School zombies
Jun. 11th, 2004 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusIt's night of the living dead at school right now. heh.
Haven't slept much either, in this weird pattern of writing till I drop, crawling into bed at all hours of the night, collapsing; then crawling out at strange hours. Up at 6am. Sleep at two. Up at seven. Write till three. Up at ten am...
Daylight and night have lost all meaning, and there are stretches of time where I stare off into space, or am in the bath and suddenly -- aha! *scribble, scribble* *drips on notebook*
Just wrote the first 17 pages of my 12-page research paper.
My teacher says, "that would make a great book."
My original research proposal read something along the lines of, "Science Fiction and Fantasy are the new mythology. Comparing SciFi and Fantasy to ancient literature using Campbell's work on archtypes, I will demonstrate that mythology has merely changed form."
I re-wrote it to demonstrate what I've actually written:
"First, I'm going to define the importance of mythology to human endeavor, with reference to Jungian psychology, Campbell, cultural anthropology, and classical myth. Then, I'm going to show how Science Fiction and Fantasy are the modern mythology, with reference to Campbell, archetypes, and genre studies. I will relate ancient mythology, Science Fiction and Fantasy to their cultural time periods, and I will explain modern genres, how they tie to archetypes and subcreation. I will touch on the historical roots of modern Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 18th century, and the conflicts between the two genres. Lastly, I will define major Science Fiction and Fantasy sub-genres, and tie them to mythological archetypes, with examples and quotes from nineteen major authors and their works, spanning the last sixty-nine years. Where possible I will utilize both an early (1935-1969) and a modern (1970-2004) example for each subgenre."
Okay. This is what I used to do in high school. Take on a HUGE project, turn it in late (though I'm very satisfied with it) and get a glowing B+, because it got marked down from an A -- because it as late.
I was willingly handing in mediocre work on time all year (and getting A's on what I felt rated a B, maybe B+), and my grades were far better. I embraced mediocrity because in my RL at least, on time and decent was better than late and brilliant.
Hmmm.
I may have learned something here.
*goes back to not-sleeping* The world's a haze.
Haven't slept much either, in this weird pattern of writing till I drop, crawling into bed at all hours of the night, collapsing; then crawling out at strange hours. Up at 6am. Sleep at two. Up at seven. Write till three. Up at ten am...
Daylight and night have lost all meaning, and there are stretches of time where I stare off into space, or am in the bath and suddenly -- aha! *scribble, scribble* *drips on notebook*
Just wrote the first 17 pages of my 12-page research paper.
My teacher says, "that would make a great book."
My original research proposal read something along the lines of, "Science Fiction and Fantasy are the new mythology. Comparing SciFi and Fantasy to ancient literature using Campbell's work on archtypes, I will demonstrate that mythology has merely changed form."
I re-wrote it to demonstrate what I've actually written:
"First, I'm going to define the importance of mythology to human endeavor, with reference to Jungian psychology, Campbell, cultural anthropology, and classical myth. Then, I'm going to show how Science Fiction and Fantasy are the modern mythology, with reference to Campbell, archetypes, and genre studies. I will relate ancient mythology, Science Fiction and Fantasy to their cultural time periods, and I will explain modern genres, how they tie to archetypes and subcreation. I will touch on the historical roots of modern Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 18th century, and the conflicts between the two genres. Lastly, I will define major Science Fiction and Fantasy sub-genres, and tie them to mythological archetypes, with examples and quotes from nineteen major authors and their works, spanning the last sixty-nine years. Where possible I will utilize both an early (1935-1969) and a modern (1970-2004) example for each subgenre."
Okay. This is what I used to do in high school. Take on a HUGE project, turn it in late (though I'm very satisfied with it) and get a glowing B+, because it got marked down from an A -- because it as late.
I was willingly handing in mediocre work on time all year (and getting A's on what I felt rated a B, maybe B+), and my grades were far better. I embraced mediocrity because in my RL at least, on time and decent was better than late and brilliant.
Hmmm.
I may have learned something here.
*goes back to not-sleeping* The world's a haze.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-06-11 04:27 pm (UTC)I'm a little nervous about where I'm classifying Harry Potter actually. It's fine for my audience, but the HP people might jump all over me. There's an arbitrariness to genre classification, especially when you get into finer distinctions. It depends on your criteria. I have a caveat that just as the same stars form different constellations when seen from Earth or Alpha Centauri.
I warn you though, this is written in my Tolkien-esque "thick" writing style.
Icarus