Two weeks down.

So. My second week of classes is over. I have mixed feelings. For the most part, I really love my classes. In my "Memory & Morphology" class, we're being encouraged to play with genres, to experiment with our writing and how memory shapes what we write, as well as its impact on art. The research class is okay. I am not doing the medical project; instead, I am looking at the concept of identity, and how it can change - mostly from an autobiographical point of view, on how I came to identify with the South. And I'll be reading Southern lit, essays and info to weave into it. I figured it would be a good way to ease homesickness and I can read some Lee Smith, Jill McCorkle, Allan Gurganus and others. Workshop.....my essays were workshopped Tuesday, and for the most part, my group is very helpful and constructive. I got really great feedback. But, of course, there's always one or two people that just don't get it. I'm not even going to go into it here on how phrases were misconstrued, life experiences were just twisted, and inappropriate, snarky comments were written. At the risk of sounding like Heidi Julavits, in her now-infamous "Believer" piece, snark is not constructive. It's not helpful. There's no need for it, and it only shows what a douche you are. If I'm writing an essay on the last 24 hours of my aunt's life and the gruesome details of her death, I don't want you to tell me I'm being pessimistic and to add some optimism. You're missing the entire point. SIGH. Anyway. My narrative medicine, "How We Write/Why We Write" class is definitely my favorite. I feel most at ease in the class. There's just a good energy in it. Most of the people are older; maybe that is why. Or my two instructors are just really nice, amazing, smart people. We're looking at poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, which is great - it's not often that we get to try out each genre and read works in each one. It's going to be half-seminar and half-workshop -- so I will be very interested to see what narrative med students think of my writing. All in all, it's pretty much the highlight of my week, and it's the last class of the week.

I don't know. This week has been really weird. Ironically, after I came to my research topic decision, twice now this week, blatant anti-South things have happened at school. It seems like the only cultural group that it's "okay" to make fun of is the South, and that's getting under my skin. And just the rudeness of some of the people in the Writing program, like in the chocolate lab (our lounge), etc. I just don't get it. I love the program and classes, but sometimes I'm not sure where I fit in it. Maybe that's okay.