Neil Gaiman, Multiple titles
- The Sandman: World�s End (Started August 8 � finished August 8, 2003; 167 pages)
- The Sandman: The Wake (Started August 10 � Finished August 10, 2003 192 pages)
- Sandman Midnight Theater (Started August 10 � Finished August 10, 2003; 64 pages)
- The Collected Sandman Covers With Dave McKean (Started August 10 � Finished August 11, 2003; 208 pages)
�It�s a little soon to be reviewing graphic novels again, isn�t it?�
Nobody actually said this to me. But I�ve felt the question nagging at me, even as I read these. And the answer to the question is, yes it�s a little early to be reviewing graphic novels again. But I�ve had a hard time concentrating, as astute readers of the last review for Tom Robbins will note. I�m not tearing through the novels like I used to. Well, there�s a reason for that, and I guess it�s about time I let you in on it.
See, last December while I was picking out classes, I noticed that I only needed one more English class to graduate. But in order to stay on financial aid, I needed to take at least two classes. I picked a journalism course that seemed interesting � Information Gathering for Reporters.
Now, my scholastic focus has always been based around journalism. But soon after arriving at San Jose State University, I transferred out of the journalism department, mainly because I had twice received erroneous information regarding my scholastic plan.
I didn�t care too much. After all, the journalism department was a joke, repeating the same things I learned at De Anza, but refusing to accept my De Anza credits out of uppity spite. (They kept insisting that my newspaper experience at De Anza was on a totally different level that what entailed the SJSU program. I answered that with the perfunctory statement, �Yeah, the paper at De Anza won awards.� I didn�t make any friends at SJSU.)
Anyway, after having to complete a review from an advisor involved with my major, I spoke to a small decrepit old man with a lazy eye, and a lazy eye for detail. He looked at my transcripts, announced I was well on my way to being finished and my only major obstacle would come from the internship, which he warned would be hard to get since I hadn�t spent time on the SJSU paper.
The next semester, I was working for a magazine in England.
When I got back, I filled out the paperwork for graduation. The same professor who said I was almost finished now said I had several other classes that I had to complete, and that my courses at De Anza would not transfer, and that I needed at least a year and a half's worth of classes to finish. Instead, I transferred the fuck out of their department.
But I like journalism, and I like taking classes in the field, which brings us to the present course on information gathering. The course wasn�t much in the way of enlightenment, but it was fun enough. I showed up regularly, handed in assignments, and participated in discussions often. When the semester was finished in early June, I didn�t bother looking up my grade, as I knew I had done well. Then, nearly a month after the semester ended, I decided to check my grades.
And I had a �U� for a grade in this class.
Now, if you�re like me or anybody else I have talked to, your first reaction is, �What the fuck is a U?� I know that was my reaction. Well, since the class I had just finished dealt with information gathering, I did some research and learned that a U stood for Unauthorized Drop.
I went back to the campus to see why I had this grade and found a note on the instructor�s door saying that he would not only be off campus for the summer, but out of state. In his stead I found the decrepit instructor who had given me all the bad information in the first place, who promptly gave me an e-mail address for my professor which, I kid you not, did not work. But, again, as I had just finished a course on information gathering, I found the instructors� home phone number on my own.
�Well, professor,� I said into his answering machine, �The fact that I tracked down where you live should prove that I successfully completed your course. I need to know why I�ve been given a U grade in your class, and if it is a mistake, which it is, I need it fixed immediately.�
He called back later that day and was apologetic, saying it was indeed a mistake and he would fix it as soon as he returned from vacation.
Sometime at the end of July.
Under normal circumstances I don�t think I would have minded. But the fact was, I had applications that I needed (and still need to) send off to graduate schools, all of which required official transcripts, and my GPA at SJSU fell into the toilet with this U grade. Then I got a notice from Financial Aid saying that because of this U grade, I was now on suspension and would need to submit a letter explaining my poor performance.
The only words I managed to write were, �I blame society.�
Instead, I contacted the professor again. And again I got a �Gee golly gerwilikers� response that said the problem should have been fixed by now. But this e-mail had a different tone, a tone that implied (to me at least) that I should stop making inquiries, because he was going to get in trouble for submitting the wrong grade in the first place.
But it�s none of my concern if he gets in trouble for submitting an incorrect grade, and so I kept pushing. Yesterday, I got the journalism office to fill out the forms for the grade change, whereupon they called me, saying I could pick up the form, hand deliver it to Admissions and Records, and they would fix the grade before my very eyes. So I went to the office, picked up their paperwork, which was all signed off and officially sealed, and delivered it to Admissions and Records.
Who immediately informed me that students were NEVER (their emphasis) allowed to handle grade changes on their own. The prissy student aides, while not saying as much, made their position perfectly clear through tone and intonation: �I don�t know how you managed to steal all these official materials, but we have rules and structures to prevent people with flunking grades such as yourself from cheating your way through school.� Their final act was to confiscate the grade change forms.
I was furious. I went back to the journalism department and told them what had just transpired. �Well, THAT�S never happened before,� was their response. I said they needed to fill out another change of grade request form, now, and at this very minute. They said they couldn�t, because they had given me all the required paperwork and signatures, which had just been confiscated.
So I again contacted the instructor who started this whole mess in the first place. He took a very zen approach, giving me a short cursory message saying all we could do now was to be patient, noting, �trying to get a bureaucracy to change is like trying to get an elephant to move; you don�t get anywhere by pushing.�
Sage-like advise indeed, and if two months hadn�t passed already, I might have the inclination to take it. But I realized there�s another way to get an elephant to move, and that�s by lighting a fire underneath its ass. So, can anybody recommend a lawyer?
In the meantime, I�m reading some fucking comic books. Want to make something of it?
Rating: �World�s End,� New. �The Wake,� Used. �Midnight Theater,� Work in a used store and get for cheap. "Dustcovers," Ditto.
