(no subject)

Last night I met with the only professor who gave me a B last term (that I know of, my evidence grade still just a theory). He generously met with me at 8:40 PM. He was on the phone when I arrived, so I waited by the secretary's desk. She had a bunch of plants, a bamboo one had a beta fish swimming around the roots. I realized he was in the office Ms. Boardman used to be in. My urge to pull the professor's foot into my lap and unzip the boot was considerably less than when I spoke to her. He called me into his office, which was mostly bare. One wall had a picture of him and...was it GW? No decorations, just a simple desk, a computer, a fan, and the picture on the wall.

He asked me what I new about curves. I babbled briefly that I understood the policies. He asked that, if he showed me this, if it would change the nature of our discussion. He then held up my exam, which had a giant 96 scrawled across it. I laughed. I got a 96 on the exam, but the curve was so friggin high that a 96 was only a B. In my mind, I got an A. It seems the B+ I got on the mid-term pulled me down. He noted that I got every hard question right. I feel better about my B - it's a stupid reason to get a B, that the exam was too easy so everyone got a high grade (the lowest was a 75 but he didn't give any grade lower than C). I did get an A. Now I know. I walked in there prepared to argue every answer, but there was no need for a discussion. I thought I had gotten most everything right, and I had. It's just that one nipple-sized line divided the class from A-s to my lousy B.

Then things got weird. He asked what my credit load was like for my final year. He asked which professors I was closest with, or knew the best, or had personal relationships with. I looked confused while I searched for an answer, and admitted that I treat the place like a commuter college, getting my grade and getting out. He noted that since I was entering my last year of school, that I should really pay attention to the relationships I have with professors, who may be able to write letters and serve not just as job references in the future, but as references in school today. He noted that many of his peers had encouraged him to pick up students quickly, and give them independent study or other strange assignments. That's apparently a way to give students easy 1 cr A+ grades to make them even higher in the rankings. He argued that he didn't see the point. I was interested to learn that this was going on, but it did explain a lot about the clinic and special class grades of all As. I noted that I used to have connections with the Dean, but he left, with Ms. Boardman, who left, and still have a connection with a professor who is merely working for the conservative think tank on top of the school and doesn't have a law degree.

So as I left, it dawned on me that he might have been offering to be a mentor or some such. I felt silly for not seeing it earlier. Understand I wrote him a scathing performance review. Scathing. I noted that we were assigned hundreds of pages of reading that were ignored, and that the class was merely an equivalent of an 8th grade government class rather than a study of law. I meant every word - I had revisited the class description, and found out we were only supposed to brush process, then focus on how law is implemented and interpreted by the courts. We never got beyond process and congressional trivia.

So, was he asking or offering to set something up? If so, should I follow up? I don't think it's too late, and I know the perfect thing to say no matter what the object was - I send an email asking if he would mind telling me what an independent study entails. It sounds like an A, sure, but I don't really have legal research interests, and find that generally research and writing has a worse effort to grade ratio than regular classwork. Would it be easier or harder than classwork? His advice was good, and it is probably worth much consideration as I round up my last year of law school. If I wanted to do this, would he be a good candidate to work with? The guy is likeable, but...a conservative black law professor who I ripped up in writing in a performance review that is given to him at some point? For all I know he already read it and knows I wrote it. If asked, I'd stand by it. He might know already, might not...lawyers seem to like dissent and argument. Dunno. Perhaps we could help each other even if we're not necessarily cut from the same cloth.

In other news, American shirt-buyer, please lose your belly. I need clothes.
I don't mean not be fat - be as fat as you like. More so. It's just if you have big bellies, then I keep getting really nice shirts in size alleged as "small" with a 50" waist. The chest fits fine, because I have boobs and a horse neck. Rawr. But I could fit my svelte midriff in your gut-sack 3 times over. I pull my shirt out and I have bags left over. The proportions are all wrong. I'm a European stuck in the US. I could get my clothes tailored, but I shop around so I only pay $10 for my $50 shirts made with good cuts and fabric. It seems silly to then bring the price back up with tailoring. How gay am I when I get my casual clothes tailored?

I'm typing more like people talk. Contractions begin sentences. And all that.