in which I discover that I tend to teach in the same way that Jean Rhys writes

My students watched an episode of Bones on Wednesday, taking notes on the particular uses of ethos, pathos, and logos by expert witnesses during a trial. Today we discussed the episode; I began by asking them for examples of each of the appeals from the episode and then putting each one on the board. Suddenly, and I am not positively sure how this occurred, I was asking them about the criteria by which they shop for a pair of blue jeans. And then sweatshirts. And before I knew what was happening, we were discussing the different appeals that we pay the most attention to when shopping for different types of clothing (jeans=logos; sweatshirt=ethos; jewelry=pathos).

I was heavily reminded of Jean Rhys's writing style, which tends to be very associative. The narrator often ties the present to the past through details like a dress or a certain scent. I'm not sure what this says about me as a teacher, but it felt productive at the time.








burnt orange blazer: vintage Levis
dress: vintage
purple cardigan: Gap
belt: thrifted
leggings: American Apparel
boots: gifted, old

I used to avoid wearing this dress in the winter, because the sleeves are quite large and I didn't think that they would allow themselves to be stuffed into the sleeves of a cardigan. However, on the third grey, almost drizzly day in a row, I felt that it was absurd to keep such a cheery outfit piece out of my winter wardrobe. It took a little extra work to get the sleeves to behave themselves, but I'm pleased nonetheless.