Student reactions to a gift.

(SPOILER ALERT - MURAKAMI'S SPUTNIK SWEETHEART.)

For class, the last novel we read was a Murakami novel where 1 of the 3 main characters finally relates a horrific life event that turned her hair white, and it turns out to be a ferris wheel ride dream experience where at the top of a stopped ferris wheel where she was left overnight she looked back into her apartment and saw a threatening love interest sexually degrade her in every imaginable way with his grotesquely large penis, while her other self she was observing seemed not only acquiescent, but also to be enjoying herself.

(Isn't that very Japanese, somehow, by the way?).

Anyhow, the day before 5 end-of-term student meetings, I was looking through the new issue of my puzzle magazines, and there was a logic problem about a stopped ferris wheel (with all the clues being who was where in relation to who, etc.).

So, I copied the puzzle as a surreal gift to give to students, and it was interesting to see their reactions:

- One thoughtful, quirky (female) (white) student from Baltimore thought it was cool and asked me if I was going to be her TA the next term, when I gave the logic problem to her at the end of the lesson.

- One (female) (white) (jock) student seemed distracted from her end-of-term stress for a second, though she seemed offput when I told her that she and the other kids in her dorm should do it to celebrate the end-of-classes, and take study drugs and stay up all Sat. night to do it.

- One (very straight) (white) (jock) guy took it and fired it under his laptop and then proceeded to nervously ask tons of questions on his upcoming paper, which he wants to do better on.

- One (international) (male) (Asian) student just looked straight at me like he didn't just understand me.

- One (male) (Korean) student just kind of shrugged, "Whatever" (though not in a mean or dismissive way) and said he'd do it on his plane ride over break, and then began talking about his paper.

In a way, I feel like the gift helps sort out who the cool kids are who are okay with quirkiness and can roll with the punches.

It also shows who only deals with me to get something from me, I think.