So Interim is now officially underway, and I am drowning in a sea of plants and medical folklore. It’s interesting enough and I'm glad that I picked a relatively hard class for an interim project. Although it’s a ton of work for a month long class (two textbooks, lengthy presentations and field trips, complete with tests and exams), I'm starting to feel envious of those who picked interim projects like Knitting, Chess, and How to Watch A Movie. But I guess I’ll be more enriched by the end of the month than some of my peers (maybe not The War and Peace kids though; we’re equals in our pain).
Dr. Rayner is pretty interesting, albeit a bit scatterbrained and pretty strange (but most intelligent people are). And after you get used to random bird calls during class and his five minute long tangents, it’s pretty fun. Class started Monday, where we learned about leaf arrangement and composition. And now when I look at plants, even the silly Lil’ Green Patch plants on Facebook, I’ll identify their leaf patterns (yup, that’s definitely pinnately compounded leaf composition on that little critter there…). Wednesday, we heard a guest lecture on the glory of the old south’s cotton plantations (provided he did speak out against the evils of slavery, which didn’t sound convincing as his family had been in the south since before time). Furthermore, his lecture on cotton was alright, but the following lecture on rice put everyone to sleep, or at least sent them to a land of day dreaming.
We’re learning about local plant life, such as Indigo, Cotton, and Rice; along with Cherokee herbal remedies, and that’s all well and dandy (and it’s fun to watch people shove plants in to their mouths). But where I start to question the class is when I don’t see evidence for these claims. Is there scientific basis in these remedies? What is the validity of the claims of these plants? I guess maybe I imagined this class differently, and I'm taking as a true science class instead of a Historical science which I think it really is. The textbook is more true to what I think is the real meaning of the class, and I'm learning a lot about nature that I find really interesting.
As I'm writing this now, I'm sitting in the Biology hallway outside of the class room, waiting for class, and I'm sitting next to someone who I’ve met many times before, and has been to my dorm room many times because of my roommate. Yet when I try to strike up a conversation about his weekend, he grunts and resumes napping in the hall. At this, I realize that Dr. Rayner adds an invaluable part to the class: Humor. The best thing I’ve seen him do lately is an impersonation of a giraffe eating (one of the top ten funniest things I’ve seen in my life so far). The class starts at 9 o’clock each morning, which during interim is the crack of dawn, I believe. But the class is basically lifeless; we sit staring at each other not really saying much. The only real banter that goes on is between me and one of my friends who happens to sit across from me. Within the next three hours of my life, Medical Botany will include Dr. Rayner trying to get everyone out of their shells, Dr. Rayner trying to get the class to participate ( it always ends up that I'm the one talking, which I hate), and probably a lecture about whatever we’re talking about (today its tobacco and the history there of).
Whatever the outcome of the class (good, bad or ugly) I'm trying to make the most out of it and learn as much as I can, and just hope that I don’t die of being over worked.
Dr. Rayner is pretty interesting, albeit a bit scatterbrained and pretty strange (but most intelligent people are). And after you get used to random bird calls during class and his five minute long tangents, it’s pretty fun. Class started Monday, where we learned about leaf arrangement and composition. And now when I look at plants, even the silly Lil’ Green Patch plants on Facebook, I’ll identify their leaf patterns (yup, that’s definitely pinnately compounded leaf composition on that little critter there…). Wednesday, we heard a guest lecture on the glory of the old south’s cotton plantations (provided he did speak out against the evils of slavery, which didn’t sound convincing as his family had been in the south since before time). Furthermore, his lecture on cotton was alright, but the following lecture on rice put everyone to sleep, or at least sent them to a land of day dreaming.
We’re learning about local plant life, such as Indigo, Cotton, and Rice; along with Cherokee herbal remedies, and that’s all well and dandy (and it’s fun to watch people shove plants in to their mouths). But where I start to question the class is when I don’t see evidence for these claims. Is there scientific basis in these remedies? What is the validity of the claims of these plants? I guess maybe I imagined this class differently, and I'm taking as a true science class instead of a Historical science which I think it really is. The textbook is more true to what I think is the real meaning of the class, and I'm learning a lot about nature that I find really interesting.
As I'm writing this now, I'm sitting in the Biology hallway outside of the class room, waiting for class, and I'm sitting next to someone who I’ve met many times before, and has been to my dorm room many times because of my roommate. Yet when I try to strike up a conversation about his weekend, he grunts and resumes napping in the hall. At this, I realize that Dr. Rayner adds an invaluable part to the class: Humor. The best thing I’ve seen him do lately is an impersonation of a giraffe eating (one of the top ten funniest things I’ve seen in my life so far). The class starts at 9 o’clock each morning, which during interim is the crack of dawn, I believe. But the class is basically lifeless; we sit staring at each other not really saying much. The only real banter that goes on is between me and one of my friends who happens to sit across from me. Within the next three hours of my life, Medical Botany will include Dr. Rayner trying to get everyone out of their shells, Dr. Rayner trying to get the class to participate ( it always ends up that I'm the one talking, which I hate), and probably a lecture about whatever we’re talking about (today its tobacco and the history there of).
Whatever the outcome of the class (good, bad or ugly) I'm trying to make the most out of it and learn as much as I can, and just hope that I don’t die of being over worked.
