Tales of a Wicked Stepgrader

[rymenhild]

The icon, created by yuki_onna, includes a quote from Sir Thomas Malory regarding Morgan le Fay. Let us all proclaim the doctrine of the True (that is, Not Taken From Marion Zimmer Bradley) Morgan.

Very late CONGRATULATIONS!!!! to strange_selkie for completing the first draft of her MFA thesis, and relatively-on-time CONGRATULATIONS!!!! to gramarye1971 for earning highest honours on her thesis. In honor of both achievements, I have decided to pass on Selkie's meme,

If my MA thesis were a fanfic...

• the priest/nobleman subtext would no longer be subtextual
  
• Geoffrey Chaucer would be descended from the bastard son of Margaret, Countess of Winchester, and a Leicester Jew
  
• Such crossover potential...
  
• Aziraphale and Crowley would definitely be influencing Jewish-Christian relations in England - but I'm not quite sure who would be on whose side!
  
• Margaret of Winchester would have been a Hogwarts graduate...
  
• and Simon de Montfort was clearly a Squib.
  
  

If my senior thesis were a fanfic...

• Geoffrey of Monmouth/Mary Sue. Enough said.
  

Meanwhile, a new stack of papers have arrived at my door. The undergrads are currently writing about fairy tales and ballads, and far too many of them seem to believe that because the reading assignments are easy the research projects can be lazy. The undergrads are wrong in this assumption.



Yes, it's time for more student gems.

• Throughout oral and written literatures, the theme of sibling rivalry has always been a reoccurring and lasting element of storytelling.
  
• With each variation the story of Cinderella is always equated with a shoe, into which only one person can fit.
  
• Jack from the Bean Tree version seems much like a Tom Sawyer character than Jack in the other versions, very independent and priggish manner.
  
• Sleeping Beauty is a fairytale, reflective upon life's many facets and an utmost important filial relationship.
  
• While this ballad appears to be only about sibling rivalry, it is actually quite deeper when one sees that it is a tale, which explores the ideas of power and powerlessness for different people in society.
  
• If something was not meant to be yours, however hard you toil to get there you may end up like the many princes who died on the briars.
  
  
  And one last meme, adapted from cataptromancer et cetera: Post a memory of me - something that did happen, something that could very well have happened but did not, or something completely improbable. You may base it on something that happened, or make it up out of whole cloth. Be as specific and detailed as possible.
  
  Edited for small typo correction.

Comments

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

Yes! Love the meme! It will be appearing shortly in my own journal...

As for memories... probably the most entertaining memory, which I shall cherish forever, is when we first met in Aurelio's room, and proceeded to talk for 2 hours straight about The Enchanted Forest series, fanfic, YA fantasy, RenFaires, fairy tales, and other awesome things that we randomly have in common. And the look on Aurelio's face after being ignored for so long was priceless...

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

Oh, shit. I didn't actually read through to the end of the meme instructions. *feels silly*

Remember when we ransacked the folklore archives for magic superstitions to put a curse on my thesis professor for turning my brain to mush? ;p

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

It's all right. I said you could put in a real memory.

As for the curses, yes, that was a fun day. It's a pity neither of us has dried ostrich dung on hand, because the one that was supposed to make its recipient's head bury itself in the sand involuntarily would have been so appropriate...

[prosewitch.livejournal.com]

Your grasp of sympathetic magic might be a little firmer than mine--I thought that dusting dessicated rats' eyeballs (from the finest co-op rats, of course) on the paper I turned in to her today would cause her to go blind to grammar errors, but instead it made her become more irritable than usual. Which I guess explains why she canceled office hours and ran off muttering something about "beer-soaked cheese and cigarettes"...