Interview meme

[icepixie]

alto2 asked me really excellent questions. I answered.

1. What one thing would you most like to see happen in the remaining episodes of BSG?

Laura Roslin not die?

More seriously...meeting up with humans on Earth. Finding out if the Earthers know they're the thirteenth tribe, and getting really, really into the mythology that they've been building up in the background.

2. Which of your photos are you most proud of, and why?

SUCH A TOUGH QUESTION.

Although, not really. The definite winner is this one. The picture itself is set up well, the light was perfect, and the subject is one of my best friends. This one is also a favorite for the same reasons.

(This question was interesting for me, because I've always thought of myself as an architecture and landscape photographer first and foremost, but as I was going through my photos trying to pick out the one I'm proudest of, I kept gravitating to those with people in them. Although this one of a building at Kenyon does come rather close. And I quite like the composition of this one.)

3. What excites you the most about starting grad school? What scares you the most?

Excites: OMG I actually get to be somewhere where people READ, and want to discuss what they read, and want to hear my crazy theories about postmodern representations of history and things like that. CANNOT WAIT.

Scares: Teaching. Not so much the working individually with kids, because I've done a lot of that before, but getting up in front of a class and leading a discussion, or planning a syllabus, or dealing with plagiarism. (Also, I've never taken a freshman comp class--I took AP Lit in high school, and Kenyon didn't really have an equivalent anyway--and I'm not really sure what you do in it.)

4. If you could live in another time and/or place, what would you choose? Would you stay permanently, or just visit?

Oooooh, tough one. I might have to go with the Victorians on this one--perhaps London for the Great Exhibition in 1851, or the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. I don't think I could stay, but I'd definitely visit.

Right now, for a place, I'm jonesing for a trip back to Salzburg. I want to climb an Alp. A small one.

5. What's the single most useful/meaningful thing you learned while you were in college (this could be something you learned in class, something that someone mentioned to you off-the-cuff but has stuck with you--anything you associate in any way with your college years)?

It's always better to be somewhere in the middle of a class, where you have to work your ass off to make it to the top, than to be in one where you're practically at the top already. The more knowledgable people around you will pull you up to their level, which is infinitely more rewarding in itself, and if and when you finally get an A on something at the end, that feels awesome. This of course applies to situations outside of classes, but I learned it primarily in class.


To play:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me" or something of an equally pithy nature.
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions of a very personal nature. Be warned! (Although I don't promise to be quick about it...)
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions, or there will be trouble.
4. You will include this and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.

Comments

[alto2.livejournal.com]

Very interesting answers! I like your two favorite photos, too. :) Your observation about classes is fantastic--never thought about it before, but you're absolutely right. And I so should have known you'd pick the Victorians ;)

I'm game to answer more if there are five things you'd like to ask me. No pressure either way!

[icepixie]

Your observation about classes is fantastic--never thought about it before, but you're absolutely right.

I kind of realized it in college (the Irish Lit course I had sophomore year changed my life), but it took being out in the workforce to really make it sink in. I caught on to what we do at work much more quickly than everyone else, and I can feel myself stagnating. I need some competition. ;)

And I so should have known you'd pick the Victorians ;)

But of course! :D

Questions:

1. What piece would you most like to sing?
2. What's your favorite memory of childhood?
3. What drew you to teaching? How did you end up teaching what and where you teach now?
4. You are suddenly famous--on the news everywhere. What for? (Can be "most likely to be for" or "I'd most like it to be for.")
5. If you were to write a Mary Sue fanfic, which fandom would it be, and what would the fictional version of you do?

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Me, please!

Both of those photos are brilliant!

Best of luck in grad school! If there is no set training for teaching at your school, I imagine the staff and other grad students will be glad to help. You will be a wonderful teacher.

I took the required freshman comp class at school. I didn't find it particularly helpful, since the later required Tech Writing was much more up my alley, but I did find some information about the class: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~writing1/html/studentguide/W1%20Course.html

[icepixie]

1. Whom do you most admire, and why?
2. What's your favorite season (or type of weather--storm, sun, etc.)?
3. What's the geekiest experience you've ever had?
4. How do you relax?
5. I can't believe I don't know this already, but where did your username come from?

Both of those photos are brilliant!

Thanks!

Best of luck in grad school! If there is no set training for teaching at your school, I imagine the staff and other grad students will be glad to help. You will be a wonderful teacher.

Awww, thank you. There is a pedagogy course I have to take next spring, and I'm sure it'll be thorough, but I have to teach no fewer than three hours of class my very first semester, so I'm a little "AAAAUUUGGGHHHH!" at the moment.

Hmmm, freshman comp is strange to me. I've never taking a how-to-write class. It was always taught in the context of writing about literature or writing fiction. I've rarely written anything in an academic context that wasn't a critical essay or a story.

[tarzanic.livejournal.com]

Oooh, good questions!

...I have to teach no fewer than three hours of class my very first semester, so I'm a little "AAAAUUUGGGHHHH!" at the moment.

Totally understandable! I'm sure you'll do well though! One idea/tip: grading rubrics are often very helpful to student and teacher.

I can't say much about comp courses, but it might amuse you to know that in our technical writing manual book, there is a section on how not to be rude. There are examples on what not to do -- one sounds like Rodney McKay wrote it -- and how to craft appropriate messages.

[icepixie]

One idea/tip: grading rubrics are often very helpful to student and teacher.

Hmmm. I don't think I ever had one of those in college. I do remember having something vague that called itself a rubric in my AP classes though...

I can't say much about comp courses, but it might amuse you to know that in our technical writing manual book, there is a section on how not to be rude. There are examples on what not to do -- one sounds like Rodney McKay wrote it -- and how to craft appropriate messages.

Hee!

[rowdycamels.livejournal.com]

Ooh, do me!

I love the Chandra picture, too! And the jigging-in-Ireland one is just so cute.

I miss nerds as well. If only I didn't need to write essays to be around them fulltime... It sounds like utter BeccaLand, though. You'll have fun!

I want to climb an Alp. A small one.

Awww, an Alp, singular, size teeny. Sounds good.

Being surrounded by people smarter than you is AWESOME.

[icepixie]

1. Your five favorite Due South episodes. Annnnd go.
2. What's your favorite camp memory?
3. What's your favorite of the photos you've taken?
4. A new planet is discovered. You're asked to name it. What do you call it?
5. You have billions of dollars at your disposal and can live anywhere in the world. Where do you live?

I love the Chandra picture, too! And the jigging-in-Ireland one is just so cute.

Isn't it though?

I miss nerds as well. If only I didn't need to write essays to be around them fulltime... It sounds like utter BeccaLand, though. You'll have fun!

Wheeeee!

Awww, an Alp, singular, size teeny. Sounds good.

Yep. Annie and I were going to take a bus partway up the Untersburg and then find a meadow to flop in, but got rained out. :(

[spleeny.livejournal.com]

The last picture's my favorite, personally. Then again, I am a fan of bridge pics.
Interview me!

[icepixie]

The last picture's my favorite, personally. Then again, I am a fan of bridge pics.

I enjoy them myself, although if you look at my whole body of work, it seems I really enjoy "road/hallway to infinity" shots.

1. What is the most uniquely Chicago experience you've ever had?
2. What building do you dream of designing?
3. If you were a superhero, what power would you have?
4. What is the longest you've gone without sleep?
5. What's your favorite food?

[pezprez.livejournal.com]

Yay, I made favorite picture status! Zilla made it twice! It makes me want to have another Hindered Implosion with everyone for viewing Exeter pics again...

[icepixie]

Yeeees, that would be fun.

Chandra is in a significant amount of my favorite pictures. She's in a lot of my pictures in general. It's the perching and standing photogenically thing. (I have several of you sitting photogenically, actually, such as this one.)

[pezprez.livejournal.com]

W00t! Not only am I in pictures, I get photogenic status! I was totally sure your link was going to send me to the pic of me imitating "Oscar Wilde lolling", from our visit to Dublin.

I need to bust out my camera again...

[sleepingcbw.livejournal.com]

A'ight, interview me. I don't want to write lesson plans anymore.

[icepixie]

1. Why do you like serialism so much?
2. You write a novel. What's it about?
3. What are you most looking forward to in grad school?
4. What will you miss most about teaching HS?
5. What is the stupidest book you've ever read?