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Thursday, October 14, 2004
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MIDTERM
The last time she gave an in-class essay exam, UD wrote a poem [see UD, 5/4/04] about it. This time, she has an itch to describe the setting in paragraph form. Many of her students are sneezing, and all, it seems, are sniffling. Starbucks coffee and bottled water are significant elements of the scene. There are lots of sweatshirts. A guy to UD's immediate left, front row, has on a hooded number that says TRUTH SEEKER in big orange letters across the chest. Leaping cleanly over the possibility that this student intends to be ironic, sardonic, nihilistic, cynical, satirical, or any combination of these, UD is moved by the display. Other sweatshirts are less interesting - Greek fraternity letters, varsity sports info. Of course there are no bright colors in the room. One of UD's earliest posts [UD, 11/12/03] describes the dark-clothes-only culture at her hip, urban university. [UD's own lifelong wearing of only-dark clothes has gotten to the point (now that she's up in years and has many turtlenecks) that she needs a high-intensity lamp to sort through her clothes in the morning.] No bright clothes at all. It's all about black. Those who wish to sport a more buoyant look choose navy. The Truth Seeker, the uniformly dark clothes, and the fact that a number of students have hats on or hoods up, lends the examination room a monastic feel. The pious silence, the hunched meticulous inscription, as if they were all working on the Book of Kells... Up in years she may be, but UD recalls vividly the business of in-class blue book essay exams, and she empathizes. |