Foucault likes my notes

Yesterday was a blah day of reading and working.  Really, that’s ALL I did.  And today, I read all morning, then went to my class on Foucault.  I was nervous for this class because my professor had posted everyone’s “scholarly notes” and let’s just say that mine were a stand out.  They were different in style and form and formalism from everyone else’s.  I’m not trying to say that they were bad.  I think I did a pretty good job, but they were different and when you are in school, generally different is not well received.  I wrote a narrative, I wrote incoherent questions, I called one section crap, etc.  I didn’t know everyone else was going to write a pretty standard looking paper or a coherent outline of notes.  But, then I thought, “What would Foucault say about my ’scholarly notes?’” He would say that the knowledge that is considered valid in the university is a standard looking paper, but he would also say that that’s not because a standard paper is the best way to do things, it’s just because that is what is considered valid.  So, my crazy incoherent notes are actually, no crazier than a standard paper.  The paper just happens to be more accepted.  So, in the spirit of Foucault, I decided not to be embarrassed, but to embrace the space that might be opening up for my crazy notes to become valid and acceptable (It could happen).

When class began, the professor started by saying that the notes were looking pretty good, but that some of us might want to consider the difference between the notes we take for ourselves and the version we turn in (glances at me).  Sigh.  Dude, I do not have time to write two versions of anything.  And besides, Foucault likes my notes.  He thinks they embody the possibility for a new episteme.  So there.