getting bullied at art school is the worst bc not only are you getting picked on by people who post voltron discourse but every mean thing they say to you is verbatim lifted from a text post you’ve already seen and that has damaged my self respect in a way that nothing else ever could
knowing i am lower on the college food chain than 20 year olds who say “weird flex but okay” and “sure jan” in real life has done irreparable psychological damage
I can’t wrap my head around art school bullies
i said i hate anime and now they want me dead
Oh I thought they were just being mean you didn’t tell me you provoked them
to all the minors following me you dont have to reveal everything about yourself on the internet you dont have to make a laundry list of the MI’s and traumas u have endured be on your about its ok to not make this very extremely personal stuff you wouldnt tell to people you first meet irl easily available on your online web page you really dont owe anything to anyone and you can and should indulge in privacy
apply for jobs you’re not qualified for! audit upper-level classes! get drunk with your TAs! see that poster advertising that lecture series? go there take notes and ask questions! thank the presenter for talking about this topic you love! if the class is full before you register, email the professor and ask if they can squeeze you in! RAISE YOUR HAND! tell the disability accomodation office to do their goddamn job! ask for help! file complaints! go to class in your pajamas and destroy the reading! you got this! you KNOW you got this! be arrogant enough to learn EVERYTHING! take your meds! punch a velociraptor in the dick! fear is useless and temporary! glory is forever! shed your skin and erupt angel wings! help out! spread your sun!
i had a really good morning! you deserve a really good morning! kill anyone who says you don’t and build a throne from their bones!
can we all please just assume by default that no artist is okay with having their art reposted unless they state otherwise instead of the other way around
me externally: lit teachers arent pulling text analysis out of their asses
me internally: the reason people and especially students like to blame English for seemingly making up meanings where they cant see it is because literature is an art and art is widely regarded as ‘easy’, ‘anyone can do that’, ‘its stupid and useless’ unlike math and science which are widely regarded as difficult but important subjects so while students will readily admit that they have trouble with math or science they’re more likely to shift the blame when they dont understand a more artistic subject, seeing it as a sign of weakness that they dont get something thats supposed to be dumb and easy rather than seeing it as an important topic that’s just as crucial to their knowledge as any stem subject and just as difficult and in-depth as any math or science can be
also me internally: we’re so used to there being a ‘right’ answer to questions that art, including literature, makes us uncomfortable because the audience’s different and sometimes contradictory interpretations (even ones pulled out of your ass) are just as valid as the artist’s and there’s no authoritative, definitive reading for anything and we’re not used to having that power or acknowledging it in others
So many people misunderstand the most basic principle of lit classes. It’s not about telling the teacher what they want to here, it’s about saying what you think and why you started thinking that way. It’s about recognizing patterns from other works in the one your analyzing and using those to justify your opinion.
I feel like teachers tell students: “there’s no single right answer” and they hear: “this is all made up bullshit” but it’s absolutely not; you have to carefully document every bit of evidence you have to back up your claim. And people do it all the time with TV shows and whatever. I do remember that in middle and high school teachers would say “this represents this” without telling us how they know that and that’s something I would change from my own education that I don’t want to assume is universal. But I think the perception that it’s just “making stuff up” is what makes people think it’s dumb and easy. As one of my favorite professors ever always said, liberal arts is way more complicated than math or science for the exact reason that there are no definite answers and it’s so much more complicated. And you have to trust your instincts somewhat and have some confidence that your opinion is as good as anyone else’s, and that’s hard for a lot of people.
As a scientist and writer, I think of English essays like lab reports. If yourun the same experiment under different conditions, you can get different results, obviously; when different people interact with art, they’re essentially running the same experiment (viewing/reading the artwork) under different conditions (different brains). There’s ‘no right answer’ because results vary. Contrary to popular belief, there’s no right answer to an experiment either – the ‘right answer’ is whatever happened. Under different conditions, that’s going to be a different thing.
When you’re writing an English report, you’re explaining your understanding of why that thing happened. Scientists will run carefully designed experiments under carefully set conditions over and over because they’re trying to discern fundamental mechanisms in great detal, but that’s not something you have the ability to control in English. In English, your job is to find and describe those mechanisms based on the results of your reading, of other people’s readings, and of known principles of storytelling, language use and symbolism. Your results won’t be as precise as a physicist’s because you can’t repeat or control the experiment to that degree. Your results won’t be identical to your neighbour’s because you rant he experiment under different conditions (although you’ll probably find a lot of the same mechanisms as your neighbour if you’re examining the same piece of art). That doesn’t mean your results or the mechanisms you’re discerning are bullshit – it means our ability to experiment is restricted, and contrary to public perception, chemists and physicists deal with these problems, too.
Discount Deity of Death 