Re: lectures & passion

Genevieve Patthey-Chavez (ggpcinla who-is-at ucla.edu)
Tue, 2 Apr 1996 10:26:38 -0800

I re-evaluated lectures and lecturing when I moved from a class of 12
students to a class of 45. I learned to go from "Are lectures good or
bad?" to "When are lectures appropriate?"

Btw, my students aren't particularly interested in taking notes. Maybe
it's because they're not used to it, or maybe it isn't particularly useful
to them. I think I'll ask them next time I teach.

Angel & Jay's notes about passion & rationality made me think of Carolyn
Forche's "Return" (from _The Country Between Us_), particularly a stanza
that has stayed with me ever since I returned in 1984:

Josephine, I tell you
I have not rested, not since I drove
those streets with a gun in my lap,
not since all manner of speaking has
failed and the remnants of my life
continues onward. I go mad, for example,
in the Safeway, at the many heads
of lettuce, papayas and sugar, pineapples
and coffee, especially the coffee.

Hm. It's twelve years later, probably fifteen for Forche. It would be
interesting to find out how she feels now.

Genevieve