Episode I The New Tools
Well, it’s time to open up the tool shed. The first instance of toolish behavior came out in force today in one of my classes.
We were talking about copyright and the music industry, and the professor asked us how we encountered music in our daily lives. It was his way of trying to engage us directly in the subject matter.
Naturally, the first person to raise their hand couldn’t just give a normal response, like “listening to my iPod.” Oh no. See, in my class there is this guy who was a professional opera singer before coming to law school. Now as a stand-alone fact, I have no problem with that. I like being surrounded by people of extraordinary and unusual skills. I’m cool with opera singers.
Of course, he’s the type that the law school gets off on. You know, the one who they trot out in their profiles of the incoming class so that they can say, “See, not all our students are personality-free dorks who majored in liberal arts in undergrad, never had any interesting career aspirations, worked for a year as a paralegal, and then showed up at law school. Oh no. They’re interesting, multi-faceted, talented people.”
Be that as it may, it’s not his fault that the law school wants to pimp him out. He could still be a cool guy – I don’t know him.
But he couldn’t give a normal response. That wouldn’t let everyone know just how special he was. So in response to the question, “How do you encounter music in your daily life?” he responded, “I perform it.”
The professor was somewhat befuddled. The student sighed, and said, “I’m an opera singer,” as if we all should have known in advance how special he was.
Yup, it’s that time of year again. Tool time.
We were talking about copyright and the music industry, and the professor asked us how we encountered music in our daily lives. It was his way of trying to engage us directly in the subject matter.
Naturally, the first person to raise their hand couldn’t just give a normal response, like “listening to my iPod.” Oh no. See, in my class there is this guy who was a professional opera singer before coming to law school. Now as a stand-alone fact, I have no problem with that. I like being surrounded by people of extraordinary and unusual skills. I’m cool with opera singers.
Of course, he’s the type that the law school gets off on. You know, the one who they trot out in their profiles of the incoming class so that they can say, “See, not all our students are personality-free dorks who majored in liberal arts in undergrad, never had any interesting career aspirations, worked for a year as a paralegal, and then showed up at law school. Oh no. They’re interesting, multi-faceted, talented people.”
Be that as it may, it’s not his fault that the law school wants to pimp him out. He could still be a cool guy – I don’t know him.
But he couldn’t give a normal response. That wouldn’t let everyone know just how special he was. So in response to the question, “How do you encounter music in your daily life?” he responded, “I perform it.”
The professor was somewhat befuddled. The student sighed, and said, “I’m an opera singer,” as if we all should have known in advance how special he was.
Yup, it’s that time of year again. Tool time.
posted by N at 7:15 PM
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