All the Small Things

The large tree in my garden (although, in truth, the tree just about makes up the whole garden) seemed to have turned yellow overnight. Trees decked in yellow, red and brown line most of the streets to and from the office and crisp mornings are quickly turning cold. I admit, the two seasons I love most are Autumn and Spring. Not too cold, not too hot – and I’ll just leave it there before I start sounding like a fairy tale.

My "Autumn Tree"

Shortening days are usually also the time when the passing of time between New Year and Easter and Easter and my birthday*† becomes all the more apparent. By this time those careful plans written out at the beginning of the year have most been left half-done or thrown out because there just isn’t enough time in a day to go around.

It’s those little unplanned things...

You make your New Year’s list of No-These-Aren’t-Really-Resolutions thinking that the worst coming your way is a bout of flu or a new pair of glasses and then you end up on crutches for over a month and suddenly realise again how lovely it is to be able to climb a flight of stairs while carrying a cup of tea. Your flu turns to infections leaving you on drips and too fatigued to concentrate on your studies after a day of work.

But you also meet new people, make new friends and in the dark hours find a hand to hold on to, even if that hand is on another continent.

So, all in all, the first four months of the year have been, at the very least, very interesting. And the next four? New beginnings, a very good friend getting married, some friends’ babies are due during the winter (though not the friend getting married) as well as “more of the same” as I try to catch up with all the study time I missed during the past few weeks**.

*The few days afterwards usually spent in constant existential crisis – which most often leads to eating more cake than is healthy.

† My birthday is halfway through the year.

** Yay for study leave!!

Perspective

The downside of planning posts beforehand is that there are some weeks where so much other STUFF happens that you get struck once more by just how much can happen in one week. Last Tuesday I switched on the radio just as I turned off my alarm clock; just in time to hear the words “two bombs exploded” – then an earthquake, flooding, one of the lecturers at UJ (myalma mater) murdered, and some very sad news from a friend. This has certainly been a week in which my heart and prayers have gone out to all those who have been touched by these events.

Of Flu, the Strain of Evil, and Writing Stuff

At least I didn't need a Plague Doctor

I was fortunate enough to be one of the people at the office stricken with a bout of flu two weeks ago. Or so I thought. Won’t go into details, but I am feeling much better now after taking a lovely trip over the weekend to the clinic, getting a few drips and passing out for a few hours. At least now I don’t feel like people who pass me should be carrying posies. Or that I should carry a clapper wherever I go. So whoohoo for modern medicine!

As I spent most of the previous weekend either passed out to sleep off the Strain of Evil or watching NCIS through bleary eyes, I did not get much done in the way of studying. Or tidying away the books I had started to rearrange before the Strain of Evil struck. (No I wasn’t procrastinating; I was simply making certain books more easily accessible. And the shelves needed dusting. So there.) 

But I am glad to say, that most books are now dusted and rearranged in a way which is probably only logical to me, and I am ready and of sound enough mind to actually work on my studies again. Yay! 

Which also brings me to Writing Stuff

 I’ve been toying around with an idea for another “speculative linguistics” article (some others can be found over here) and then a few days ago*, while brushing teeth, the opening paragraph suddenly jumped into my brain unannounced. Yes, I did make a run for my notebook… And there will be graphs, endless footnotes and much laughter.

Along with the article I’m also pottering around with a few flash pieces. One which I am especially enamoured with at the moment was inspired by an artwork for the Firebird legend and by reading a few pages in The Golden Bough. Now, if I can only find that artwork again. I may have to raid my poor sister’s memory.

Forthcoming Attractions:

Twitter wars  debates – Yes, I sometimes tweet about stuff other than books and archaeology. Like sexism. And bra sizes. And, sometimes, I want to write about it as well.

*This may have had something to do with a high fever. Thank you, kind muse...

The World Needs You

I love this. I think this should be printed and put up in every office cubicle. Or stuck to the inside of your wardrobe. But somewhere where you'll be able to see it every day.

Tumbling into Tumblr

I posted last week that Storylane was acquired by Facebook and I decided that I would rather move my articles, sketches, etc. to another platform. I’ve decided on using Tumblr as my “secondary posting place”; where I’ll also link to other inspirational, cool, or just plain weird stuff I like. I did have a look at Medium.com, but it doesn’t seem like my cup of tea for the moment.

I’ve set up a page over at Tumblr – Coffee Stainsand Brainwaves. It’s a bit sparse at the moment, but I’ll rather not bombard the poor page too quickly!

I can like to talk English

Okay, that heading is probably only funny in South Africa; but this is a shout-out to my South African – and specifically my Afrikaans – readers.

I’ll probably be posting more Afrikaans stuff on Tumblr than on Hersenskim.

Maar ek bly vreeslik lief vir Afrikaans!

Afrikaans Language Monument

Some Music for Easter

I love this band - and this song.

Have a Blessed Easter! (Or a lovely long weekend if you don't celebrate Easter.)

Making Mediocrity Acceptable

“Just remember; 50% is a pass, 51% is a distinction.”

This was the joke to which we all clung at university when we quaked at the thought of the three hour exam we were about to write. Now, what if I change the sentence to: “Just remember, 30% is a pass, 31% is a distinction”? It doesn’t sound like a joke, does it? It just sounds absurd. How on earth does getting 30% as your final mark in a subject mean you pass, you may ask. But that is exactly what you need to get in Matric (grade 12) in South Africa at the moment to pass. Let me just make that clear – of your six subjects in you final year of school, you need 30% in 3 subjects and 40% in 3 subjects to pass and receive your National Senior Certificate. And no, I am not counting “Life Orientation” as a subject – I am focusing simply on the six main academic subjects.

Each year the results are released I hang my head in shame, because I know the figures. Half of the children who start grade 1 never finish Matric. Of those who write Matric only some 70% pass. And, yet, again and again it is reiterated that the pass rate is fair. With these words thousands of students are made complacent into believing that only knowing 30% of your set work is good enough. You do not need to aim for 100%. You do not even have to aim for 50%. Only aim for 30% – and, don’t worry, your marks may even be adjusted if it is deemed that the exam was too difficult! Aim for 30% - we don’t expect more from you. By Jove! We don’t really think you could do better anyway.

Everyone is exceptional...

What worries me – truly worries me – is that generations of students are leaving high school with a bar set so low that they do not believe that they need to aim higher – and I do not mean this only academically. The lowest bar is good enough. Just getting through on the minimum is good enough. Lowering the bar to include everyone - God forbid anyone should feel ‘left out’ or that they ‘aren’t good enough’ or even have to exert themselves more than the bare minimum – is, in fact, doing a disservice to those same students. I also believe that the department is underestimating how great these students can be. They are practically telling the students that they do not expect them to be able to do better than these minimum standards. That 30% are the best they can hope for, so why set the bar higher?

In grade 5 or 6 we read the book Stories from Different Genres – a collection of short stories I enjoyed immensely. One story that haunted me – even more than the sight in my mind’s eye of a man being eaten alive by giant snails*  - was "Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., in which people had to wear masks, weights and even have to hide their intelligence and talents so that they would all be equal^†. No one may be more beautiful, more talented, or more intelligent than anyone else. The world sketched in that story scared me more that all the horror tales in that book put together.

Yet the setting of such a low bar and telling people that it is fine and dandy to scrape by is already creeping towards that mentality that everyone should be included and that no one should feel that they had failed – even when they haven’t even tried. From there it is not too far a jump to a world where you are encouraged not to do your best. 

These students go on to university or college and have to be taught simple tasks like writing a paragraph – never mind writing an academic essay. Having to do your own research is met by many (most?) simply cutting and pasting badly written bits and pieces from unreliable websites. At the same time, faculties are pushed to pass most, if not all the students in a class. Again the bar is lowered. And again we are told that this is all well and good and that, if you argue against this, it is you who are in the wrong and just don’t want people to succeed. But what happens when these students enter the workplace? Will they expect the bar to still be set at 30%? Will the least amount of work be deemed “more than good enough” by them? Will mediocre be the most they will strive to be? I truly hope that this is not the case.

*This story is The Quest for the “Blank Claveringi” by Patricia Highsmith. It was weird and gruesome and I loved it. Go figure.

^† Do yourself a favour and read this classic piece.

** This piece first appeared on Storylane. Some minor changes were made before being published here.