool/amazing thing from that class today was how after initially looking at our outlines and axeing varying degrees of said assignment, the prof told us to all get up and head outdoors. One of the classmates remarked, "It's like Dead Poets' Society. 'O Captain, My Captain!'" Dang...this is why I like being an English major. We ALL got the reference. :) But yeah, we took this random walk from Fee Hall around the chapel and back up to the classroom. We were like ducklings following the mother duck, and people get giving us such weird looks like, "How unusual for a class to actually be OUTSIDE of the classroom."

We need to get out more.

In the process of the walk, three of us sort of fell behind and were somewhat separated from the primary nucleus of the group. We were talking in awed tones about our prof because we all love her. She's an amazing prof. (There are some GREAT ones here on campus...and they're mostly in the English department! Okay, okay, MOST of the profs on campus are pretty incredible.) We already have this joke that she knows everything so we need a pocket version of her to carry around in case of random questions.

I mentioned that "for a small person" she was walking very quickly. (With purpose, I should add. I should also add that most people are "small people" to me because, even though I'm not a giant, I feel very much taller than most people I know.) One of the girls with me said, "I bet she could walk this fast in stilletto boots, too." The other girl said, "AND she could climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, take a picture, and add it to the collection on her desk!" Wow. We're not quite to the point of erecting a shrine in her honor, but sometimes I begin to wonder about this new cult that's being formed in the department. (Again, if we were to build one for her, we'd have to be building an entire pantheon for the other profs because they are all so stinking amazing! [with a VERY few exceptions])

[subject segue]

Speaking of cults dedicated to women, this whole cult of the Virgin Mary is a little bizarre sometimes. I don't particularly have a problem with people praising her--she was a pretty rad chick (I can't believe I just referred to the mother of GOD as a "pretty rad chick")--and a lot of people regard the apostles with similar sentiments. However, when people keep finding random items that are the picture of the Virgin Mary--or Jesus, or any other holy figure--I wonder. Unless there is an incredible resemblance that actually is saying something worthwhile--instead of oh, say, "I see Mary doing yoga in my Alphabits!"--I think it's pretty shady. I mean, anyone with a little imagination can see pictures displayed in inanimate objects.

For example, as a child, I once watched a thermos on the table turn from thermos to owl to some other bizarre creature. (That happened at night, so the shadows were playing tricks on my mind as well.) Also, once I saw a platypus wearing a bonnet in some tree leaves outside my bedroom window. And there are random faces and creatures in textures of walls and ceilings and maybe even toast all around. I think it's typically imagination at play.

Thoughts?