Storytelling Week 13: Give 'im Some Credit

Coffee in hand and braced against an unforgiving North wind, I make my way toward Buchanan Hall to drop off paper work for my research credit. You would think that after three years at OU I would be on top of these things. If there's anything I've learned as a student, it's that procrastination is a degenerative disease. As I walk in the building, I glance down at my form to ensure I have all the essential pieces. Name. Major. Bibliography. Signatures. I swear, it's that last one that always gets me. At times, finding a professor to coax out a signature nearly requires a search party. Fortunately, I'm not missing anything this time.

I shoot up the stairs to face the bureaucracy, dragging my confidence along with me. While exchanging pleasantries with the two young women who represent the beating heart of Enrollment Services, I lay my form on the desk and mention I need to add the credit to my schedule. I'm not too worried. They tend to be lax on the red tape when it comes to this type of coursework.

"Looks pretty good, but it seems that your professor's section doesn't exist."

"Pardon?"

"Section 7 for Honors Research doesn't exist under the MBIO course designation," she tells me. "You'll have to speak with the department to add the section. Then, we'll be able to enroll you."

*Sigh*

"Sounds good. I'll go take care of that now."

If you look closely, you'll see the fine print that says, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Found at waymarking.com

Walking briskly toward George Lynn Cross Hall, the home of the Department of Microbiology, I reflect on my tendency to lose such bureaucratic lotteries. It's just my luck to be forced to jump through another hoop! By the time I reach the building, my hand has begun to freeze to the surface of my metallic thermos. It only takes a handful of seconds to reach the department's office and explain the situation to the secretary.

"To be honest, adding a section is much easier than it sounds," she says. "However, I'll need confirmation that you turned in a completed add-drop slip for the college from you before it do. You realize it's way past due, right?"

I silently nod as she hands me the slip. What I see written on it causes my eyes to roll.

Spaces for two more signatures.

I spend the next two hours around campus herding the necessary parties to collect that precious ink. By the time I arrive at Ellison Hall to drop off the slip, my ears are crystalizing thanks to the bitter cold. I walk in, slide the slip to the woman at the desk, and prepare myself to receive another mission.

"Before I take this, you'll need to fill out an appeal form for the dean to sign."

Never again. I promise that I will never put myself through this again.

Within a few rushed minutes, I turn in the appeal and dash back toward George Lynn Cross Hall. I speak with the secretary who pulls up a program to create the section for my research credit. I waste no time returning to Buchanan Hall to end this once and for all.

"Okay! You're enrolled now!"

Music to my ears.

~~~~

Author's Note: From the Italian Tales Unit, I chose The Sexton's Nose to recount for my Storytelling post this week. I focused on the second part of the story in which a sexton is forced to jump through a series of hoops to obtain the hair of a dog to cure a dog bite. For example, the sexton needs to give the smith coals in exchange for a mattock, which he will give to the woodman and so on. My retelling is based off of personal experience with getting courses and credits added at the last minute. I thought it would be funny to insert OU into my blog, and this felt like a good fit.

Bibliography
Thomas Frederick Crane
Italian Popular Tales
1885

Essay Week 13: The Sunday Funny Pages

Once I stumbled across this cartoon, I immediately decided to do my essay post over it. I chose this one in particular because it brings me back to Sunday mornings while I was still in grade school. Since my father writes for the Tulsa World, Sunday's paper always made an appearance on the counter top. Reading through all the "funny pages," as my dad called them, became a ritual of mine. The comic strip Pickles, from which the cartoon below originated, always had a spot on the second page.

Cartoon by Brian Crane. 

There are so many aspects of this cartoon that remind me of growing up. Thanks to my father's constant corrections, I learned from a young age to place my apostrophes appropriately. Some of the dialogue in the last panel could easily be heard in my household. On that note, this cartoon reminds me of the dynamic that exists among many families. I can attest to the fact that a good amount of light-hearted teasing can really make a family jibe well. For example, it's well-known that my sister does a great job at keeping me humble.

From here, I will shift my focus onto the content of the cartoon itself. In my opinion, a large part of the humor comes from the strong sense of dramatic irony in the last panel. Just as the man does not catch the fact his wife is indeed criticizing him, the wife does not seem to notice that she's breaking the very resolution she just declared. Beyond that, there is a bit of a paradox here that draws attention to the fact that these characters reside in a comic strip. Since "your" and "you're" are pronounced the same, there is no way the wife would have noticed the error unless she were able to see the word written. I'm willing to bet that the cartoonist intended this to be the case. After all, one should have room to experiment when writing a comic strip.

Reading Diary Week 13: Italian Tales

Given that I have already read both Dante's Divine Comedy and Boccaccio's Decameron, I decided to expand my tastes a bit by choosing the Italian Tales Unit. 

Zelinda and the Monster: I'm surprised at how mature Zelinda is in terms of her willingness to sacrifice herself and take ownership for something that could easily be considered her father's doing. To be honest, I didn't expect the monster to change into a handsome young man because of his use of trickery to get Zelinda to acquiesce to marriage.

How the Devil Married Three Sisters: Wow, this seems to capture of the idea of "curiosity killed the cat." It seems the third daughter was gifted with a clever mind as well as curiosity. I find it interesting that this story ends with an act of humiliation for the devil.

Water and Salt: This story seems to revolve around the idea of putting one person in another's shoes. However, in this case, the daughter creates the physical act of her analogy to give meaning to her language. I will say that I'm not sure I understand why the magician had to be killed.

The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox: "The serpent replied that hunger did not observe promises." What a true and clever statement! I cannot help myself from laughing at the end of this story. I can imagine the look on the serpent's face! To be honest, I'm surprised that the serpent fell for such a trick. In my opinion, he became over confident based on what the greyhound and the horse said.

The Language of Animals: I'm noticing that characters in these stories do not take kindly to being insulted. After all, look at what the father orders his servants to do after he becomes humiliated. Plus, there's another example of deception when the servants kill a dog in place of the son. At least the new Pope was willing to forgive his father.

The Sexton's Nose: At the beginning of this story, I'm already feeling the sense of build-up. Perhaps this is similar to "The Woman Who Swallowed a Fly." Also, it seems that the sexton forces the offending party to make a choice. After all, they cannot replace a roast pea that has been eaten, for example. Wow, there is certainly an emphasis on sequence in this story.

A Feast Day: What an absurd story! It seems to comment on the art of storytelling since it references the "blockheads who are listening." I wonder if this falling into mouths business is a metaphor for being gullible.  

The Cock That Wished to Become Pope: Well, it seems that hopes dissipated pretty quickly for Mr. Cock and Mrs. Hen. Perhaps they should have learned from the weasel and the cat by deciding to relinquish their desire to become Pope and Popess. At the same time, it seems the Mr. Cock is a bit foolish to believe that he can be Pope.