And Now For Something Completely Different (9.03) (Previously UnAired)

Date of Production: 12.15.2008
Theme Song: "Take A Chance On Me" - ABBA

Never let it be said that I am anything, if not spontaneous. I'm a firm believer that our first instincts are usually the right ones; or at least, they're the most honest. Although "Why the Fuck Not," or "WTFN" for short, may not be the most responsible words to live by, they often yield serendipitous results.

Rewind back to May of this year. While taking a casual stroll through Breidenbaugh Hall (as we English majors tend to do), I get my hands on a spring semester course catalog. Seeing as I'll be a senior, I assume I must choose a senior seminar if I want to graduate on-time. As I thumb through the catalog's neon pink pages and see seminar topics like Race, Shakespeare, and the Bronte Family, a feeling of disappointment comes over me: I'm not interested in ANY of these subjects.

Here's where the spontaneity comes in. I scan the pages once again and one particular phrase jumps out at me, Viking Studies. Refresh my mind: What do I know about Vikings? Oh right, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! And according to my twisted logic, that's what makes it the perfect choice. Just like that, it is decided. Bada-bing, bada-boom.

This Eureka moment doesn't stop my favorite professor, Temma, from trying to change my mind. A few days after I've decided to go the Viking route, I find myself in Breidenbaugh once again, this time to borrow Temma's copy of Dreams from my Father (Barack Obama's first book) and to pick up a DVD I lent to her, The Bubble. After having our usual discussion about life, Temma encourages me to sign up for her seminar on the Brontes. She does this because she knows that I always try to contribute to class discussion and I'm not afraid to offer a completely opposite or unpopular opinion on subjects. That's why she and I get along so well outside of the classroom--in her classes, we always talk about such incendiary topics that I can't help but be passionate in my responses.

After a few minutes of convincing, I'm seriously on the fence about my choice, but in one fell swoop, she shoves me over: "And you wouldn't be the only male in the class; Danny Strein has already signed up. You two always had such great discussion points in my Artificial Woman class." Given my checkered history with Danny, I decide to steer clear of any classes with him. The first and last time I made that mistake, he and I sat directly across from each other, could barely look each other in the eye, and would never address each other by name in class discussion (which was really awkward, since we often agreed on topics and built upon each other's responses). We were like Siamese fighting fish... and that was in a class of 32. The seminar would be roughly 10 students. Someone would get hurt.. and by someone, I sure as hell don't mean me, m'kay!

CUT TO: My first day in Professor Fee's Viking Studies seminar (Sep 2008). Apparently, in order to answer the ultimate question of "Who were the Vikings?" we have to ask "Who the hell was EVERYBODY ELSE?" Everybody else being the Celts, the Britons, the Scots, the Romans, and the Saxons. Want to see something funny? Take a classroom of English majors and put a world map in front of them. As Prof. Fee reads from the list of ancient sites, it's nice that I'm not the only person who has NO CLUE where anything is!


Luckily, on Day Two, I'm given the chance to return to my Smarty self (thanks to my books on the history of Paganism), when the subject turns to Celtic mythology. As I'm walking down the stairwell during our halftime break, I overhear one of the girls talking about my nerdiness, wondering if I'm a "Mythology major." Instead of shoving her ass down the stairs, I wait until she and her friend reach the first floor when I simply say, "HI." She smiles, turns three shades of red, and sprints into the Ladies Room.

If you told me three months ago that sorority girl Ivana and I would actually become friends, I'd say you were nuts... but lo and behold, after a couple weeks, she and I were on the same wavelength. And when Prof. Fee told the class that we could dress up for Samhain, only she, her girl friend, and I did. ;-D


Despite the fact that I could've coasted through any of the other senior seminars without much effort, I'm so grateful that I took a chance on Viking Studies. I did things I'd never done before: I read Irish epics, studied ancient maps of Britain, researched Norse Gods and portals to the Otherworld, and designed an interactive computer game as part of my site project. The class did a lot a good for me and not solely as a graduation requirement.