I had my peer review today on my creative nonfiction piece I wrote for my Creative Wrting class. Peer reviews are always an exciting time for me because I get to test out my skills as someone who hopefully someday will be a writer and get a live audience response. Today's crowd wasn't so interested, though, I'm afraid, which was kind of just a little bit actually really really annoying. Oh, they had nice things to say. Five out of my 14 fellow students had no problem talking about how they "enjoyed it" or "it was good," but that was all, and the rest were pretty much silent. Can you say rawr?
Seriously, there is nothing more annoying than investing all this time and energy into a creative writing course, only to get a bunch of disinterested and bored faces, staring at you blankly as you rant about how much you'd like advice on how to improve your paper. There was only ONE girl in the entire class that actually gave me a real review. I think she's probably the only one who actually read it. I felt like she and I were having our own conversation in the middle of the class while everyone else buried their faces behind their laptops (we're supposed to bring laptops to class so we don't waste paper) and checked their facebooks and emails.
Seriously?
In addition to spoken reviews, everyone also has to provide a written statement. This one was my favorite: "Right from the beginning of your piece i left as though I was in the room with you. At times you kind of tell the reader too much, and other times not enough."
...
Not only is this reply WAY shorter than the recommended 200-300 word reply, but it's not even clear what the reviewer is actually saying! Could you maybe, just maybe, say what it was that I told the reader too much of, and what I didn't tell the reader too much of? Or would that take up more than, oh, 30 seconds out of the hours you're supposed to be dedicating toward this class? Ugh...
Other than the one other student, the professor was pretty good at critiquing too, which I was pleasantly surprised about since he's seemed so disinterested in everyone's work so far. It was pretty much a 3-way conversation between the one dedicated reviewer, the Professor, and myself. I did end up coming away with some good ideas, but the other 13 silent students kind of annoyed me just the littlest bit. Although, to be fair, a couple of the ones who graced me with their responses DID have some really nice things to say. Which doesn't hurt my ego in the least, but didn't really help my paper.
Other than that little bit of excitement, I went out to see Noelle, my baby pygmy goat, today.
Awww. Ain't she cute.Obviously, since I live in a dorm room and my roommate has severe, life-threatening allergies, bringing her in my room would be out of the question, sooo... she stays at a nice little house about 25 minutes away with a huge yard to play in and lots of kids to love her. She just recently moved to this place about a week and a half ago, and she's settled in nicely. Maybe a little too nicely. I think the family loves her so much, they wish I would just give her to them (apparently the father doesn't like her name, either, and insists on calling her "Lola." Grrrr.), which I'm not really sure how to feel about. On the one hand, I'm extremely happy she's surrounded by people who love her. She's a very clingy and needy little goat, so she gets depressed when there aren't people around for her to follow or to love on her at her request. On the other hand, I'm ridiculousy possessive and really wish I had my own place to put her so she could be purely my goat and not claimed by some other family. Hmph!
Yeah, I can be pretty possessive sometimes. Just ask my gf about that one. But seriously, I adore little Noelle. She's my baby. She goes for car rides and walks through the battlefield and has "helped" me clean a lot of stalls over winter break. I think if anyone were to take her from me, it would be devestating. I've already lost so many horses and pets, it's kind of hard to imagine losing one more. Nope! This little girl is mine. She may be sweet and you may love her, but honestly, I don't know what I'd do without my miniature horned beast bleating for me and wagging her little tail upon my arrival.
I'm just hoping that doesn't change.
4 comments:
Aww, baby. You and that silly goat. How come I don't give love like the goat? Maybe I'll go off and live with a redneck family and have them call me Lola! Will you blog about me THEN, huh??
Hah, jk! Your goat won't fall in love with those little hooligan children. She knows you're her mommy. Bring her down this weekend and we'll take the goat down Carey St. Imagine the stares... :)
Ily
The sad truth of the world is that it sounds like you're in a pretty good creative writing class. One interested student and one interested teacher? That's not bad at all.
The world is full of apathy. Especially most colleges. Did you transfer from a "good" (expensive) college to your current one? I went to a small private college for my first two years undergrad, then for various reasons ended up at a huge state school. Horrible, disillusioning shock.
Very true, Funder. My school is very nice and does have a lot of dedicated students and teachers in perspective. In a perfect world, everyone would care, but sadly, very few people do in this world. Those who do care, usually care only about themselves.
I haven't transfered. I'm still going to my expensive school, although I'm not sure if it's worth all that money.. Having been to both, what is your opinion?
If someone else is paying, the more expensive school is a much better experience. If you're taking out loans - 15 years from now when you're still repaying them you will not remember your time there so fondly.
I loved Mary Baldwin, but I was there on a combination of scholarships and grants. It wouldn't have been worth 60k in student loans. I really kind of hated the U of Memphis, but I got my money's worth out of the classes I enjoyed. I read everything, asked questions, tried to really learn if the professor wanted to teach, and ignored my classmates who didn't want to be there.
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