WEBVTT

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So I'm going to skip
ahead to "Winter Term."

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I'll just read a few
sections from this part.

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"One, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH].

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Outside, the first snow
of the winter session

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descends so softly it
seems to fall upward.

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I sound out the syllables
on my attendance

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sheet in philological time.

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Though the names
are unfamiliar, I

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can't shake the sense that I'm
always already repeating myself

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at the start of each new term.

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'It helps to compare
things,' I begin unsteadily,

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'to see where you
stand in the world.'

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My classroom observer,
dispatched by the Center

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for Faculty Excellence in
the wake of last quarter's

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scurrilous student evaluations,
glides in like a shadow

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against the far wall.

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[LAUGHTER]

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'Anyone who studies the
region of unlikeliness is

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a comparatist,' I continue,
trying not to lose my place.

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A skate punk clatters
through the doorway.

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A ROTC grunt unzips his rucksack
under the seminar table.

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Turning back to my
notes, I discover

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that I've lost my place.

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'To compose a simile, you need
a tenor and a vehicle,' I say,

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skipping blindly ahead.

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'Can somebody give me a tenor?'

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'Enrico Caruso?' volunteers
a Latina band girl with

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an applique treble clef
ironed on to her cardigan.

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[LAUGHTER]

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'OK, sure, why not,' I say,
demonstrating my commitment

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to student-directed
learning outcomes.

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[LAUGHTER]

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'And a vehicle?'

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[LAUGHTER]

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[? Liqueur ?], intones
an unshaven auditor

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with an incurable
Quebecois accent.

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'Excellent,' I chirp.

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'That's what I'd call excellent
student participation.'

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My observer frowns
at her fingernails.

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In oversized script, I
emblazon the blackboard.

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Enrico Caruso is
like a [? liqueur ?].

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There's a brief period
of universal scribbling.

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[LAUGHTER]

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The classroom's radiators
pound out an alien meter.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Ancient pipes whistle an atonal
ostinato under the floorboards.

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'Enrico Caruso is like a
[? liqueur ?],',' an ESL poster boy

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carefully enunciates.

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'Enrico Caruso is like a
[? liqueur ?],',' mutters my observer,

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consulting her clipboard.

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'Enrico Caruso is like a
[ ? liqueur ?],',' beatboxes a redhead

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in dreadlocks.

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I surrender myself to the
emergent classroom dialectic.

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'Altogether now.'"

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