Woah!

I Feel Love

April 20, 2006 at 3:14 pm (Amusing, Bitchy, School, Thoughts & Musings)

Oh my darlings, when I was away in class, my message got posted, and I got responses. Shall I share them with you, OH, I do believe I shall.

Our first bit of love comes from Danielle Pagano:

You are my hero.

Thank you.

Isn't that lovely? It is. No my dear, you are my hero for not being a sheep during these times that try men's souls.

Scarlett Sams (not Johannson, sadly) writes:

Dustin,

Thank you for saying what needs to be said. I have never had anything but a great experience with all of the faculty of the English Dept.

If you want to continue to send out these whining emails, please remove my address from your list. I don't have time for this nonsense.

But then we have Mr. Daniel Betts, who aside from having a stupid last name, also has stupid criticisms, and apparently a vocabulary so limited, "Asinine" (he probably cut and pasted it as I doubt he could spell it) is considered "academic" to him:

Chill out man.
It's ok. I promise. Your spotless reputation isn't sullied at all.

Oh wait…

Except for the part where you made yourself look like an idiot. If you want to make fun of people for sending out e-mails to the entire English Listserv I would recommend you don't do the same thing.

Just a thought for smart people.

Oh wait…
That would not be for you then.

And by the way, you really sound like an academic when your vocabulary includes words like "FULL-STOP" and "asinine"

And by academic I meant snobby stuck-up brat.

But we're in college so I would never say that.

Oh yah, major props for insulting the Business School. That was professional of you.

You don't need others actions to make you ridiculous, You do a fine job of that yourself.

Thank you.
Daniel Betts

More praise, comes in the form of a succinct email from Brittanny Evans (I love the double-n concept):

well played, sir!

-britt

Ali Hesami decides to sling an attempt at a pujorative nickname and writes:

How would you feel if it was you this had happened to, Mr. big words? I am also not effected by the lackluster advising at VCU, but I feel for people who have. Like it or not, we are all human, and we shouldn't close our eyes to others' misery, regardless of the cause.
But you are of course entitled to your opinions and feelings. I respect that. However, that DOES NOT give you the right to personally attack people you know nothing about (are you a Republican, by any chance?), in a mass e-mail, no less.
Never assume you know all the answers. You don't. There will come a day when you fuck something up and need help, and then the irony will hit you like a train.
Just because you include Latin phrases in your writings doesn't make you smart. Advisors have only one job, and that is to advise students on academic matters, such as course selection, etc. If this advice leads to the student taking the wrong courses more often than not (as is the case here in VCU), then why are they drawing a salary from the school, who is constantly raising our tuition rates?
Did it ever occur to you to think before you piss and moan publicly? Did you think no one was going to call you on it?
Best of luck (you will need it),
Ali Hesami

And no really that was his spacing. Is it so hard to put in real carriage returns? I may need luck, but he needs another plug at the "Enter" key.

Zack Rathner writes what could possibly be my favorite of the emails:

dustin isn't very friendly

Haha! So brilliant and witty, why I'm sure it's the type of response I'd write, if I was to sympathize with simpering bitches.

Kristen Hall simply writes:

AMEN.
Thank you.

Indeed sister. Indeed.

Now here's an interesting message, and one I'm quite glad to receive because it illustrates an interesting point:

Not all of us are brain damaged…some of us frankly do not give a damn. It's her fault. Take with people who care. Stop sending mass emails…I'm too busy finishing papers and have no room for your problems. Others feel the same because we gripe about this crap in class.

Drew Davis
VCU Rams Lacrosse

Some of us don't give a damn. It's true, but the fact is, this girl is getting to walk 15 credits early, because no one wants to deal with her headache. Apathy does breed tragedy sometimes. The fact is this professor will probably be issued some sort of repremand if chickypoo gets her way, which is a sad sad thing. And as for being too busy to care…well…why'd you click on the damn email? I only opened it because I'm hip to the buzz of the English Dept, and it's one of the few things I do care about. I'll ignore the fact that he signs his name with "VCU Rams Lacrosse" under it. That'd just be a cheap shot.

Shaheed A Harun, "totally agrees with me" or so he guesses:

I guess I totally agreed with you. Not only was she trying to listen to only one advisor, but theres many advisors in the English department to help her out. She could've went to Dr. Kinney and asked him, so she wouldn't be whining now. She has no right to rip that advisor. She should have been responsible in know what she has to do. Plus she said she is 15 credits off from graduating. I mean c'mon how do you slide past that? She is just trying to blame someone else for something that is her own fault. Thanks for bringing the real sense out to light. I don't feel sympathy for this girl.

shaheed

How about another criticism of my opinion? This is from the God-fearing Kimberley Rilee:

I am new to the college and have spent many hours "investigating" the
courses I need to graduate. This university is exactly that, a
university. When I graduate, I am hoping to become and English teacher,
another underpaid job in our society. The fact of the matter is, when I
ask my advisor what classes I need to do certain things, and they don't
know, that is ridiculous. I know I have spent hours to do so. I am glad
you have had a satisfactory time in this, but these advisors are paid to
do a job that a lot of them are NOT doing satisfactorily. This
particular student's case seems a little extreme, but at the same time,
unless you have spent hours tracking down what you need to graduate with
no answers, I don't think you are qualified to speak on the matter.

Have a good day, and God bless,
Kimberly Rilee

If it takes you hours to flip through a maybe twenty page newsprint to find the General Education requirements, and the five pages on English Literature major requirements, than you have a much larger problem than an Advisor can solve. And maybe this is the problem with Deanna, she couldn't count to 120, so how could we expect her to flip through a bulletin or course guide?

But my dears, I've saved the best for last…Deanna herself has written a response:

Hello Dustin,

I never once expected VCU advisors to be my "mommy and/or daddy" and I certainly am not looking for any "Pity me" from people, especially not you.

For years I've been doing my own advising because I was never given an advisor to "advise" me. And so when I finally was given someone to talk to, I expect that paths they advise us towards should be accurate and not faulty. When I specifically ask them if there are any credits that I am missing, this is where they should be able to answer yes or no correctly. That is why they are our advisors.

If they are underpaid and overworked, then that is a part of the problem here at VCU. It is apparent that the appropriate funding is not being sent to our lovely English department and so my point in voicing my disappointment was to raise awareness that this is a widespread problem in VCU. I have received many responses from students who are feeling similar to the discontent I feel and so this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

You are fortunate that you have not experienced what I and many other students have within the English Department.

Perhaps, though, instead of belittling others for having an opinion and sincere concern about the institution, you can learn to respect other people's opinion as valid expressions and thoughts. Even those who are in need of better guidance deserve to have a college education AND their voices heard.

Sincerely,
Deanna Geneva R. Lorianni

I don't think she was addressing anything other than her royal cuntishness and her pathetic whining need to feel victimized because she couldn't get her way because no one ever taught her to count past 100. Deanna, as well as a few others raise a point that is very troubling to me…

The belief that and advisor's only job is to advise. Well, this is simply not true. Advisors are culled from the faculty, they teach, and research, and serve on committees. They're not simply there to memorize the course requirements and prod students on their merry ways. Hell, my advisor is the Associate Chair of the department and *HE* has to look things up the same way I would when I have a question. Which is why I don't go to him unless I need career guidance such as "what course do you think I would benefit from more" or "what are my odds at an MFA" or for overrides into filled classes, or multiple sections of creative writing classes. I rarely see my advisor because I know his life is filled with hundreds of students needing something, even non-majors, departmental meetings, class, and while he himself doesn't do a lick of research, there are others that do and are required to do so. There's no such thing as Just an Advisor in the English department. And if people bothered to know their professors, they'd know that's a fact. Ah…god this just proved to me that no, it's not an isolated case. This strain of stupidity is pretty virulent.

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