The Gauntlet has been Somethinged

Dear F&TinP comrades,
Terry called us out in class tonight. He was right to do so. I've felt a great amount of guilt over the last few weeks due to my lack of interaction during class. I've been chalking it up to "being swamped", literally by shit swamp Comp papers. That's no excuse. A reason, maybe, but there is no excuse. I'm just as bad as anyone who could be talking more.

We're freakin' adults here, adults paying a lot to accomplish two goals that, I think, can be applied to any class: 1) to learn from the people we pay to teach us (Terry does more than his part), 2a) to help each other and 2b) get help from each other. We can't do that in silence.

Someone say, "So what?"

Terry dropped hints near the beginning of the semester that he'd like us to talk more. After such a hint, Dr. Hoo expressed to me that she'd like for anyone interested to get together before class to chat about the content. It was her hope that doing so would help direct class, make it less of a game of who's-going-to-talk-first? I think that's a great idea. I hang around the TA offices for at least an hour before our class. There are a few others in my office and our class that I hang with. We more or less help each other waste that time.

I've never before been so blatantly called out by a professor. Bless Terry's blunt heart that he did. Sometimes it feels like we're abuncha Comp statues in there--myself included, of course. Dr. Hoo's a smart girl. Each Tuesday, let's all chat before class.

Let's answer Terry. We don't have to create the same sort of charge as in Iowa. We don't have to call each other stupid fucks. But we have to do something, right?

Mace... out.