Okay, okay, I'm updating!

[beandelphiki]

Haha, i_dreamed_i_was actually nudged me. I've never been "nudged" (either formally, with the new feature, or informally by way of comment/email) before by anyone else who wasn't an offline friend/SO. (Not that I can recall, anyway. My apologies if you did once, and I've forgotten.) Sooooo...I guess I should post? *getting the hint*


Yes, I've been taking a rather extended hiatus from livejournal. Hard to explain why, since it wasn't something I sat down and decided to do, but there were two major reasons.

1) The last whole drama just left me feeling very icky about lj for a while.
2) My grades came in:

Editorial & Opinion Writing: B+
News Graphics: F
Newswriting IV: F
Freelancing: B
Special Project II: F (dammit, I hate writing for the Weekly!)
Print Media Practicum II: A
Public Relations Writing: F

GPA: 1.87
Cumulative Program GPA: 2.91


...So, yeah. I'm on academic probation, and I'm working through December at least, and then hopefully I'll be going back next winter to finish those four classes.

I didn't really want to post when everything seemed up in the air. I'm most frustrated by the TOTAL lack of effort from my instructors to help me in any way. I emailed Mike D. (the guy I figured I needed to talk to) back at the beginning of April, right? He told me to talk to Richard P. Richard did not respond to my emails at all for weeks, and then finally told me to talk to Willem - that HE was my program coordinator. (Okay...?) And Lisa T, some lady who has something to do with...well, program access, basically. I don't really know what her position is.

I emailed Willem, and got this automated-sounding reply like, "Please contact customer service if you would like to take the program again." Well, no, I don't want to take the program again! Just four classes! I emailed back saying, "Well, you're my program coordinator, don't you need me to talk to you?"

And basically got a "NO, and fuck you!" in response - he told me to "commit more time" to the program next time. Weird thing is, all the instructors who've I've been told to email have had earlier stuff cced to them. So Willem should KNOW what's been going on. Whether or not he's willing to believe I was sick for weeks is one thing, but he makes it sound like he thinks I just stopped showing up for no reason. I mean, okay...if you have doubts that my situation was as I stated, don't you think he'd want to see me in person and talk about it? Holy hell, I hate trying to email my instructors. Getting useful information out of them is like getting water from a rock.

Lisa T., the other person I was told to email, isn't too much better, but I've finally ascertained that:

1) I can probably take the courses again (because people drop it, there should be space).
2) I can't set anything up until late December/early January.

I'm not sure now if I can rent my laptop over the summer, and through the fall semester. I will have to check at Customer Service, I guess. I sure hope so, because getting everything off my laptop onto disk is going to be a massive job.

Yeah, I just hate this whole system, really.


Okay, so instead of posting on lj, I got sort of re-acquainted with Gaia, which I used to have a wicked bad addiction to, and I'm now basically re-addicted (oh, well), although not as badly. The protective factor is that the general population of Gaia Online is really, really, really, REALLY stupid. I mean, REALLY stupid. And I'm even more attuned to it now than I was two years ago when I mostly left the site.

After essentially flaming stupid people in one of the threads (the thread itself wasn't that bad; it was created as an angry commentary on white Gaians speaking for POC in threads), who should I run into but kittikattie! She PMed me a compliment about my post in the thread, and we PMed back and forth a few times before I realized it was likely her (from the description in her profile), and asked.

Big internets, small number of people worth talking to - in retrospect, it wasn't even that surprising I should run into someone I recognize from lj.

Anyway, in the middle of that conversation I proposed something. It's a really un-formed idea as of yet. I'm still noodling it over, and you know, I only got one head on this. And I'm white. So...if anybody has anything to add to this, feel free:

But (sudden random thought) since black people in the U.S. have been set up as the "counterpoint" to white people, assimilation should actually be impossible (as long as it remains that way). Which...leaves at least one group of people as an eternal source of replacement cultural material? ["confused" emoticon] I'm not really sure where I'm going with that; just a thought.

Okay, which isn't to say that the only cultural appropriation going on is white-from-black, but I've been thinking that it may be that the farther from "white" anyone is on this imaginary scale, the more appealing any cultural aspect originating with them is, although that's about as far as I'm going for tonight (REALLY tired!), and I'm guessing there's some really big holes in that.

Okay, g'night.

Comments

[ahianna-nia.livejournal.com]

I think your random point is quite accurate. It is one of many points one could make on the subject. We should start a thread where people add points to it so the fullness of the counterpoint argument could be made.

I'd add that because of the one drop rule, black assimilation or absorbtion into white America is less likely than other "others" for too many generations to make assimilation possible.

I agree...

[i-dreamed-i-was.livejournal.com]

I was just having this conversation last night.

And sorry to be annoying, Dan! I was just a little worried!

Re: I agree...

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

You're not annoying! It was flattering. :P

Although...my computer is being funky. So if I disappear AGAIN for a bit, it may be that I just can't get online because my comp's a piece of #!%$. Yeah.

[beandelphiki.livejournal.com]

Well, my personal journal doesn't get a lot of traffic, but if anyone wanted to run with it in a community, that would be cool. I may post it somewhere if I get the time next week, but I wouldn't like to post and run, you know? I work longish hours until Wednesday.

I can't believe I hadn't even figured the "one drop" rule into this, dang. Thanks for adding that.