"Buber and Me", or, "Why my Ethics Professor Totally RAWKS"

[fredericks]

My ethics class this evening was AMAZING. I'm sitting here some two hours after leaving Hunter still in awe. Even though he walked in looking really frazzled, the professor was on point with everything, particularly the funny. To wit, here are some quotes I culled from our lecture:

Prof: Anti-solipsism rocks!
Classmate: What does that mean, for the uninitiated?
Prof: What does that mean? That anti-solipsism is really really good.

Prof: A lot of things happened around 1500. Martin Luther tacked his theses...theses, with a T-H, on the church door.

Prof: The plague came around what? the 14th century, and that was a big thing. It decimated a third, two thirds...? anyone know? four-thirds of the European population.
Classmate: Wow. That's one-third more than [Noah's] flood [did]!
Prof: Right. And you guys thought you had it rough.

I mean...there's no way you can't love the guy. I sent this letter when I came home:
Hello Professor X,

I just wanted to drop a quick word and say that this evening's Ethics class TOTALLY ROCKED. Seriously. At first I thought you were going all tangent-like, but then I realized you just, like, made the formerly (for me, at least) incomprehensible Buber reading clear as Dasani Water. I was bowled over by how much we covered on our way to directly addressing Buber and how it all sunk it for me! It was magic. Amazing. Flow. Almost (dare I say it) an I-You moment with the material. And you were the instigator.

You're my hero for the day (week, if the payroll person doesn't stiff me on my paycheck). Really and truly. Thank you for being such a great professor.

Have a good Spring Break, you and yours.

Sincerely,
Some anonymous student who doesn't really want to put his/her name on this e-mail just in case he/she's unethically accused of grade-grubbing (which I'm NOT)


...only thing is to be fully anonymous I sent it via my Yahoo address...which sticks the sender's name on top of e-mails. I didn't realize this until afterwards. D'oh.

Comments

[enigmaticjess.livejournal.com]

You are the shit. So's your instructor. Don't you love it when you have instructors like that? Like my Acting Prof. I almost resent that we met under the student/teacher framework, b/c I'd LOVE to know him outside of that context, as a person, as a friend. I hope your class rocks the casbah!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

It's been such a rarity for me here at Hunter that this professor is a godsend. When he's on and I'm not being plagued by a headache, the time flies by for me. From what I get from him, vibe-wise, he contains everything I'd look for in a friend: random sense of humor? check, modesty? check, caring and considerate? check? big strong hands that can just wrap you up and take you to heaven on a daily, nay, twice- or thrice daily basis, because you already know he plays drummer in a band and he's probably so fucking hot when he's laying it to the snares and top hats? CHECK

I think I mentioned that I was crushing on him from, like, the second day of class. Let me stop before I really embarrass myself.

He's a great teacher and I hope he hurries up and gets his doctorate so he can make more money and enlighten more lives full-time. He deserves it. My class does, indeed, rock the casbah.

[modpixie.livejournal.com]

that class sounds amazing. good on you for telling the prof he helped you out; they're really glad to get that kind of feedback. and "d'oh!"

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Definitely. He looked really ragged when he walked in and he mentioned to someone else that he was teaching about five classes. Ouchie. But once he started getting into the material (and drinking his "coffee"; Lord knows what was really inside that thermos) you would have been hard-pressed to pick up on the fact that he was tired as all hell. He deserves the kudos, sincerely.

[zelle999.livejournal.com]

Freddy, you are the BOMB.

It figures, eh?

No diggity...no, let me stop

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

You are too kind, my dear.

I bomb a lot, but I've yet to be convinced I'm *the* bomb. Such a definite statement.


Frankly, I'm surprised the FBI didn't, like, show up at your house in the wee hours after you typed "B-O-M-B" in capital letters over the Internet.

Re: No diggity...no, let me stop

[zelle999.livejournal.com]

I didn't know it was illegal to say bomb on an airplane! Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb!

I hope I am not TERRORIZING you by saying the word BOMB over and over. It just happens to be a term of endearment, you know.

(Now let's see what happens!)

[aniseastra.livejournal.com]

I wish I had had a professor like that!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Shoot, I wish I could *give* you a professor like that. They're damned hard to come by.

[deathmonkey06.livejournal.com]

My English Lit professor was like that. He was a grad student, and he was more than likely gay, and he was the funniest man ever. He was super dramatic and he was always making fun of things we read. Brian rocked.

What a coincidence!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

My prof's a grad student too, although not at this school. He actually commutes twice a week down to Pittsburgh to take his classes. I think all the truly caring and interesting faculty has had all the greatness sucked out of them due to years of dealing with bureaucracy.