Negative Stuff

Anime Nation: Professor has Lost my Respect

You know, I really had a lot of respect for Michael-sensei. She was strict and expected a lot out of us, but she was organized and conducted herself in an appropriate manner. She even attended to grammar, which I literally cannot say for ANY of my other professors.

But I no longer have any respect for her. Yes, she knows her stuff. But I have watched an incompetent idiot for the past few weeks, and I am currently reading an excerpt from a book which is... in my opinion, not the best explanation of religion in Japan? (despite the title of the chapter being "Japanese Religions: An Introduction"). It seemed to expect that a Western audience would know about Buddhism. Personally, all I know about Buddhism is the story about Buddha, and that wasn't ever mentioned, so apparently, Buddhism is a lot more complicated than I thought. It worships a lot more people than just Buddha.... Now, I know that some people certainly would know a lot more about Buddhism than I do, but... (looks at my classmates) considering that most of my classmates actually aren't otaku and thus don't know a lot about Japanese culture, I doubt they'd know any more than I do unless they have an interest in China or another Asian country.

But the grammar OH MY GHOULS. The idiot we've been watching (thank God we stop watching him around the middle of the course) doesn't understand English despite being born in America (literally, he pauses at weird moments in the middle of sentences, is very confusing, lacks proper transitions, etc.), never mind Japanese, so he's just wretched. The reading we're doing though lacks commas EVERYWHERE. Literally, whoever edited this book does not know the rule about putting a comma after a dependent clause before an independent clause (a.k.a. AWUBIS). ... Or any other phrase before an independent clause. Also, their transitions and other prepositions are just like (holds head in hands) Oh dear Lord, please save me from this torture.... It's like "this does not fit here. No, you need to say 'BUT,' not 'AND.' WHAT THE FRIG DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?!!! WHY ISN'T THIS BEFORE THAT?!!! WHY DO YOU KEEP INSERTING PHRASES IN THE MIDDLE OF CLAUSES INSTEAD OF AT THE BEGINNING OF THEM?!!!"

So needless to say, I am struggling. Dr. Christopher Born is way worse though. I can somewhat understand what this reading is trying to communicate usually, but Born? He doesn't even seem to know what he's talking about.... I am so glad we don't need to watch any more of him soon....