Gloria was waiting for her meeting with her TA. She had
completely rewritten her midterm paper after their last conversation, and she
was anxious to see what he thought. Not that she held his opinion in any sort
of higher regard than anyone else. She just knew if he liked it, it was more
likely that her professor would like it and she would get the grade she wanted.
She actually believed that her TA was the one grading all of their papers
anyway and that the only thing the professor actually did was lectures.
That was the only reason she was anxious to get his opinion.
No matter how glinty Ellie was getting about him.
“Hey, sorry I’m late. I got held up in my last one on one.”
“No problem. I’ve just been going over my paper again.”
“Yeah, I read what you sent me. I think your new direction
is a good one.”
“That is the way you steered me.”
He laughed, “To be honest I didn’t steer you that way on
purpose. I can totally see where you jumped off from the discussion we were
having, but this, this is all you. Really original take.”
“Okay. Any suggestions? Other than have someone else
proofread it?”
“Ha! Yeah, that was number one. Actually, that was it. I
guess we could have handled this over email and saved some of your time.”
“It’s okay, I wanted to go to a reading at 4 so I would have
been over here anyway.”
“Oh, who are you hearing? I didn’t know we had anyone
scheduled today?”
“It’s not a school sanctioned author visit. It’s a creative
writing group I’m part of. Today one of the members is ready to share their
work.”
“And what about you? Do you share your work?”
Gloria smiled, “You just read my work.”
“That’s different, that’s not creative writing, your grammar
notwithstanding.”
“I have not shared anything. I don’t write for anyone but
myself. My best friend, though, she is going to be a major best seller one day.”
“But not you?”
“No. I am going to teach.”
“An English Lit professor?”
“Middle school teacher. English, creative writing, maybe
speech and drama if those things are still being funded by the time I have my
degree.”
“You know in this state you can just get a teaching
certificate to teach middle school, right? You don’t need an advanced English
degree for lower grades.”
“You know the university would fire you on the spot if they
found out that you were advising undergrads to drop out?”
He laughed, “Fair enough.”
“I’m on a full ride scholarship anyway so the cost isn’t a
concern. But thank you.”
“I didn’t mean to sound insulting, I apologize.”
“No, I mean it. Thank you. You are the first person who has
heard what I want to do and pointed out that I didn’t need to be here to do
that. Nobody else took into consideration how much tuition was versus the cost
to get a teaching certificate. I do appreciate that.”
“I find that people don’t always think about the whole
picture. I mean, higher education is important for everyone, I really do
believe that. I think we should throw open the doors and let everyone in, and
not just for career path classes, if you want to take all engineering classes,
that’s great, but if it’s interesting to you how about adding in some classes
on Haiku in the modern form as well? Just because you can’t make a living with
it doesn’t mean it’s not a valid and valued choice.”
Gloria must not have hidden the shock on her face well
because he kept going, “Sorry about that. A bit of a rant there. I just have
strong opinions about the elitism in higher education and I know that this is
not the normal place for hearing about that. So, I’ll just shut up now.”
“No, I think it’s great. I mean, not the elitism, but to
hear someone acknowledge it. And I would not have expected it from…” She trailed
off.
“Me? And why is that?”
“Well, if you must know it’s your reading material. I mean,
I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but it’s hard not to judge a
reader by their choice in books.”
“My reading material? You mean a thousand papers by
undergrads?”
“No, I mean the brick you haul around everywhere and have
for the year and a half I’ve known you.”
“Oh, the tome. I see. Very judgmental on your part, you’re
right. I bet you didn’t know how incredibly helpful this book has been to me.”
Gloria spread her hands out palms down, “You are very right.
It’s judgmental. And I do have to admit I’ve never actually read the whole
book. I couldn’t get past the style to enjoy the substance. Self-indulgent,
wandering, look at how smart I am.”
“Exactly. And so long winded. And don’t forget the footnoted
footnotes. I mean, it all makes for a perfectly sized book to use as a door
stop, a window block, a step stool, a workout tool. It’s an incredibly useful
book.”
“Wait…you aren’t reading it? You are using it?”
“I’m using it physically and metaphorically. It’s kind of a
long story.”
Gloria looked at her watch, “I’ve got another half hour
before I want to leave for the reading, long enough?”
He laughed, “Okay, sure. I’ll tell you the story of the
book.”
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