three links

[sea_changed]

I am finally free of the semester, after grading all of my undergrads' final exams. They were generally wonderful and mostly knew what they were talking about, but the process was occasionally somewhat harrowing, in alternately a funny way (multiple students tried to tell me that Daniel Shays raided an arsenal in Harper's Ferry) or a horrifying one (one student wrote point-blank that Andrew Jackson's--Andrew Jackson's!!--presidency was the end of white supremacy in America). And then there was this:

my mom: So how's it going?
me: Well, I just had a student inform me that Andrew Jackson elected George Washington CEO of the Revolutionary Army
me: so you could say it's
me: not great

But I'm free! And I don't have to look at a Blue Book again for at least a month, so really, all is well.

And the real point of this post is that I wanted to share a smattering of links that improved my life for one reason or another over the past week-and-change of end-of-semester hell:

“Roguish Passions”: A Conversation About The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Danielle: I see what you mean about Felicity. She is a composite ideal of Lee’s liberal feminist femininity: intellectually autonomous; literary; career-minded; not particularly invested in male sexual approval yet also attractive—above all, highly competent. The character of Percy, a stoic and unassuming person of color, is burdened with blandness in the same way.

This conversation/review by a couple of scholars about Gentleman's Guide is wonderful, and articulates a lot of what I severely disliked about the book ("burdened with blandness"!). They don't dislike it overall and they're complimentary about much of it, but they're also unsparing about the book's flaws: never will you see a novel so gently and kindly eviscerated. There are too many good and painfully accurate quotes to include here, but a few more of my favorites are But these difficulties never become more than just opportunities for the expression of a rather pious liberalism and Although Lee plays with lots of genres, her attachment to the moral promise of sentimental fiction is quite rigid, especially to its central promise to punish or reform vice and reward virtue, which is both a great observation on genre and a grade-a burn.

Rejoice and Be You Merry - An 18th Century Christmas

A Spotify playlist of several hours'-worth of 18th century Christmas carols; truly ideal. Some of these are recognizable and many of them aren't; if you're an 18th century nerd the appeal is obvious, but even if you're not it's a nice playlist of Christmas music that you likely haven't already heard approximately a hundred times this year already.

‘Make better choices’: Endangered Hawaiian monk seals keep getting eels stuck up their noses and scientists want them to stop
 

It all began about two years ago when Littnan, the lead scientist of the monk seal program, woke up to a strange email from researchers in the field. The subject line was short: “Eel in nose.”

If you haven't already seen it on tumblr. I cried laughing while reading this; it greatly improved an evening that desperately needed it. There's something in the combination of the matter-of-factness with which it's reported and the absolutely hysterical quotes from the scientists working with the seals that kills me.

Comments

[foreverdawning]

I'm listening to the 18th century carols right now! Every single track is a bop.

Also the eel in the nose thing...was so off the wall I was taken aback. I was sure that you were sharing an Onion link but truth is stranger than fiction.

[sea_changed]

Aren’t they great? I’ve been enjoying them immensely.

I know—I had to check the url a few times when I was reading it to make sure I was actually reading the Washington Post. I’m still half-expecting it to be a hoax of some kind.

[fosfomifira]

My mother is a university professor and she often shares the horrors her students write with me. Washington as CEO of the revolutionary army is up there with the worst (best?) of them *shudders*.

That review makes me never want to write a word, and yet all of their objections ring true. The blandness of everyone and everything, the cookie cutter 21th century US feminism.

The more I look at that pic of the Hawaiian monk seal the less real it seems. It’s too absurd to be true and yet it is true. And the scientists' talk is almost as delightful as the image of that chill eel-snorting Hawaiian monk seal.

[sea_changed]

I feel bad only mentioning the ridiculous things, because really, most of them get it right or are only slightly, understandably off. But sometimes things are just too good/bad not to share.

I liked that they didn’t totally trash the book—and it was fun—but all the points they bring up are accurate and, I think, pretty important. There are so many great ways to explore different identities and different attitudes to those identities in the past, without just plunking in 21st century language and perspectives, and without making all non-white, non-male characters into perfect, character-less cutouts.

Everything about that article is almost too crazy to be believed. I keep expecting to hear it was a hoax the scientists put together to troll us all.

[stele3]

....Andrew....Jackson...

Andrew Jackson. Ended white supremacy.

Andrew? JAckson??

[sea_changed]

This was my reaction exactly. Really, of the things they could’ve gotten disastrously wrong.